England batsmen Joe Root and Dawid Malan scripted a brilliant fightback in the second innings of the first Test against Australia in Brisbane. The two batsmen stitched an unbeaten stand of 159 runs for the third wicket on Day 3 to get the side back on track after conceding a heavy lead in the first innings.
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne has said that the new ball keeps a lot of importance.
“The new ball is crucial. There can be long partnerships and then all of a sudden you can lose bang-bang-bang quick wickets,” Labuschagne said.
“If we can put that new ball in the right areas and get a couple of wickets with that new ball, it can really turn quickly.”
Talking about the fightback from Root and Malan, Labuschagne admitted that this is the way Test cricket is and added that the bowlers would need to work hard to scalp the remaining eight wickets.
“It’s Test cricket, you never expect any test nation, especially when you’re playing England in the Ashes, to come in and roll over and you’re going to knock them over,” Labuschagne said.
“Test cricket is a grind, it’s meant to be hard, otherwise it wouldn’t mean so much to both countries,” he added.
The visitors still trail by 58 runs with 8 wickets in hands.