Ashes 2023 second Test as it happened: Australia go 2-0 up after wild scenes at Lord’s

Jonny Bairstow was sensationally stumped by Alex Carey as he wandered out of his crease after ducking a bouncer by Cameron Green. It was the final ball of the over, but the umpire had not called the end of the over and Carey underarmed the ball towards the stumps as soon as he had taken it.

The umpires called for the third umpire Marais Erasmus to judge the run out as Bairstow remonstrated with Australia’s players. When the “out” decision was conveyed, Lord’s erupted in a chorus of booing.

Wicketkeepers often try to get the striking batter out this way, Bairstow included, but seldom does the ball hit the stumps with the batter out of their crease. The decision was something of an echo of Mitchell Starc’s overruled catch on the fourth evening - technically the correct decision, but in a grey area where plenty will disagree.

That’s all for now from the Maroubra bureau, but plenty more to come from the home of cricket.

Plenty being said by England players and fans, not least Stuart Broad who says he would have withdrawn the appeal against Jonny Bairstow if he was walking in Pat Cummins’ shoes. No comment on that for now.

Amid all the drama and argy-bargy, Ben Stokes has played one of the all-time Ashes innings. Nathan Lyon is gone for the series. Steve Smith is back in form with the bat. We’ve been treated to two days of short-pitched bowling that is tough on the eye and the batters. Oh and there were protestors. Remember that? It was only five days ago.

What a game. We go again - and it’s 2-0 to Australia - in just three days’ time in Leeds. Giddy up.

Australia did not cheat when Alex Carey stumped Jonny Bairstow after a Cameron Green bouncer on the unforgettable final day at Lord’s. But they did do something almost as pivotal to the outcome of this Ashes series: they made Ben Stokes angry.

That change in Stokes’ mood turned a likely huge margin of victory at Lord’s into an uncomfortably close-run thing for the Australians. It has lit the fire underneath this series even though the 2-0 margin is historically an almost insurmountable one.

The ugly scenes in the Lord’s Long Room at lunch, as MCC members abused the Australians and were alleged to have physically jostled with some, were a reminder of the deep feeling that exists in Ashes contests beneath the reserved exterior of the home of cricket. But it was Stokes’ reaction that matters more.

Only once in all Ashes series, when Don Bradman led Australia at home in 1936-37, has that deficit been reeled in and overtaken. But in Stokes England have a leader and player who, as shown here, will always think himself capable of the impossible.

From the moment a nonplussed Bairstow remonstrated with the Australians after an alert Carey had under-armed the stumps down, Stokes turned a fighting captain’s innings into a breathtaking reprise of his 2019 Headingley epic.

Read Dan Brettig’s full analysis here.

And that’s it. Mitchell Starc bowls Josh Tongue, he plays on and Australia claim an incredible 43-run win. England are all out for 327 and a phenomenal day’s play comes to an end.

Tongue out swinging as Starc finally targets the stumps. A 2-0 series lead, with the Ashes already in their keeping, has Australia in a nigh-unassailable position with three games left in the series. Ben Stokes gave them an almighty scare though, memories of Headingley loomed large.

Australia win by 43 runs.

The second new ball is able to be taken but Cameron Green continues with the old rock. Anderson and Tongue are hanging in there and making nuisances of themselves. Case in point, see below.

Starc almost has Anderson playing on, ball somehow misses the leg stump as he tried to avoid a bouncer. Hazlewood had some glove from Anderson an over earlier but his hand had come off the bat, so play on.

England: 9-323 (Tongue 17*, Anderson 2*), England need 48 runs to win

England are hanging on, Anderson and Tongue gamely backing away and swiping or fending awkwardly. Meanwhile, this from Ben Stokes, is just wild.

More than three quarters of his 155 runs were scored on the leg-side.

Another falls without addition to the score. Stuart Broad has batted pretty well for two hours but is gone hooking as well. That was a rip-snorter from Josh Hazlewood.

Caught at fine leg by Cameron Green. Lord’s has gone silent, and just one wicket left. The short-pitched stuff won’t be going away anytime soon. Even with Stokes trouncing it every which way.

England: 9-302 (Broad 11*, Tongue 0), England need 69 runs to win