England fight back but Australia extend lead to 152

Australia’s Pat Cummins (right) celebrates dismissing England batsman Joe Root on the second day of the fifth Ashes Test in Hobart yesterday. (AFP)

England fought back to take three Australian wickets in the final session but still trail by 152 runs at the end of day two of the fifth and final Ashes Test in Hobart yesterday. After conceding a lead of 115 runs when bowled out for 188 in their first innings, the visitors bounced back in the last hour of the night session of the day-night Test. With an hour to bat before stumps, Australia lost David Warner for his second duck of the match, caught brilliantly by Ollie Pope in the gully off the bowling of Stuart Broad. Marnus Labuschagne fell for five, caught by wicketkeeper Sam Billings off Chris Woakes, while Mark Wood had Usman Khawaja gloving a short ball to Billings for 11. At stumps, Australia were 37-3 with Steve Smith on 17 and nightwatchman Scott Boland on three. Australian captain Pat Cummins said his side had done well not to have lost more wickets. “They’re the kind of night sessions you’ve got to be careful of in day-night cricket, if you get caught out with the new ball,” Cummins said. “It was warm and humid tonight and the ball seemed to do a little bit more. I think it’s a pretty good effort only to be three down in really tough conditions.” Billings, making his Test debut, was optimistic about getting a result. “We bowled really nicely tonight, we created some opportunities, created a lot of intensity,” he said. “They’re in front in the game, but we have a chance to really make a statement and make some inroads in the morning.” England earlier bowled Australia out for 303 on a day when 17 wickets fell for 287 runs. Australia are still in a commanding position and look likely to win this Test and claim a 4-0 win in the series. Any hopes England had of salvaging anything from the Ashes realistically ended when their batting collapsed once again in the face of Australia’s relentless pace attack. England lost four key wickets in the middle twilight session, including a horror stretch when Dawid Malan (25), Joe Root (34) and Ben Stokes (4) fell for the addition of just seven runs. When the final session began, England again lost wickets at regular intervals and only reached 188 thanks to some late hitting from bowlers Chris Woakes (36) and Mark Wood (16). The visitors have already lost the Ashes, down 3-0, and the batting frailties that have torpedoed their series were brutally exposed once again. England had dismissed the hosts midway through the first session but then had a disastrous start to their innings when recalled opener Rory Burns was run out for no score with just two runs on the board. Fellow opener Zak Crawley knocked a ball in front of him and called for a quick single, but the much-maligned Burns was slow to react and Labuschagne’s direct hit found him centimetres short of his ground. Crawley, who scored a fine 77 in England’s second innings in Sydney, again looked assured until on 18 he got an inside edge onto his pad off Cummins and Travis Head took a sharp catch at short leg.SCOREBOARDAustralia 1st innings                     303 England 1st innings                     188 R. Burns run out                           0 Z. Crawley c Head b Cummins                 18 D. Malan c Carey b Cummins                   25 J. Root lbw Cummins                                  34 B. Stokes c Lyon b Starc                                4 O. Pope c Carey b Boland                          14 S. Billings c Boland b Green                      29 C. Woakes c Carey b Starc                        36 M. Wood b Cummins                                   16 S. Broad b Starc                                               0 O. Robinson not out                                      0Extras (b4, lb8) 12 Total(47.4 overs) 188 Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Burns), 2-29 (Crawley), 3-78 (Malan), 4-81 (Root), 5-85 (Stokes), 6-110 (Pope), 7-152 (Billings), 8-182 (Woakes), 9-182 (Broad), 10-188 (Wood)Bowling: Starc 10-1-53-3, Cummins 13.4-2-45-4, Boland 14-6-33-1, Green 10-0-45-1

Australia 2nd innings D. Warner c Pope b Broad                            0 U. Khawaja c Billings b Wood                     11 M. Labuschagne c Billings b Woakes       5 S. Smith not out                                               17 S. Boland not out                                              3Extras (lb1) 1Total (3 wickets; 19 overs)  37Fall of wicket: 1-0 (Warner), 2-5 (Labuschagne), 3-33 (Khawaja) Bowling: Broad 6-1-9-1, Woakes 5-1-13-1, Robinson 4-2-5-0, Wood 4-1-9-1.