Third Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 9 July: Day Two

9 July: Day Two

England resumed on the second day at 231/7 amid dark skies and the threat of rain; Australia was unable to break through despite taking the new ball. Bedser stubbornly defied the Australians, playing with a straight bat and stretching forward onto the front foot to block the ball. Tallon dropped Compton for the third time, off the bowling of Johnston when the batsman was on 73. Lindwall bowled well below his top pace in the morning session and the batsmen slowly accumulated their runs. Bedser was the more defensive of the two Englishmen, and Compton drove Toshack past mid on for a four to register his second century of the series, after 235 minutes of batting. Lindwall then beat Compton in each of his last three overs before lunch, but the Englishman survived. England reached lunch at 323/7 having added 92 runs without losing a wicket. Compton was on 123 and Bedser on 37, having brought up their century partnership. Five minutes were lost in the morning session when a stray dog invaded the playing arena and evaded policemen and a number of Australian fielders who attempted to catch it.

Immediately subsequent to the resumption, Compton took two boundaries from Lindwall's first over and another from Johnston's subsequent over. He then hit a ball into the covers and Bradman and Loxton collided in an attempt to prevent a run. Compton called Bedser through for a run on the misfield, but Loxton recovered and threw the ball to the wicket-keeper's end with Bedser a long way short of the crease. It ended an innings of 145 minutes, in which Bedser scored 37 and featured in a 121-run partnership with Compton. According to O'Reilly, it was the only mistake Compton made in his innings. The stand fell five runs short of England's highest Test partnership for the eighth wicket against Australia, a mark set by Patsy Hendren and Harold Larwood.

Pollard came to the crease and soon pulled a ball from Johnson into the ribs of Barnes, who was standing at short leg. Barnes stood closer than virtually all in that position, with one foot on the edge of the cut strip and he was unable to evade the ball. Barnes "dropped like a fallen tree", and had to be carried from the ground by four policemen and taken to hospital for an examination. Throughout the season, Barnes had received a mixed reception for his tactics; it was agreed they had a negative effect on the batsman, and there was a debate as to whether it was in the spirit of the rules. Compton hit two fours and Bradman responded by putting all of his men on the boundary to offer Compton a single so Pollard would be on strike and could be attacked. The Australia skipper then brought his men in close during the latter part of the over to prevent Compton from taking a single and regaining the strike for the following over. Compton was unable to farm the strike as he desired.

Toshack then bowled Pollard and Bradman caught Young from Johnston's bowling as England were dismissed for 363. Compton was unbeaten on 145 after 324 minutes of batting, having struck 16 fours. Lindwall took 4/99 and Johnston 3/67. Miller did not bowl, so the four remaining frontline bowlers sent down no less than 38 overs each.

Australia came out to bat halfway through the middle session. Having dropped Brown, Barnes's injury left Australia with only Arthur Morris as a specialist opener. Johnson was thus deployed as Australia's makeshift second opener. He had never opened at Test level, but had once batted at No. 3 when used as a nightwatchman after the fall of the first wicket late on a day's play. He was unable to make an impact—Bedser removed him for one, caught by Evans at chest height off the inside edge from a ball that reared from the pitch. It was a difficult catch as Evans was standing up to the stumps and he had little time to react to the ball's change of direction. O'Reilly criticised the use of Johnson as an opener, as vice-captain Lindsay Hassett had transformed himself into a defensive batsman with little backlift and a guarded approach. Johnson's dismissal brought Bradman in to face the new ball. The Australian captain thus had to face Bedser, who had already dismissed him three times in the Tests with a new ball, and Pollard, who had troubled him in the match against Lancashire. Pollard then trapped Bradman lbw with an off cutter that struck the Australian captain on the back foot for seven to leave Australia in trouble at 13/2. This provoked a strong cheer from the crowd in support of Pollard, the Lancashire local. Australia were pinned down as Pollard bowled 17 consecutive overs from his long run, aiming for leg stump to stifle the scoring. He was partnered by Bedser, who bowled unchanged for 90 minutes.

Morris and vice-captain Lindsay Hassett rebuilt the innings, adding 69 for the third wicket in 101 minutes. They played sedately without trying to take risks. Hassett fell after being beaten in flight by Young. Aiming to break Young's restrictive leg side bowling, Hassett charged down the pitch and lofted a drive for four. However, in attempting a similar lofted drive over cover, he mishit the ball, which was caught by Washbrook at wide mid-off. Miller joined Morris and they took the score to 126/3 at stumps, with their personal tallies on 23 and 48 respectively. The run rate picked up in the last 50 minutes of the day as the pair added 44 runs; Miller was the more attacking of the Australian duo during this time.