England face Ashes battle despite Gabba fightback

England produced a floodlit fightback late on the second day of the second Test against Australia but still face a huge battle to stay alive in the Ashes after missing five chances at the Gabba.

Australia were on course for a substantial first-innings lead until Brydon Carse summoned the energy for a hostile spell in the Brisbane night.

In the same over, Carse bowled Cameron Green for 45 and then ended Steve Smith’s march to yet another Ashes century on 61 thanks to a wonder catch from Will Jacks.

When captain Ben Stokes bowled Josh Inglis, Australia had lost three wickets for 38 runs and eventually closed on 378-6, 44 ahead at the Gabba.

England are still in the match despite being woeful for much of Friday. It was a performance that had all the characteristics of their 16-Test winless run in this country and 39-year winless run on this ground.

The tourists added only nine to their overnight 325-9 to be all out for 334, then allowed Australia to get away with some scattergun bowling before the first interval.

Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith’s drop of Travis Head was the first of the quintet of chances England missed.

Jake Weatherald slashed 72 and Marnus Labuschagne made 65 before Smith and Green added 95 for the fourth wicket.

The came the Carse-inspired revival. Whether it was too late to keep Australia to a lead England can manage will be revealed on Saturday.

Alex Carey – twice – and Michael Neser were both given reprieves under the lights and remain on 46 and 15 respectively.

If the first three days of this series – the two of the first Test and the opening day of this one – were packed with action, this had a more familiar and foreboding feel of Australia slowly turning the screw.

No team has made as many as England’s 334 in the first innings of a day-night Test and lost, yet Australia put the tourists’ effort into context. This might have been the best day for batting and, when the pink ball went soft, England lacked inspiration.

On day one, England’s batting seemed fraught with danger, never far from the threat of implosion. A second-string Australia attack always found a way of conjuring – or being gifted – a wicket.

On this second day, the Australians simply played orthodox Test cricket. It just so happened England’s best pace bowlers offered plenty of chances to score. Off-spinner Jacks bowled only one over, and his selection would have looked an error had it not been for his incredible catch.

Still, day-night Tests can change rapidly under the lights and England deserve praise for hanging in and eventually using the conditions to their advantage. Their short-ball plan had Australia hopping around, though also allowed more rapid scoring.

At some point on Saturday, England will have to bat to stay in this match against pink-ball genius Mitchell Starc. At such an early stage in the series, the Ashes will already be on the line.

Carse, usually so reliable, had been as guilty as anyone of spraying the ball around Brisbane – he conceded 113 runs from his 17 overs.

And it was indicative of England’s situation that the Durham man was asked to bowl a spell of bouncers in the night session, when usually the floodlights would offer the kind of movement to encourage orthodox seam bowling.

With Green stepping back to flay an expected short ball, he was bluffed by a Carse yorker that splattered the stumps. From the next ball, Carey gloved a venomous lifter, only for Ben Duckett to grass the vital catch moving forward from gully.

Still, in the same over, Carse got the crucial wicket of Smith thanks to Jacks’ moment of magic. Smith tried to drag a pull around the corner only for Jacks, at backward square leg, to fling himself to his right and cling on in his right hand.

Inglis and Carey countered, boundaries continued to flow and Duckett put down another chance, this time Inglis at gully off the bowling off Stokes. Three balls later, Stokes removed Inglis’ middle stump.

There was still time for England to create two more chances, and for Carey and Neser to add 49 from only 55 balls.

Neser, on six, drilled Jofra Archer to cover, where Carse failed to cling on. Carey had 25 when he slashed Gus Atkinson between Smith and first-slip Joe Root. Root dived to his right, but it was the static Smith who should have made the effort.

It may seem churlish to criticise Archer for his dismissal 14 balls into the day – 38 was his highest Test score, 70 was England’s highest last-wicket stand in this country for 74 years and Labuschagne took a stunning catch – but it was the beginning of Australia snatching the momentum. It left Root out of partners on 138 not out.

Still, the error of Archer’s needless pull at Brendan Doggett was dwarfed by the drop of Smith. When Archer took the edge of Head on three, Smith failed to cling to the rising ball and Australia surged into life.

Head added another 30 to his score, and along with Weatherald’s maiden Test half-century, the hosts punished some woeful England bowling. Australia took 112 runs in the 14 overs up to the first interval, with Labuschagne attacking when he replaced Head.

England rarely had control for the remainder of the day. Australia rocketed along at more than five an over, yet their batting was risk-free thanks to the wayward bowling. Time and again the home side were able to cut and pull because England missed their lengths.

Archer was excellent at the beginning of the second session to have Weatherald lbw, yet a seven-over spell meant he could not come back in the twilight. Stokes induced a poor slash from Labuschagne.

It looked like Smith would grind England into the dirt as he as he on so many occasions before, until Carse’s intervention gave the visitors a glimmer they barely deserve.