Smith''s sub Labuschagne, Head rescue Oz

London, August 18

The second Ashes Test was drawn as Australia, chasing 267 to beat England, ended on 154/6 after an absorbing final day at Lord’s. Ben Stokes made a brilliant century and England declared on 258/5 before Jofra Archer claimed two early wickets to give the hosts the sniff of an unlikely victory. 

First concussion substitute

But Marnus Labuschagne, replacing Steve Smith as Test cricket’s first substitute, made 59 and Travis Head an unbeaten 42 to lead the Australians to safety and keep them 1-0 up in the series. Smith was ruled out of the final day suffering from concussion symptoms after being struck on the neck by an Archer bouncer on Saturday and Labuschagne was hit on the helmet by the second ball he faced from the Barbados-born fast bowler. 

The 25-year-old right-hander was able to continue batting, however, showing courage and composure under intense pressure to reach his second Test fifty in his sixth match.

Stokes scored 115*, hitting three sixes and 11 fours, as the hosts added 162 runs to their overnight score to give themselves a chance of levelling the series. After resuming on 96/4 following another rain delay, Stokes and Jos Buttler dug in to take England to 157/4 at lunch.

Buttler fell for 31 but Stokes went on the attack and brought up his seventh Test century, adding a quickfire 97 with Jonny Bairstow who finished unbeaten on 30. Archer removed David Warner and Usman Khawaja to continue his fine Test debut as England reduced Australia to 46/2 at tea. Warner was caught at third slip by Rory Burns for five and Khawaja nicked the ball to wicketkeeper Bairstow to leave Australia reeling at 19/2.  — Reuters

Brief Scores: England: 258 and 258/5 dec (Stokes 115*); Australia: 250 and 154/6 (M Labuschagne 59, T Head 42; J Archer 2/16) 

Smith may miss third Test too 

Steve Smith became the first Test cricketer to be substituted under concussion substitute rules approved only last month, and Marnus Labuschagne is the first Test player to be inducted as a concussion sub. Under the rule, the incoming player is allowed to bat and bowl, but he must be deemed a “like for like” replacement by the match referee. Smith, who was struck on his neck by a Jofra Archer bouncer yesterday, had gone off the field but then passed the concussion testing. He came out to bat at the fall of the next wicket before being dismissed for 92. However, today’s concussion tests on him showed some deterioration and he was withdrawn from the match.

9.75 Australia’s average opening stand in this Ashes, which is their lowest in any Ashes series in last 90 years and lowest in any series since 2000 

149.34KPH Jofra Archer’s average speed in the over just after the lunch. At one point in that spell, Archer bowled 16 balls in a row that were all over 90mph

15 Times Jofra Archer has hit the batsmen on body or helmet in his international career so far. Since his debut, no player has managed to hurry the batsmen so many times