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NEW DELHI: Mitchell Starc continued his brilliant run in the Ashes, not just troubling England’s batters with the ball but also putting them under pressure with the bat. His all-round display kept Australia in command on Day 3 of the second test.

At stumps on Day 3 of the second test, England was teetering on 134-6 in its second innings and still needed 43 runs to make Australia bat again.

Also READ: Rare feat under lights! Mitchell Starc becomes only third player to achieve a special milestone in Tests

England skipper Ben Stokes and allrounder Will Jacks were both not out on 4 at the close of play Saturday.

Starc was voted player of the match for his 10-wicket haul in Australia's thumping eight-wicket win in the series opener at Perth last month.

He's in line for another award in the day-night test in Brisbane. After taking six wickets in England's first innings of 334 on Days 1 and 2, he scored an innings-high 77 as Australia responded with 511 on Saturday afternoon and then took two wickets in the night session.

Starc’s day at the Gabba

The 35-year-old Starc made England's bowlers toil all afternoon in sunny, subtropical conditions at the Gabba as he led Australia to a 177-run first-innings lead.

With the lights on and the pink ball starting to move around on the third night of the match, Starc took the crucial wicket of top-ranked Joe Root (15) to have England reeling at 123-5, still 54 runs behind.

He added the wicket of Jamie Smith in his next over to make it 128-6, increasing his series haul to 18 wickets.

Scott Boland and Michael Neser combined to take the first four wickets in the night session. Boland removed Ben Duckett (15) and Harry Brook (15) while Neser took two sharp return catches to dismiss Ollie Pope (26) and Zak Crawley (44).

Australia is aiming for four quick wickets Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Batting milestones for Australia

For just the third time in almost 150 years of test cricket, all 11 Australian batters reached double figures in a test innings.

Starc's 77 was one of five half-centuries, following opener Jake Weatherald (72), No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne (65), stand-in skipper Steve Smith (61) and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey (63).

England had a tricky half-hour to navigate before the end of the middle session with the lights on and the sun going down. But for the first time in the series, Starc didn't take a wicket in the first over of the innings.

England reached the break at 45 without loss, with Crawley on 26 and Duckett on 13, setting a foundation for more attacking batting in the night session.

The grind pays off

Australia had injected some conventional test cricket into the series while batting through almost two sessions in natural light in a bid to grind England down, adding 133 runs for the last four wickets after resuming Saturday at 378-6.

Starc went into bat in the fourth over Saturday at the end of a 54-run seventh-wicket partnership between overnight batters Carey and Neser.

Starc batted for more than 2½ hours for his best test score against England, guiding a 75-run partnership with No. 10 Boland, a record for a ninth-wicket stand at the Gabba.

While no Australian batters went on to post centuries, three England bowlers conceded triple figures. Brydon Carse took four wickets for 152 runs in 29 overs, skipper Stokes returned 3-113 in 24 overs, and Gus Atkinson took figures of 1-114 off 28.

Pace bowler Jofra Archer took 1-87 and Jacks, the only spinner in the match, had 1-34 in 12 overs, taking the last Australian wicket to fall.

(With AP Inputs)