Ashes 5th Test: Australia's resilient defence keeps England bowlers at bay
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ustralia battles with a defensive approach while England continues to push for wickets in a session that lacked high-intensity encounters at the Oval on Day 2 of the fifth Ashes Test on Friday.
At the end of the first session, Australia registered a score of 115/2 with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja unbeaten at the crease with scores of 13* and 47* respectively.
Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne kicked off Day 2 looking to chase down the massive trail of 222 runs.
Labuschagne solely depended on his defensive technique to face the fierce English bowling line-up. Khawaja on the other hand took up the role of scoring boundaries.
Their innings progressed steadily with both batters taking their time on the pitch and dictating the run rate according to their own terms. Their partnership was a complete contrast to England's 'Bazball' approach.
They got to the drinks with 21 runs after facing 14 overs. Both batters were quite comfortable defending against England's bowling length which was slightly short of the length.
Before Australia reached the three-digit mark, Mark Wood removed Labuschagne from the pitch for a score of 9 after facing 82 balls.
Wood found a thick outside edge, Bairstow decided to hold his ground, Root saw the opportunity a little too late as he snatched the ball with his left hand to end Labuschagne's stay on the pitch.
Steve Smith came in to replace the departing batter and played two beautiful straight drives to push Australia's scoring rate.
Australia scored a total of 54 runs in the entire first session. Labuschagne ended up with the third-lowest strike rate for an Australian batter in an Ashes innings after facing a minimum of 75 balls.
Brief Score England 283 vs Australia 115/2 .
✔️ Ashes 5th Test: Australia's resilient defence keeps England bowlers at bay
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