Ashes 2023 2nd Test: Ben Duckett's 98 Help England Stay In Hunt At Day 2 Stumps

Though Ben Duckett fell short of a maiden Ashes hundred, a half-century partnership between skipper Ben Stokes and Harry Brook helped England stay in the hunt of Australia's first innings total at the end of day two of second Ashes Test at Lord's on Thursday.

At the end of day two, England was 278/4, with Brook (45*) and Stokes (17*) unbeaten. England started the final session at 145/1, with Duckett (62*) and Pope (32*) unbeaten at the crease.

England brought up their 150 runs in 32.1 overs. Pope and Duckett continued to build their partnership, with Duckett scoring runs at a really good pace. But the 97-run partnership between the duo ended after Green dismissed Pope for 42. His knock consisted of four boundaries and looked set for a fifty before Steve Smith caught him at deep backward square leg. England was 188/2 at that point.

England touched the 200-run mark in 40 overs.

Australian pacers helped his side make a brief comeback in the game, dismissing Duckett for 98 off 134 balls, with nine fours and Joe Root for 10. Duckett attempted to pull a delivery by Hazlewood but got caught by David Warner near the boundary. Starc took the big wicket of in-form Root. England was 222/4.

England started to rebuild once again after these quick wickets with skipper Ben Stokes and Harry Brook at the crease. Stokes-Brook brought up their fifty-run stand in 80 balls. The duo made sure that England ended the session without any further loss of wickets.

England were 145/1 at Tea with Duckett (62*) and Pope (32*) unbeaten at the crease. England started the second session of the second day of the Test at 13/0, with Duckett batting at 7 and Crawley at six.

England reached the 50-run mark in 10.1 overs with Crawley being the main aggressor. He looked in good touch and smashed some elegant shots.

In the 17th over, Nathan Lyon struck for Australia. Crawley was stumped for 48 by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. His knock consisted of five fours. England was 91/1 at that point.
England reached the 100-run mark in 20.1 overs.

Ollie Pope also was looking in sublime form and smashed Mitchell Starc for three successive fours in the 27th over. Duckett brought up his sixth Test fifty in 84 balls and the innings included five fours.

Pope-Duckett completed a fifty-run stand and helped England get through the session without further loss of wicket.

Earlier, Steve Smith led Australia to a comfortable position in the second match against England with his 110 runs as the visitors lost five wickets by adding only 77 runs to their overnight total. Australia resumed Day 2 on 339/5 with Steve Smith batting on 85*.

England pacers were in good form from the start of Day 2 in the second Ashes Test being played at the Lord's with Stuart Broad dismissing Alex Carey for 22. James Anderson removed new batter Mitchell Starc for 6, leaving Australia at 358/7.

Steve Smith kept scoring from the other end and slammed his 32nd Test hundred with a classy four off Anderson's delivery. He was finally out for 110 as Josh Tongue provided his team with a big breakthrough.

Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the 99th over of the innings, Ollie Robinson bagged the wicket of Nathan Lyon, who had made 7 runs. Josh Hazlewood then came out to bat and could make only four runs. He also became a victim of

Robinson's bowling and Australia were restricted to 416 runs. The visitors lost the last seven wickets for 100 runs. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started the England innings and Mitchell Starc opened the Aussie attack.

Brief score: Australia 416 (Steven Smith 110, Travis Head 77; Josh Tongue 3-98) vs England 278/4 (Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 48, Nathan Lyon 1/35). (ANI)