Ashes 2019: Australia hold on as England fall short in dramatic final day at Lord’s
The match was drawn to leave Australia 1-0 up heading to Leeds for the third Ashes Test
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Your support makes all the difference.Follow the latest updates live from the final day of the Ashes Second Test where both England and Australia harbour faint hopes of a victory.
Ben Stokes’s century has given England an outside chance of victory after he smashed his way to three figures, with Nathan Lyon taking the bulk of the punishment. The call came soon after Stokes reached his century to declare on 258-5, setting Australia an appetising 267 to win and 48 overs remaining in the day.
Australia also lost star batsman Steve Smith to a concussion, after he was struck on the neck by a Jofra Archer ball yesterday, and he will also miss the third Test at Headingly under the new ICC laws that rules players out for at least six days following a head injury. Follow the live updates below.
When is it?
The second Test takes place on 14-18 August at Lord’s.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports The Ashes and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on each day’s play.
Odds
England to win: 14/1
Australia to win: 15/4
Draw: 1/2
Prediction
Draw: With rain expected to washout most – if not all – of Wednesday and Saturday and severely hamper the rest of the second Test, it’s difficult to look beyond the draw and Australia maintaining their 1-0 advantage.
LUNCH
England 157/4, lead Australia by 165
Stokes 51 (112), Buttler 31 (96)
A job well done by England, they're navigated some fine bowling from Australia.
Lunch it is and now the talk will start as to how they will approach the rest of the day, how many does Joe Root want to take an Australia win out of the question?
Lyon worth a shout for the Aussies, he's bowled very well, despite no wickets from his 20 overs. 0/65.
LUNCH
Tim Paine leads his side back out after the interval, closely followed by Stokes and Buttler. The latter will be eyeing his half-century, but the main aim for both batsman is to score and score quickly to put England into a position where they can consider going for the win.
England 158/4
Cummins and Lyon resume from either end without much drama, but more interestingly is that Steve Smith has just spoken about his head injury, which is diagnosed as a "mild concussion":
"I started to feel a little bit of a headache coming on last night as the adrenaline I guess got out of my system. I was able to get a good sleep in, which is somewhat rare for me, but woke up feeling a little bit groggy and with a headache again.
"I had some tests done and upon some further assessment, deemed to be a mild concussion, unfortunately, and I've been ruled out for the rest of this Test match.
"They've declined a little bit. We did a test this morning here at the ground and did one last night and the results changed slightly. Unfortunately that and how I'm feeling have contributed to me being ruled out for the rest of the Test."
WICKET!
England 161/5, lead Australia by 169 runs
Buttler attempts a pull off a short one from Cummins but doesn't get hold of it and Hazelwood is there to snaffle it. He goes for 31 (108).
A breakthrough for the Aussies!
Comedy at Lord's!
Lyon and Paine are up and screaming at the umpire, they'll review this one as it pitches in line and hits Stokes' pad. Not out is the on-field call.
Ball tracker is broken though as they run the replays, leading to laughter among the Aussies as they patiently wait.
It's missing down leg as it fails to straighten enough and that's the last appeal gone for Australia.
England 182/5, lead Australia by 190 runs
Lyon thinks he's got Bairstow!
No reviews left though, the Aussies are exasperated after Dar shakes his head.
The paddle-sweep misses the ball as replays show, good call!
England 207/5, lead Australia by 215 runs
Stokes tees off!
Ben Stokes is getting loose out there.
Back-to-back sixes from Stokes off Lyon. Then he goes at Siddle, a beautiful drive to the boundary for four.
He's raced to 85 now off 145 balls.
CENTURY FOR STOKES!
He gets away with a silly shot on 99*, but Stokes is there.
It's a ton for Stokes, 160 balls, 10 fours and two sixes.
And Nathan Lyon brings up his own century as Bairstow blast him over the boundary: 0/102.
England 246/5, lead Australia by 254.
England 258/5, lead Australia by 266 runs - DECLARED!
The fireworks are ended by Root's declaration, we have a Test match!
We've got 48 overs at least with Australia looking to survive without Steve Smith, remember.
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