Things got really intense and heated in the middle on the second day of the fifth and final Test of the Ashes at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday. In the final session of Day 2 and only less than 30 minutes left for stumps, the floodlights came into effect during the evening session amid gloomy conditions, Head and Labuschagne completed a hundred run partnership and were scoring runs quite easily, scoring at better than five runs per over. England wasted a review for an LBW shout that was sliding down leg of Labuschagne. After the 29th over Stokes and Labuschagne had a heated confrontation in the middle, seemingly disagreeing about the bad light.
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In the lead up to the incident, Travis Head smashed Stokes for a boundary of the final ball of the over, a delivery that was sliding down leg. The England captain was visibly not happy with that ball down leg and he chirped something towards the left-handed batter, only to get back verbal volleys in return. Marnus Labuschagne came in and started the verbal confrontation with Ben Stokes.
A few overs later, Marnus Labuschagne tried to drive outside the off stump at a wide delivery from Stokes and edged towards gully for 48, with the English skipper giving him a glare before celebrating with his teammates. Marnus was shocked and standing in disbelief as he had issues with the light and felt they should have gone back earlier for stumps.
“Marnus Labuschagne is hanging around like, ‘I shouldn’t be out here’, but you can’t play the game that way. You’re out there. You’re playing. You’ve got to get on with it.” Mark Waugh said in commentary.
The dismissal brought night watchman Neser to the middle, who fulfilled his duty and survived through to stumps but copped a blow to his elbow in the final over before stumps was called in. But the day belonged t o Australia and one would assume Ben Stokes has won the battle against Labuschagne but his side are behind at the moment and tomorrow is a crucial day.
Travis Head has cemented his opening after another swashbuckling performance on day two of the Ashes Test at the SCG, as he is nearing a 12th Test hundred. Head also went past 500 runs for this series and has been a nightmare for England’s bowlers all summer. He scored an unbeaten 91 from 87 balls. Head will resume the batting tomorrow with Neser at the crease.
