Second Test begins with four overs of chaos

Different times, different tests, different cities, and different terrain. Similar to Ashes cricket in chaos.

The second Test kicked off in Brisbane with four overs of pandemonium after England were defeated by Australia in Perth in two days.

The drama of the day-nighter started at the toss when Australia confirmed that Nathan Lyon had been omitted, but that was nothing compared to the 20 minutes that saw two England ducks, a dropped catch, and a potential wicket that wasn’t.

Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were removed from the same bowler, and Zak Crawley may have fallen behind Michael Neser, but the hosts did not win an appeal.

How everything came together, shown here:

After Starc’s five-over spell, England escaped further defeat.

The left-armer already had 12 wickets in the series before the second Test, which was an hour apart, a performance that echoed Mitchell Johnson’s that of England on their Ashes tour in 2013-14.

Former England spinner Phil Tufnell testified for Test Match Special, “Mitchell Starc is one of those bowlers that, especially when we were sharing hotels, he always walks down looking so calm when I’m sitting there eating my breakfast.

That’s what distinguishes world-class performers, they say. How a world-class cricket player eats their breakfast can be an indicator of that person’s excellence. He must be calm, I bet.

Starc’s opening performance also produced some extraordinary career numbers.

The 35-year-old joined legendary Pakistani bowler Wasim Akram for 414 wickets, making him the most left-arm pace bowlers to score in Test action.

In the 26th over of an innings, Starc took a wicket, three of which were wickets in this series.