Image: Cricket – Ashes test match – Australia v England – Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia, December 3, 2017. England’s James Anderson reacts after an LBW appeal was unsuccessful against Australia’s Tim Paine during the second day of the second Ashes cricket test match. REUTERS/David Gray
By Nick Mulvenney
ADELAIDE (Reuters) – England struck early with the second new ball but Tim Paine and Shaun Marsh put together a sixth wicket partnership of 85 to help push Australia to 306 for six at tea on the second day of the first Ashes day-night test on Sunday.
Paine completed his third test half century – seven years after his second – before holing out in the deep for 57 half an hour before the break, leaving Marsh, who will resume on 49, and Mitchell Starc (four not out) to see out the session.
Stuart Broad removed Peter Handscomb lbw for 36 with the third ball of the day but even though England’s pace attack put in a much improved performance compared to day one, Paine and Marsh confounded them with a bit of help from the DRS.
Both were given out lbw to James Anderson in an opening session extended to make up for the rain disruption on Saturday and both survived on appeal when tracking showed the ball would have gone over the stumps.
Paine played in pain for a large part of the session, twice taking the ball full on the same finger, but hit a thumping six over long-on to move to 48 and reached the half century mark in the next over with two runs through mid-on.
Craig Overton, whose dismissal of Australia captain Steve Smith was one of the tourists’ highlights of day one, got his second test wicket to remove the 32-year-old wicketkeeper.
The debutant seamer put in a shorter delivery which Paine sat back and pulled straight to Moeen Ali, who was waiting at deep square leg to take the catch.
Marsh, whose recall for the first two tests of the series was as controversial as that of Paine, pushed Australia over the 300 mark with a single just before the break and will be looking to complete his ninth half century in the second session.
Australia won the first of the five tests by 10 wickets in Brisbane on Monday.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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