Ashes: Australia need four wickets to win second Test (Dinner, Day 5)
Dec 20, 2021
Adelaide [Australia], December 20 : Australia picked two wickets in the opening session of Day Five of the ongoing second Ashes Test before Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler fought for England's survival on Monday.
At the dinner break, England's score reads 142/6 with Buttler (16*) and Woakes (28*) still on the crease. England need 326 runs to win while Australia require four wickets for victory.
Resuming Day Five, England got off to a bad start that only worsened with time before Buttler and Woakes fought back.
On Sunday, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, and Jhye Richardson were the standout performers as Australia gained full control on the second Test.
Resuming the final session (Day Four) at 20/1, Rory Burns and Dawid Malan (20) added 28 more runs to the total, before the latter was sent back to the pavilion by Michael Neser. Skipper Joe Root then walked out to the middle and along with Rory Burns, he added 22 runs for the third wicket.
As soon as England started to gain some momentum, Jhye Richardson got the prized scalp of Burns (34) in the 31st over and England was reduced to 70/3, still needing 398 runs for the win.
Right before stumps, England skipper Joe Root (24) was scalped by Mitchell Starc and Australia is now just six wickets away from going 2-0 up in the series.
Brief Scores: Australia 473/9d and 230/9d; England 236 and 142/6 (Rory Burns 34, Chris Woakes 28*; Jhye Richardson 2-29).