Here comes a day that completely belonged to England, with a brilliant all round performance with both ball and the bat! This is such a massive comeback from the visitors after losing the first 3 Test matches of this ongoing series!
England’s debutant started Australia’s collapse on Day 2 picking up the wicket of Steven Smith which is also his maiden Test wicket and then Stuart Board turned the tide in favour of England with 3 quick wickets to make his wickets tally to 4 in the first innings.
In England’s 1st innings, Nathan Lyon took a brilliant caught & bowled chance to dismiss Mark Stoneman before Josh Hazlewood trapped James Vince for an LBW! Later Engalnd’s most experienced pair, Alastair Cook and Joe Root batted till the stumps to ensure that the day belonged to them!
England are 192/2 at Stumps on Day 2 with Alastair Cook batting on 104* and their captain Joe Root batting on 49*. I have compiled some of the stats from the play on Day 2:
67 – Australia have lost their last 7 wickets for just 67 runs on the board! Australia were 260/3 at one stage and eventually bowled out for 327. This dramatic collapse started by the debutant Tom Curran early on Day 2 with the wicket of Steven Smith.
4/51 – Stuart Broad has come back to life with 4 wickets in the first innings! This is his first 4-wkt haul in a Test innings since his 4/33 against India in Visakhapatnam in November 2016! This can be termed as a ‘career-saving-bowling-spell’ !!
104* – Alastair Cook is batting on 104* at stumps on Day 2. This is his first century at Melbourne Cricket Ground going past his previous best of 82 which was scored in 2010.
112* – Alastair Cook and Joe Root have together added the first fifty-plus partnership for the third wicket for England since 248 (by the same pair, Cook & Root) against West Indies in August 2017!
5 – Alastair Cook with his 32nd Test century today became the only batsman other than Sunil Gavaskar to score five centuries in five different Test venues. Here are Cook’s five centuries in Australia:
| Runs | Balls Faced | Venue | Year |
| 116 | 290 | Perth | 2006 |
| 235* | 428 | Brisbane | 2010 |
| 148 | 269 | Adelaide | 2010 |
| 189 | 342 | Sydney | 2011 |
| 104* (batting) | 166 | Melbourne | 2017 |
30 – Alistair Cook now have 30 centuries as an opener in Tests in level with Australia’s Matthew Hayden. Only Sunil Gavaskar (33) has scored more centuries as an opener.
