Head, David Warner put Australia on top

Travis Head celebrates his ton v England yesterday. Pic/AFP

David Warner set up the innings with a chance-filled 94 and Travis Head took over with an unbeaten century after a mini-collapse in the middle order to guide Australia to 343-7 at stumps on Day 2, a 196-run lead in the Ashes series opener.

Warner had a big reprieve on 17 off a no-ball from Ben Stokes, one of the many times the England all-rounder overstepped, but one of the few he was called for. Warner was also dropped in the slips on 48 and narrowly avoided being run out as he scrambled back to his crease on 60. Warner's survival and Stokes's delivery stride were the two main talking points on Thursday.

Warner got his first reprieve from the TV umpire after being beaten by Stokes, bowling his first over in a Test match since March. TV broadcaster Channel 7 showed Stokes had also overstepped the crease on his previous three deliveries and not been called by the umpires. The Ashes broadcaster later revealed Stokes had overstepped the front crease 14 times in the opening session on Day Two and had only been called twice for a no-ball.

Brief scores
England 147 all out v Australia 343-7 (T Head 112', D Warner 94, M Labuschagne 74; O Robinson 3-48)

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever