Home-town hero Neser leads Australia to Gabba victory

Veteran paceman Michael Neser enjoyed the finest moment of his stellar 15-year career to help Australia to an eight-wicket humbling of England in the second NRMA Insurance Test at the Gabba.

Victory in the pink-ball clash, achieved inside four days, gives Australia a two-nil lead in the five-match series – a position from which no England team has come back from to win the Ashes.

But the result was almost overshadowed by a spicy confrontration between an extremely animated Steve Smith and Jofra Archer, who was bowling with express pace not previously seen in the Test match. 

It was that pace that Smith used to ramp Archer over the slips cordon to the short boundary, prompting an outburst from the England quick. Stump mics picked up Smith's stinging response: "Bowl fast when there's nothing going on, champion." 

As Archer ramped up the pace, Smith responded by pulling a four, then hooking a six fine as they continued their pointed discussion mid-pitch out of range of the stump mics. 

Next over, with three to win, a clearly pumped-up Smith got every bit of a pull shot that sailed over the biggest boundary on the ground and sealed an emphatic win for the home side.

The result also extends the visitors' winless run on these shores to 17 Tests. The last time they won a Test match in Australia, a 20-year-old Neser, who today claimed Test-best figures of 5-42, had just one first-class match to his name.

For the visitors, there were a couple of positives to take to Adelaide for the third Test from December 17. A defiant 96-run stand between captain Ben Stokes and recalled allrounder Will Jacks – only broken by a stunning Steve Smith catch – showed the sort of fight and game awareness they had otherwise been lacking.

As the tourists resumed at 6-134, Australia began their hunt for the final four wickets with Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, and after the fireworks of Saturday night, there was an expectation that the right- and left-hand combination of Jacks and Stokes would be broken momentarily.

When Stokes flicked Starc through midwicket for four, there was a sense that maybe he had just flicked the switch. But that couldn't have been wider of the mark. Instead, Stokes and Jacks remained resolute, prioritising defence and accumulating just 13 runs ticked over in the first half hour.

It felt like traditional Test cricket. But it was hard to escape the feeling the Gabba crowd was holding its collective breath, waiting for England to make a move.

Neser replaced Boland, with the outstanding Alex Carey up to the stumps, and the bustling right-armer's stump-to-stump approach immediately began causing problems. At the other end, Doggett replaced Starc in a double change for the Australians, and Stokes greeted him with a beautiful cover drive for four from his fourth ball.

Watching on from one of the broadcast boxes, Ricky Ponting suggested it "would have been an ideal time for Nathan Lyon to come into the attack … he’s got a very good record against Stokes as well."

Neser continued to find some movement off the pitch, jagging one back into Stokes that struck him high on the inside of his left thigh. The Queenslander seemed to be adjusting well to the softening pink ball, playing the patience game as he continued to target the top of off stump.

Yet England, suddenly, were playing the long game as well, and at 3:37pm they drew level. The fighting partnership between the seventh-wicket pair was as sensible as it was defiant, ticking past 50 and then putting England in front.

Cameron Green was introduced a few minutes later. Very quickly he beat the outside edge of Stokes, but he was unable to make much of an impression thereafter.

Smith continued to ring the changes. From the Stanley St End, Boland, coming around the wicket, was finding cracks in the pitch. The right-armer got one to jump and thunder into the shoulder of Stokes' bat, but the ball flew millimetres over a leaping Green in the gully and away to the rope for four.

Travis Head was experimented with for an over before tea, and then Marnus Labuschagne took Australia to the close of the session with six overs of his slow-mediums. Jacks helped himself to a single from both part-timers, while Stokes played them watchfully to end the first wicket-less session of the series.

Across 24 overs, England had added 59 runs, and they led by 16.

Jacks returned in the second session with a spring in his step. From the second over after the break, he flicked a half volley from Green through wide mid-on for the most authoritative shot of his innings.

Doggett returned and Smith employed one of the more unusual fields seen in Test cricket in Australia in recent times, with five fielders dotted on the leg side between deep mid-on and fine leg.

Stokes showed a rare sign of aggression when he slapped a short ball from Doggett through cover for three, and an over later he inside edged one from Neser into his groin, causing him to double over in pain.

During the break in play that caused, injured Australia captain Pat Cummins came onto the field and made his way over to Starc. The two quicks conversed briefly while, across the pitch, Smith and a coterie of batters also appeared to be swapping ideas.

The Stokes-Jacks partnership by then was nearing 100, the lead approaching 50, and a battle of wits and wills was well and truly on.

The moment of magic Australia sorely needed came from Smith. With Neser maintaining his unerring line and length, Jacks prodded forward and the ball caught his outside edge, flew past Carey at the stumps, and was taken by a sprawling Smith, who had lunged low to his left and collected the ball centimetres from the turf.

Jacks stood his ground, then looked across to the umpire, perhaps unable to believe what had just happened. Moments later he was trudging off the ground, a stellar 96-run stand finally coming to an end with the score at 7-224 and the lead 47.

It was something of a procession from that point forward.

The field closed in around new man Gus Atkinson and Neser kept bowling full, aiming relentlessly at pads and stumps. He found the former from his third ball to Atkinson, prompting a huge lbw appeal, a ruling of not out from the umpire, and confirmation of that ruling after Smith's review showed ball hitting pad outside off stump.

At the other end, Stokes, the spiritual leader of this Bazball movement, reached 50 from 148 balls, the second-slowest half-century of his Test career. He was batting intelligently, adapting to the situation, and the irony was glaring.

And then Neser ended the vigil of the England captain. Again the Queenslander hit his mark, and at last Stokes obliged, feathering an edge through to Carey, who took an excellent catch up to the stumps.

Four balls later, Atkinson followed Stokes back to the changeroom, picking out Smith at midwicket with a pull short to give a deserving Doggett his second wicket of the match.

But the innings belonged to Neser, who collected his maiden five-wicket haul in his third Test when Brydon Carse prodded to Smith at first slip, who collected his third catch of the innings.

The Australian captain's involvement wasn't done there. Though the target required was just 65, the home side lost Head and Labuschagne en route, both batters falling to Atkinson, which left Smith and Jake Weatherald taking on Archer.

The England firebrand seemed up for the contest, despite the runs to defend dwindling quickly, and as he dropped short to Smith at speeds of up to 150.5kph, the Australian fought fire with fire, top-edging a pulled four and then hooking a six fine as the pair met mid-pitch for a fiery exchange.

From the next over, Weatherald launched a classic on-drive for four from Atkinson and then with three to win, a clearly pumped-up Smith got every bit of a pull shot that sailed over the biggest boundary on the ground and sealed an emphatic win for the home side.

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (second Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood