Ben Stokes was on the verge of throwing up after drinking pickle juice to help with cramp on day two of the second Ashes Test. The England captain played a crucial in helping his side halter some Australian momentum before they eventually passed their 334 run total to end the day on 378-6.
Opening batsman Travis Head ended with the second lowest score of all Australian batters with 33, while Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne managed 72 and 65, respectively. Stokes bowled out the latter and Josh Inglis and he opted to take on some pickle juice in an attempt to see out the game.
TNT Sports cameras picked out Stokes taking in the liquid for his cramp before retching, which brought laughter and claims of disgust from the gantry. One commentator said: “Judging by the reaction and what I read about it and how unpalatable it is, that is pickle juice. Deary me, you’ve got to keep it down.”
Another then added: “That is rank, I think everyone knows [that feeling] when you have something like that, but you’ve got to do it.” Despite two quick-fire wickets, Australia continued scoring impressively with the duo of Alex Carey and Michael Neser still in at the crease.
The latter survived two major scares in the evening session with the first of those seeing him edge what Stokes thought may have been lbw, but that cost England a review. Brydon Carse then dropped what looked to be a routine catch in the covers, the fourth drop of the day for England after earlier mishaps by Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett.
Moments later it was England’s batting hero Joe Root who dropped a catch at slip, which resulted in Carey scoring four. Australia were not quite as free-scoring as they were in the first test, but England’s dismal fielding allowed them to go into the lead ahead of day three at The Gabba.
Speaking at the end of play, Root said: “We have obviously some work to do tomorrow but we are still in this game. If we get things right in the morning, apply ourselves in the correct fashion in the way we got about things as a team, then we can get ourselves in a strong position on a wicket that looks like it might have a few cracks to work with later on in the game.
We have to look at tomorrow morning first and foremost and get that right. It is difficult with a pink ball compared to a white ball. I know we play with that in T20 and 50-over cricket but it is slightly different. Unfortunately it’s one of those days when they didn’t quite stick to hand. We just have to make sure we stay confident and when those chances come.”