Ashes 2nd Test Day 5 Highlights: Australia survives Stokes storm to beat England, takes 2-0 lead

Starc gets through Tongue’s defence and that is it. Australia has taken a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.

Ben Stokes threatened another miracle for most of the morning. Bairstow’s ‘controversial’ dismissal added to the fire. But once he fell, it was only a matter of time.

Australia, the World Test Champions, is well and truly on the way to retain the Ashes.

This isn’t over, isn’t it. Tongue and Anderson are sticking around and are making runs while they are there.

England still needs 47 runs to win. Australia needs just one wicket.

Tongue and Anderson keep the fight going. Starc jams a bouncer into the surface and it hits Anderson on the helmet. A prolonged break as the English pacer gets checked for concussion. He is fine and gets a new helmet.

Broad faces a barrage of short balls and his resolve finally fade. Top edge off Hazlewood and Green gobbles it up. This has been anti-climatic.

Robinson doesn’t stay out for too long. Bouncer and he can only find Smith in the deep. Australia just two wickets away from a win.

Stokes takes a single to bring England’s 300. Not many would have expected the home side to get here. But here we are.

Hazlewood goes length and Stokes can only slice it up. It is high in the air and Carey circles under it. He completes the catch. End of a spectacular knock from the English skipper.

Broad taps Starc into the gap. But Stokes refuses to risk taking a single or a double as it was the last ball of the over.

Hazlewood delivers a quiet over as Australia stems the flow of boundaries.

Starc gets a go at Broad. Beaten first ball. Broad sneaks a single next one. That is the 100-run partnership. The crowd shows its appreciation.

Green with the next over. Wide on the off and Stokes taps it for a couple. That is his 150. He receives a well-deserved standing ovation.

Stokes takes on Starc and he is rewarded with two sixes. Both far and wide off the square leg fence. He is two runs away from an unbelievable 150.

Starc into the attack. Stokes unable to get a boundary there. Broad copes a blow on his helmet, again. He has provided the perfect foil to Stokes.

Cummins from the other end. Australia has succeeded in starving Stokes of the boundaries, which has forced him to rely on taking singles. That in turn has given Australia a chance to have a couple of go at Broad.

Cummins up against Stokes. Yorker followed by short ball. Stokes takes a single. Showing confidence in Broad’s batting abilities? Broad repays the faith by seeing out the rest of the over.

Hazlewood up next. Swing and miss first ball. A quickly run double and a single come in that over. England’s target has trickled down to below 100 and the fans are loving it.

Broad adds to the joy with a top-edged boundary. The momentum is clearly in England’s favour.

On the slot from Hazlewood and Stokes blasts it over long on for a huge six.

Hazlewood goes a tad short. It is an easy catch for Smith, but he drops it. WOULD THAT BE A COSTLY ONE??

Hazlewood goes back of a length and Stokes launches it into the second tier. The packed leg-side field can only stand and watch. He goes short on the leg side and Stokes guides it over deep fine leg fence for another SIX!!. Absolute Carnage.

Hazlewood begins the second session for Australia. Can Stokes pull off another miracle?

An eventful first session comes to an end. Two wickets, one a controversial one. Stokes turned it up after the fall of Bairstow. The highlight being a hat-trick of sixes against Green.

England still needs 128 runs to win. But it still has Stokes out in the middle. Australia will have visions of Edgbaston 2019.

ENGLAND 243/6, NEEDS 128 RUNS TO WIN

Stokes smashes another boundary. This time thanks to a misfield from Hazlewood.

Short from Green and Stokes rocks back before smashing it for a six over deep mid wicket. Another short one and hooked. Six more.

Green goes short again and Stokes tonks it away for another six. Three in a row.

New-to-the-crease Broad is greeted with a nasty short ball from Green. Smashes right on to his helmet.

Stokes has decided its time for some action. Thunders Green for back-to-back boundaries. Bairstow’s dismissal has changed his plan of action.

Stokes is refusing a single. He is farming the strike. Can he do an ‘Edgbaston’ again?

Bairstow ducks under a short ball from Green. He then walks away from the crease and Carey knocks over the stumps with an underarm throw. Bairstow claims the ball was dead as he thought it was the end of the over.

The umpire refers it upstairs and it is given out. This is going to be controversial!!

Bairstow has to walk back!

Cummins jags one back in and it hits Stokes right on his elbow. That must have hurt. Stokes goes down on the floor, but is instantly back up.

New-batter Bairstow has quickly sinked into the battle, getting off to a good start.

Duckett falls to a short ball again. This time it required a spectacular diving catch from Carey to send the English opener this time.

Australia finally break through!

England gets to drinks without losing further wickets. Duckett and Stokes are turning the tables on Australia, slowly.

Duckett has looked in mastely control. No panic and has played his shots unhurried.

Green with a short ball. Stokes pulls it away for a single. That is his fifty. A captain’s knock from Stokes.

Duckett continues on with his aggressive touch. He pulls a not-so-short ball from Hazlewood behind square for a boundary. He has had a impeccable match so far.

The English batters haven’t panicked against short balls today.

Cummins squares up Stokes. Draws an outside edge, which trickles away through the gully region for a four.

Australia hasn’t had much luck this morning as Duckett and Stokes continue to whittle down the target.

Cummins drags it back a little short and Duckett is quick to punish with a controlled pull shot. FOUR MORE!!

On the pad from Starc. Stokes looks in trouble. Umpire gives it out. But there was an edge there and the England skipper survives.

Starc hits Stokes on the pads. Muffled appeals. Looks like there was an inside edge.

Starc goes full and Stokes unleashes a full-faced straight drive. Skips past the infield for a four. On the pads next up and that too is clipped away for a four. Positive start from England.

Starc with the ball for Australia. He will be looking to recap the opening spell from yesterday. Duckett and Stokes will look to keep things moving as England looks to take on this massive target.

England off-spinner Moeen Ali should be fit to face Australia in the third test at Headingley with his finger injury healing well, according to bowling coach Jeetan Patel.

Moeen, recalled to the test squad after a back injury to Jack Leach, suffered a cut finger in the opening test at Edgbaston and was not selected for the ongoing Lord’s clash.

“Fingers crossed that in the next couple of days, he gets to rest it and he gets to Headingley and he’s ready to go,” Patel said on Saturday.

Australian cricketer Nathan Lyon was told by his skipper Pat Cummins not to bat with a significant calf strain in the ongoing second Test against England but the veteran spinner ended up doing that to “support” his teammates.

Lyon, playing in his 100th consecutive Test, is suspected to have torn his right calf while running to catch a ball on day two of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.

But on Saturday, he hobbled onto the batting crease and helped Australia add 15 runs to increase their lead to 370 runs.

Lyon was the last man out for four runs, his cameo finishing Australia’s second innings on 279.

A masterclass of pace bowling put Australia on course to go 2-0 up in the Ashes after an England team chasing 371 runs to win was reduced to 114-4 in the second test at Lord’s on Saturday.

Australia thought it had a fifth wicket 13 minutes before stumps when Mitchell Starc caught Ben Duckett’s ramp on the fine leg boundary. Starc made the catch in both hands but used the ball hand to slow his skid on his knees. That action made the third umpire decide it wasn’t a clean catch.

Duckett was unbeaten on 50 after he also was almost caught in the first over, and captain Ben Stokes on 29.