Australia maintain dominance despite brief NZ resistance T1D2

New Zealand 5/157 (45ov, Williamson 55*/70b/9x4, Latham 47/93b/3x4, Starc 2/30, Johnson 2/52) trail Australia 4/556 dec,( 130.2 ov, Khawaja 174/239b, 2x6 16x4, Warner 163,Voges 83*/127b/11x4, Burns 71, Smith 48/78b/,8x4) by 399 runs with 5 1st inns wkts in hand:) T21/3D2/5 at the Gabba .

Another very. good day for Australia, for whom Usman Khawaja and Adam Voges batted on freely before Steve Smith declared. The top three in the New Zealand order showed some fortitude, but only Kane Williamson survived until stumps as Mitchells Johnson and Starc got their second winds  and took two wickets apiece, regaining whatever initiative Australia might have lost.

Australia batted imperiously, and took the New Zealand attack apart. Trent Boult bowled better today, but he could hardly have bowled any worse than he did on D1. Tim Southee, the pick of a poor bunch, is now injured, Doug Bracewell was at best steady, while Mark Craig was unable to bowl a consistent line and length to optimise the turn he sometimes extracted from the pitch.

Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum looked more like lower order debutants than NZ's most experienced batters. They both, especially Taylor, were all at sea against Johnson, who removed them in short order at a time when Richardson was in desperate need of support. 

NZ are now 399 in arrears, with most of their batting gone, and their confidence undoubtedly dented. 

The best they can hope for is a draw, and that will require assistance from the weather not to mention much more second innings resolution from all the batters. Unlikely.

Scorecard

England, as expected, win convincingly to take 2-1 lead: T3 D3

England 281 & 2/124 (32.1ov, Bell 65*/90b/10x4, Root 38*) beat Australia 136 & 265 (79.1ov, Warner 77, Nevill 59/147b/7x4, Starc 58/108b/1x6 6x4, Finn 21-3-79-6) by 8 wkts; T3/5 D3/5 at Edgbaston. England lead Ashes series 2-1. Player of the match: Steven Finn.

It was inevitable, given the match situation at the start of play, that England would win. It was small comfort to Australia that they made England wait two sessions to claim victory. The greater part of that comfort came form the lower order batting, not the bowling, as Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc showed more resistance than those ahead of them in the order.

When England began its modest run chase most Australian supporters would have wished for a tight contest. There was a sniff of that when both openers fell, but Ian Bell, tasking advantage of a letoff in the slips, struck out again and saw them home.

Jimmy Anderson will miss the next Test, and perhaps the rest of the series. For all the talk about his record, and properly acknowledging his great bowling the first innings of this match, I believe that Stuart Broad has been the most consistent threat across the three Tests to date.

And Australia? Adam Voges should be replaced, and perhaps one or two others - but not Michael Clarke who I believe is a class batter, despite his bodily infirmities (about which there has been surprisingly little media comment). Remember the saying: form is temporary, class is permanent.

Scorecard