Australia v England | Second Ashes Test | Day Three
England will be praying for a Ben Stokes miracle to somehow avoid defeat in this second NRMA Insurance Ashes Test after Australia’s own magic man Mitchell Starc again stamped his mark on an absorbing day three at the Gabba.
Starc produced his highest Test score in almost nine years then returned late with the massive wicket of Joe Root to inspire a dominant day for the Australians, with England 6-134 in their second innings and still trailing the home side by 43.
Australia resumed at 6-378 on another blue-skied Brisbane afternoon, in front of another sold-out and energetic crowd.
Ben Stokes got play underway from the Stanley St End, and the England skipper had his eighth wicket of the series when Michael Neser (16) looked to force a back-of-a-length delivery through the off-side and was caught behind.
From the first ball of the next over, Alex Carey – having already raised his bat for a half-century – uppercut a Brydon Carse chest-high delivery over first slip for four.
After a difficult day two, Carse was taken for nine from his first over today – courtesy of two cover-driven fours from Starc, and a no-ball. But the new ball awaited, and after 80 overs it was put into action by Jofra Archer, who had Carey fending awkwardly from the first ball of his spell.
The ‘keeper-batter was out for a fine 63 from 69 balls soon after, trying to flay one from Gus Atkinson through the of side and edging to become Jamie Smith’s second catch of the morning.
What followed was the longest partnership of this Ashes series so far, as the Midas touch of Mitchell Starc and the resolute will of Scott Boland combined to put England through a torturous afternoon.
Starc’s smashing 77 makes England’s suffering surge
As Starc monopolised the strike, Boland hung tight. The pair played patiently, and intelligently, steadily accumulating runs but importantly soaking up the daylight minutes.
It was never perfect; ninth-wicket stands are hardly expected to be. Starc at one point miscued a pull shot off Carse towards mid-off, where Archer was slow to react, and an over later he edged Stokes just short of Harry Brook at a floating slip.
By then England had put out a ring field for Starc, which seemed to suit the Australians who had reverted to a more traditional brand of Test cricket amid the helter-skelter of this series.
Stokes was bowling nicely, pitching the ball a little fuller than his fellow quicks, but as the ball kept flying past the edge, his frustration grew with every nurdled single.
And then the lead went beyond 100 in a flurry of boundaries. Starc plonked Carse over wide mid-off and then drove him straight. In the following over, Boland chimed in with a nicely guided boundary through fine gully off Stokes.
Before the over was out, Starc made it four fours in eight balls when he punched the England skipper to the cover boundary.
Five minutes before tea, Will Jacks returned for his second over of the innings – the other had come almost exactly 24 hours earlier. The off-spinner found a little turn, which might have caught the eye of Nathan Lyon even if it didn’t garner his team a wicket.
There was time enough for one more over before the first interval and it ended with Starc carving three more runs out over cover, and it was just after tea that the left-hander brought up his second half-century of the calendar year.
England this time persisted with Jacks, and the immediate result was the rare sight of a Boland cover drive which, as it slowly rolled out to the Gabba’s longest boundary, was cheered all the way by a delirious home crowd.
It felt a stark contrast to the tourists’ growing despondency. From Atkinson’s next over, Starc took the final two balls for four, driving through mid-off and then delightfully pushing one through cover point with the timing of a top-order bat.
It took another Englishman’s bowling figures beyond 100, and soon enough the Starc-Boland union had yielded the highest ninth-wicket stand at the Gabba.
The punishment continued. Another Atkinson over, another couple of Starc boundaries, and just like, as the Australian lead went past 150, a determined occupation of the crease had morphed into a potentially match-defining partnership.
Starc had moved along to 77, his highest Test score in almost nine years, by the time he finally erred. Even then he almost created havoc; in taking the catch running around from a deepish mid-off, Stokes almost collided with Ben Duckett.
The pair clipped ankles, just, but a Stokes fist pump made it clear that the two Englishmen were fine.
For another 30 minutes, Boland (21no) and Brendan Doggett (13) batted on, adding 20 runs to take the Australian total to 511 – the lead 177 – while also giving Starc a valuable window of time to rest and refresh ahead of taking the new pink ball.
Carse had by innings end collected four wickets to removed himself from the top of the ‘expensive figures’ list, though he had become the first England paceman since Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson, way back in 1954, to concede 150-plus runs in an Ashes innings in Australia.
It was that kind of afternoon. When Doggett was out, edging off-spinner Jacks to Harry Brook at first slip, it marked just second time all 11 Australia batters had made a double-figure score in a Test match.
England openers Duckett (15) and Zak Crawley (42) had a little under 40 minutes before the close of session to survive. Instead, they thrived, making it through Starc’s first over unblemished for the first time in this series and then slapping some errant Australian bowling around the Gabba to motor along to 0-46 from seven overs by dinner.
Neser had a red-hot return catch opportunity from Duckett that burst through his hands as he reached just above his left shoulder, but outside of that, it was all England, who quickly trimmed the lead to 131.
Twenty minutes later, upon the resumption of play, the combination of floodlights, a still newish pink ball and a suddenly misbehaving pitch changed the tone of the contest.
Doggett and Boland had the ball cutting and seaming, and it was the Victorian who made the breakthrough, as a ball to Duckett kept very low and flicked off the bottom of the left-hander’s bat and onto the stumps.
Crawley looked to have struck a nice balance of patience and stroke-play, putting the bad balls away while also being prepared to leave and defend in the challenging conditions.
Ollie Pope (26) looked a little streakier, but he too was playing with an impulsiveness that allowed the visitors to eat away at the deficit quickly. Together they moved England to within 100 but the number three was living dangerously, slashing and missing from Starc and then getting away with a couple of loose drives from decent Doggett deliveries.
From Neser though, he tried one shot too many, driving aerially again but within the reach of the bowler, who hung on this time for an excellent return catch.
A short time later, after stringing together a succession of perfectly pitched deliveries, Neser had a second caught and bowled when Crawley pushed forward and the Queenslander collected the ball in the middle of his right hand.
England were 3-97, trailing by 80, and for the tourists, so much rested on the fate of the next pair – Joe Root and Brook. And just for a moment, the Australians thought they had Brook first ball, as Neser seamed one back and Carey – up to the stumps – took a remarkable catch. Those behind the wicket went up in unison but Neser had seen ball flick pad, not bat, and the England number five survived.
Exactly five overs later, Root did not. From around the wicket, Starc had been bowling short of a length to the first-innings centurion, and then from the penultimate delivery, he pushed one fuller and wider. Root (15) took the bait, nicked, and Carey did the rest. The edge went undetected by umpire Holdstock but replays confirmed Australia had their most prized wicket, Starc dismissing Root for the 11th time in Tests.
Brook (15) was next to go. The Australian quicks were causing plenty of issues, finding movement off the pitch, and from consecutive balls Boland beat the right-hander’s outside edge.
The first resulted in a huge appeal, Brook was given out, but he quickly – and confidently – opted for a review, which showed plenty of daylight between bat and ball.
The next ball was a little fuller, on the same line, and this time Brook edged through to Carey, who made no mistake. Again umpire S Saikat was mistaken, giving the batter not out on this occasion, only for replays and Snicko technology to confirm the dismissal.
In the space of three overs, England’s key pair had been removed, and Australia took one more step towards victory when Starc had Jamie Smith (4) caught behind pushing forward to a fuller ball that caught his outside edge.
Standing at the other end, watching Brook and then Smith depart, was Stokes, who crawled to four for 24 balls, with his focus firmly fixed on the battle that lies ahead.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (second Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
