Ashes 2023 2nd Test Day 4 Stumps: Stage is set for Stokes to repeat his Headingley heroics
Ashes 2023: Wickets falling in clusters, batters spending time in the middle, runs getting scored at a fast pace, a lot of oohs and aahs, dropped catches, excellent catches, and a controversy to end the day. It was a near perfect day 4 at the Lord’s in the ongoing second Ashes test match between England and Australia.
The day, however, belonged to Australia as they continued their dominance over England in this test match as well as the series. Australia began the day with a lead of 221 runs and would have wanted to reach the 400-mark, to say the least, but managed to set England a target of only 371 runs.
Nathan Lyon showed a huge level of patriotism and dedication towards his team by coming on to bat even when he could not even properly walk. He added 15 runs for the last wicket, which could prove crucial in this match.
The English chase did not start well, as Zak Crawley was out in just the third over of the inning. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were all over England in their opening spell and took four wickets until the 13th over of the English innings.
Shot of the Ashes 😂 #AusvsEng #Ashes2023 pic.twitter.com/r7mjshSEZp
— Vivek Sharma (@VivekSharma9929) June 30, 2023
It seemed like England could go 2-0 down in the series yesterday, but captain Stokes and Ben Duckett batted beautifully and sensibly to build a partnership and end the day with no more wickets. England’s score is 114/4 currently, and they need 257 runs more to equal the Ashes 2023 by 1-1.
The day ended with a catch controversy where Ben Duckett was caught by Starc off Cameron Green, but the catch was not clean as Starc was not in control of his movement, so Duckett was not out.
It is now perfectly set up for a highly anticipated day 5 at the Lord’s where Ben Stokes will be the most important player, and every cricket fan is currently having Headingley flashbacks where Stokes single-handedly beat Australia chasing a mammoth total.
For Australia, these two batters and Jonny Bairstow are the only wickets they will need to work hard for, as England have a long tail. This tail will need to make some contributions if required to achieve this famous victory.
Cummins 2019 & Cummins 2023 #Ashes pic.twitter.com/Jsqz82UMDJ
— Josh Schönafinger (@joshschon) July 1, 2023
