Marnus Labuschagne took one of the best catches in recent memory with a stunning effort on Day 2 in the Ashes 2nd Test on Friday. England resumed the day at 325/9, with Jofra Archer and Joe Root at the crease. The duo had put on a quick-fire partnership to end Day 1 on a high for England.
The pair looked set to add a few more valuable runs to the total. However, Marnus put an end to it in just the third over of the day. Jofra Archer swatted a short ball from Brendan Doggett towards the square leg boundary. With a huge gap present it seemed like a guaranteed boundary. However, Marnus Labuschagne moved to his right and dived full length to take a beautiful catch. As a result of the catch, England were bowled out of 334, with Joe Root unbeaten on 138.
On Day 1, Joe Root finally struck his maiden Test hundred in Australia at the Gabba. It was his 40th Test century, making him only the 4th in history to score 40 Test tons behind Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting.
Root held fort and anchored the innings to take them to 325 at Stumps, with valuable contribution from Zak Crawley at the top of the order. He later found a willing partner in Jofra Archer as they added 61 runs for the unbeaten 10th wicket partnership in just 7.2 overs. The duo appeared set to continue their onslaught into day 2, before Labuschagne put an end to that.
For Australia, Mitchell Starc was the pick of the bowlers. The left-arm pacer once again pulled off a lone gun slinger act in the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Starc took 6/75, making him the most successul left-arm pacer in Test history.
