Australia take commanding 2-0 lead in the Ashes after 43-run win over England

Ben Stokes played one of the great Ashes innings, even by his standards, but fell agonizingly short of winning the second Test for England in a day of huge controversy at Lord’s.

Stokes made 155, including nine sixes, an Ashes record, with a breathtaking display of batting, but England fell 44 short of their victory target of 371 in front of one of the most excited and feverish crowds ever seen at Lord’s.

The final day was ignited by some of the most contentious decisions when Jonny Bairstow was ‘stumped’ by wicketkeeper Alex Carey after leaving his crease and thinking the ball was dead as England put up quite a punch to chase their formidable target.

Bairstow had ducked under a Cameron Green bouncer at the end of the 52nd over and saw the ball pass to Carey, who had earlier produced another excellent catch to send Ben Duckett back for 83 after England got off to a productive start on the fifth day made.

The Australian keeper rolled the ball towards the stumps and hit them after Bairstow scratched his ground and left his crease thinking the over was over. He was clearly out of his league, but the bottom line was that all indications were that the umpires were starting to get into position for the next over.

Referees Chris Gaffaney and Ahsan Raza called on TV official Marais Erasmus to judge and Bairstow had clearly left his ground and was called out. But Australia captain Pat Cummins squandered a golden opportunity to do the right thing and withdraw his appeal and his failure to do so left a full house at Lord’s Wild.

The Australians were booed for the rest of the final day and members in the long room of the Lord, usually one of the most genteel, traditional and well-behaved areas in the sport, angrily confronted the Australians over lunch, leading to a complaint from Australia and an apology from MCC.

But what the incident did was wake up the beast in Stokes who was on 62 off 126 balls at the time, but then hit his next 38 off 16 balls to go to a hundred. Suddenly, out of the blue, England had a great chance for one of the most famous of all Test wins and leveling of this series.

Stokes teamed up with Stuart Broad, who had repeatedly angered the Australian fielders for their poor sportsmanship in sacking Bairstow, to add 108 for the seventh wicket and raised England’s hopes of a victory even greater than that inspired by Stokes against Australia at Headley in 2019.

But Stokes, who had been missed by Steve Smith on 114, dropped his head on his haunches as he aimed another big hit at Josh Hazelwood and only managed to reach Carey from above with 70 more needed.

England didn’t come back after that and the last three wickets quickly sank, with Australia taking a 2–0 lead in this five-match run and almost certainly holding on to the Ashes. Only once in Ashes history has a side come back from two points to win the urn and no England team has ever done it.

But at least the series was ignited on the most eventful and incredible fifth day imaginable, with England heading to Headingley for the Third Test on Thursday with a complaint and with renewed spirit after another classic encounter.