Mitchell Starc insists Australia remain firmly in the driving seat to go 2-0 up in the Ashes and says he is ‘excited’ to see how England bat under the lights in Adelaide.
The Australians lost four quick wickets in the final session on Monday but still lead by 268 runs with six wickets remaining.
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Asked whether he felt there was a momentum change in the match, Starc told BT Sport: ‘Not really, we’ve got a big lead ahead of us. It’s obviously not ideal to get to stumps four down but we’re 260 ahead.
‘England have only faced ten overs under lights and they will have two big night sessions ahead if they want to win this Test match so I would still very much rather be in our changing room.’
Steve Smith’s decision not to enforce the follow-on appeared to backfire as England made the most of favourable conditions to dismiss Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, Usman Khawaja and the captain himself.
But Starc is relishing the prospect of bowling at England under lights following their poor first-innings total of 227.
‘We’ve got a big lead, it’s exciting that they’ve got to face two more night sessions if they want to win,’ the left-arm pace bowler added.
‘The extra rest will hopefully allow us to bowl a bit quicker and take some big wickets throughout the day and put England under the pump big time.
Ashes schedule – the key dates
First Test: November 23-27 (Brisbane)
Second Test: December 2-6 (Adelaide)
Third Test: December 14-18 (Perth)
Fourth Test: December 25-29 (Melbourne)
Fifth Test: January 3-7 (Sydney)
‘We’ve still got plenty of wickets in the shed and England have got to do all the chasing so we’re definitely in the driving seat.’
England started the day hoping to bat 90 overs and achieve parity with Australia’s 442-8 but were bowled out shortly after the dinner break.
Speaking on BBC Test Match Special, ex-captain Michael Vaughan said: ‘England weren’t prepared to do the hard yards with the bat.
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‘They played too many poor strokes. In the top five there were too many gifts and you can’t afford gifts.
‘You know what the Australian bowlers are going to do. It will be really full or short. You have to defend the stumps and duck and weave. If you see them off by the time you get the ball to 40 or 50 overs, as [Craig] Overton and Woakes showed, it doesn’t do as much.’
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