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Neser five-for trumps England’s belated resistance as Australia take 2-0 lead
England batted against type and belatedly produced a rearguard, but it was in vain as seamer Michael Neser justified his contentious selection with a five-wicket haul to lead Australia to a crushing second Test victory.
Just six days in, Australia have a stranglehold of an Ashes series that is quickly becoming decidedly one-sided. But they were made to work on day four with England skipper Ben Stokesand Will Jacks stonewalling for almost half a day in a 96-run seventh-wicket partnership lasting almost 37 overs.
But Neser, surprisingly selected ahead of offspinner Nathan Lyon, dismissed both batters as England quickly fell away much like they have done numerous times in this series. Neser was sensational on the back of a deadly spell with the pink ball under lights on day three.
He was aided by outstanding fielding, a notable contrast between the teams after England dropped five catches in Australia’s first innings.
Skipper Steven Smith snatched a stunning one-hander low to his left to end Jacks’ 92-ball grind, while wicketkeeper Alex Carey completed a stellar effort with the gloves by holding on to a nick up at the stumps to dismiss Stokes.
Any hope of a miracle ended with the sight of a forlorn Stokes trudging off the Gabba having given his all with 50 off 152 balls.
Needing just 65 runs for victory, Travis Head came out blazing as Australia raced to 33 for 0 after five overs but dinner was still taken despite fears of stormy weather closing in on the Brisbane area.
Head could not carry over the momentum on resumption, chopping on to Gus Atkinson who also nicked off Marnus Labuschagne. There were unexpected late fireworks when Smith and Jofra Archer had a war of words.
But Smith, fittingly, came out on top with a hooked six off a 150 kph Archer bumper before sealing the victory in style with a huge blow over deep square off Atkinson. Smith finished 23 not out off just nine balls to ensure England left the field in need of plenty of soul searching ahead of the third Test in Adelaide.
England will rue several passages of brainless play earlier in the match as their hopes of regaining the Ashes appear shot. Had they batted with the application and grit that Stokes and Jacks exhibited earlier than the match might have taken a different course.
But Australia thoroughly deserved their victory after such an even team performance. They outclassed and outsmarted England in another impressive effort without quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Smith continues to provide an excellent stand-in for Cummins as Australia’s mastery and experience of day-night cricket overwhelmed a ragged England.
The main question at the start of the day was how long would play last with the result basically a formality. England resumed their second innings in dire trouble at 134 for 6 and still 43 runs from making Australia bat again. With the knives out, a beleaguered England’s only hope seemingly rested on Stokes replicating his Headingley-esque heroics.
Going against type, a backs-to-the-wall approach was needed. Unlike a slew of his team-mates, Stokes had been very watchful late on day three to survive Australia’s onslaught and finish unbeaten on 4 from 24 balls. Under the baking sun, Stokes encountered far easier conditions with minimal swing on offer in a sedate start to the day’s play.
He crawled to 12 off 50 balls before cracking a superb cover drive off Brendan Doggett in the highlight of a dour 28-run opening hour. There wasn’t much out of the ordinary apart from when Stokes backed away anticipating a bouncer and proceeded to forehand smash the ball, forcing Doggett to do his own fielding to the boundary at long-off.
Australia’s quicks bowled excellently without reward and they tried different tactics in search of a breakthrough. In what had seemed unlikely at the start of the day, England hauled in the deficit prompting a standing ovation from the Barmy Army.
The 50-run partnership between Stokes and Jacks was brought up a run later to a ripple of mostly ironic cheers from the terraces. They scored at 2.45 – the slowest scoring rate of the 164 partnerships of 50-plus in the Bazball era.
Stokes had a nervous moment just before the elongated tea break when a short delivery from Scott Boland hit the shoulder of his bat and flew over a leaping Cameron Green in the gully.
With a wicket proving elusive for the quicks, Smith might have wished he could throw the ball to Lyon but, instead, he gave Head’s part-time spin a go. Labuschagne also unfurled his seam bowling in the last over before tea as Stokes and Jacks defied the odds in the first wicketless session of the series.
It was much the same early in the second session with Stokes digging in while Jacks, playing just his third Test, looked composed and balanced at the crease. Jacks brought up his first boundary of the day when he clipped beautifully through midwicket as he passed his previous Test high score of 31.
Smith had started to look frustrated in the field, but his mood brightened considerably when he took it upon himself to produce a moment of magic to end Jacks’ resistance.
Stokes had barely acknowledged his hard-fought half-century, knowing there was so much work still to do. But he soon walked off disappointed after falling to Neser, throwing his head back in agony with the bitter realisation that the match was effectively over.
England lost their last 4 for 17 in their latest collapse as Neser claimed his first five-wicket innings haul of his brief Test career when he dismissed Brydon Carse.
Smith equalled Rahul Dravid to sit second all time in outfield catches and he celebrated with gusto knowing Australia were on the brink of another big win over their hapless opponent.
Brief scores:
Australia 511 (Mitchell Starc 77, Jake Weatherald 72, Marnus Labuschagne 65, Steven Smith 61, Alex Carey 63; Brydon Carse 4-152, Ben Stokes 3-113) and 69 for 2 beat England 334 (Joe Root 138*, Zak Crawley 76 Mitchell Starc 6-75) and 241 (Ben Stokes 50, Michael Neser 5-42) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
The head of Turkiye’s football refereeing body and four other officials have been placed in pretrial detention by a court as part of a corruption investigation, the state news agency Anadolu reports.
Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared before a judge over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration process, Anadolu said on Saturday.
They appeared on Friday before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse on several charges, including forgery of official documents, breach of trust and illegal acquisition of personal data, the report said.
The judge remanded five people in custody and granted the other two conditional release, Anadolu said.
It was the latest scandal to shake football in Turkiye, coming exactly a year after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.
On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, media reports said.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments as well as the exams on rules”.
During raids on Tuesday, police searched the VAR room at TFF’s headquarters in Istanbul. Observers said the investigation was likely linked to last year’s betting scandal and would have implications for the federation.
“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told the AFP news agency.
Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the issue called The Gambling Pit, said it was unlikely that federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.
So far, the TFF has not directly addressed the arrests as its top officials are due to fly home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.
[Aljazeera]
A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.
New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.
Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.
The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.
“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.
“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”
“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.
[Aljazeera]
Polls have opened in Latvia for an election taking place against the backdrop of perceived security threats from Russia and a nationwide cost-of-living squeeze.
Saturday’s vote is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs after coming to power in May this year when his predecessor resigned due to a backlash from stray drone incursions from Ukraine.
Kulbergs, whose right-wing United List party is currently polling at about 20 percent, is expected to hold onto his position, but the decline of two allies in his current coalition means he is set for a complicated negotiation over the makeup of any future government.
Polls opened at 05:00 GMT and will close at 17:00 GMT. The results are not expected to change Latvia’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.
About 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Latvian politics are highly fragmented, with parties rarely seeing above 20 percent vote share and coalitions being the norm.
This year, 14 electoral lists are contesting the election, but polls indicate only seven are likely to enter parliament, with the rest expected to fail to meet the minimum 5 percent vote threshold.
Rising living costs, low wages, strains on the healthcare system and long-term population decline have all featured prominently in campaign debates.
Most parties in Latvia are pro-Ukraine; however, the populist Sovereign Power party – which says it wants Ukraine to win but argues money spent supporting Kyiv would be better spent at home – looks likely to become the country’s second-biggest party, with more than 9 percent of the vote. Most other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with Sovereign Power.
Latvia First, a pro-Ukraine and populist nationalist party currently polling at about 9 percent, could be a potential coalition partner for PM Kulbergs.
The Progressives, a pro-European social democratic party, are polling at 6 percent.
Ethnic Russians make up roughly one in four Latvian citizens, but their vote, which has traditionally been cast along identity-based lines, looks set to be made according to economic and social issues.
Latvia is the poorest of the Baltic states, and it has sharply increased its defence spending since Russia invaded Ukraine, now allocating nearly 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence.
[Aljazeera]
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