It looks quite evident that the Australian team will be easily able to reach the target on Day 5. Winning the first match is certainly going to put a lot of pressure on the other team. That is because, to get ahead in the series, England would need to ensure that they get consecutive wins. Only then they’ll be able to bring the series score to 4-1.
Positives for Australia
There is no doubt that only a miracle can stop Australia from winning the match. Even though Steve Smith was not able to get runs in this match, the rest of the Australian team went on to perform really well. Especially, Usman Khwaja has played fantastic knocks in both innings.
Bowling
In both batting and bowling areas, Australia has been good. But specially it has been the bowling that was exceptional. In the first inning, Lyon went on to bowl really well. He was able to get 4 wickets. He missed out on his 5-wicket haul but went on to do the damage for the rest of the match.
Even in the second inning, Lyon got 4 wickets. There is no doubt, if Australia wins, then he is certainly one of the contenders to win the Man of the Match title.
Batting
In the batting area, Australians might not have played as a unit, but there were some important contributions, to push the team till the end. The innings of Khawaja, and Alex Carey, really helped the team to perform well.
Lessons for England
Even though the match is still not over, there is still a ray of hope for England. However, if England manages to win this match, then it is going to be mainly because of bowling. There is no doubt that the Bazball experiment was not very successful in this match.
So, let’s wait for the end of the final day. This is going to give us a good idea about whose strategy was better.