The first day of Boxing Day concluded with both Australia and England getting bundled out in their respective first innings. Australia ended the first day with four runs on the board. Scott Boland came out to open the batting with Travis Head, and the second day started with both batters in the middle.
Australia lost their first wicket for 22 runs as Boland got out for six runs off 17 deliveries. Jake Weatherald and Maruns Labuschagne were the next to depart and got out for a single-digit score. The Australian batters followed the same script as in the first innings. The first six Australian wickets fell even before 100 runs were put on the board.
Head emerged as the highest scorer for the team with a knock of 46 runs off 67 deliveries. The other two batters who had a double-digit score to their name were Steve Smith (24 runs) and Cameron Green (19 runs). Australia got bundled out for 132 runs in the second innings. Brydon Carse was the pick of the bowlers for England and took four wickets for 34 runs. Ben Stokes picked up three wickets, while Josh Tongue took two wickets.
England Registered Their First Win In The Series Within Two Days
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett added 51 runs for the first wicket. It was the first time the English openers had put on a 50+ partnership in the series. Duckett scored 34 runs off 26 deliveries and was the first to depart. Carse came out to bat after Duckett’s departure and got out for six runs. Crawley played a knock of 37 runs off 48 deliveries and hit one six and three fours.
Jacob Bethell hit 40 runs off 46 deliveries and was the highest scorer for England in the second innings. England took 32.2 overs to reach the target of 175 runs with four wickets in hand. Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, and Scott Boland took two wickets each. Tongue took a total of seven wickets in the match and won the Player of the Match award.
