Saturday 10 August 2013

Rogers maiden ton puts Australia in strong position

Australia opener Chris Rogers' maiden Test century put his side in a strong position at the end of day two of the 4th Investec Ashes Test.

The Baggy Greens had the perfect start to the second morning when Jackson Bird clean bowled James Anderson for 16 as the Three Lions failed to add to their overnight score of 238.

England hit straight back at Australia though through Stuart Broad who grabbed the early wickets of David Warner and Usman Khawaja to leave Michael Clarke's side 12-2.


Clarke and Rogers led the Aussies the 40-run mark before Broad struck again to remove Clarke as he edged the ball to Alastair Cook for six.

Steve Smith and Rogers steadied the ship until lunch but after the break Smith fell to Tim Bresnan for 13 leaving the Aussies 76-4.

All-rounder Shane Watson dropped down the order to number six and looked comfortable at the crease with the impressive Rogers, who eased his way to a half century.

The duo continued to punish the England bowlers moving racking up their 100 partnership as Watson joined Rogers in passing 50.

However, Broad returned to the attack and got the wicket of Watson as he attempted to clip the ball off his legs and could only edge the ball to Matt Prior for 68.

Rogers struggled to get off 96 as England turned up the pressure on him but he finally managed to find the boundary to bring up his first Test century.

Bad light at 6pm ended the day as the umpires brought the players off the field with Australia 222-5.


No comments:

Post a Comment