England struggle after Root injury and dismissal on day four of Second Test
Root nicked Mitchell Starc in the final act of the fourth day.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.England captain Joe Root suffered two painful blows to the groin before a devastating late dismissal, as his bitter experiences of Ashes cricket in Australia continued.
Root nicked Mitchell Starc in the final act of the fourth day, crushing England’s hopes of building a huge defensive rearguard around their leader and star batter. They ended on 82 for four, 385 adrift and with three full sessions awaiting on a deteriorating pitch.
Root had suffered a traumatic day even before his dismissal, sent for precautionary scans after being struck in his unprotected nether regions while facing throw downs in the warm-ups and then suffering a brutal repeat deep in the final session. He was struck clean on the box at 85mph, buckling in pain and taking five minutes out before his ill-fated attempt to see out the day.
Pic of the day
Top tweet
It is hard to tell if the well-known England supporters’ club were referring to the match situation or the captain’s misfortune with this one-word post, but it fits just as well for both.
Magic number
When Dawid Malan opened his account of Test wickets during a decidedly gentle passage of play in the middle of the day, he became the seventh England player in the match following James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes Ollie Robinson and Joe Root. Test Match Special statistician Andy Zaltzman was able to identify the last time the number of successful bowlers had been so high – 1965 against South Africa.
Offie Robinson
The increasingly-curious omission of Jack Leach and the temporary absence of Root saw England scrambling around for slow bowling options to hurry things along in the afternoon session but it was still a surprise to see Stokes persuade Robinson to take a turn midway through his spell. He has done so before for Sussex in the past but if England were honest, the sight of the 6ft 6in seamer lobbing down some vanilla off-breaks in sunglasses was hardly the kind of cricket the Ashes brand is built around.
Dancing with the stars
If there was any doubt about how the mood in the Australia camp was after a dominant start to their biggest series, it was settled by a late cameo from Usman Khawaja. He has been overlooked twice in a row for the off-form Marcus Harris but still lit up a late substitute fielder stint with some fancy footwork after a group of fans in fancy dress implored him to perform for them while he marshalled the boundary rope.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments