4th Test. Day 3: Australia 317 (M Labuschagne 51, M Marsh 51, T Head 48, S Smith 41; C Woakes 5-62, S Broad 2-68) & 113-4 (M Labuschagne 44no, M Wood 3-17) trail England 592 (Z Crawley 189, J Bairstow 99no J Root 84, H Brook 61, M Ali 54, B Stokes 51; J Hazlewood 5-126, C Green 2-64, M Starc 2-137) by 162 runs
As Jonny Bairstow capped off a truly bullying batting performance from England with an incendiary unbeaten 99, a plane flew over Old Trafford with a banner behind it predicting the final score in this epic Ashes series will be 3-2 to the hosts.
But for this outcome to even be half possible, for a blockbuster decider to be set up at the Oval next week, then Ben Stokes and his Bazballers must overcome an opponent that cares little for the confidence coursing through their veins: the Manchester weather.
Yep, the forecast for the entire weekend is grim – wetter than an otter’s pocket, in fact – and if the meteorologists are right about all this then Australia, 2-1 up yet seemingly broken asunder these past three days, will retain the Ashes with a Test match to spare.
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Things may change, of course, even if the tourists will not share this hope. At stumps on day three they were clinging on, sitting 113 for four and still 162 runs in arrears. Mark Wood had steamed in for three precious wickets, Chris Woakes for one, and it had needed an unbeaten 44 from Marnus Labuschagne to keep Australia afloat.
This was an awesome display of fast bowling from Wood, haring in from the James Anderson End in passing 100 Test wickets along the way. Not only that, it helped maintain the momentum from Bairstow’s earlier display of range-hitting that took England to 592 all out in 107.4 overs for a first innings lead of 275 runs.
Introduced early on during what was a 12-over crack at Australia’s openers before tea, Wood prised out the first wicket with just his second ball when a 92mph delivery outside off stump was tickled behind by Usman Khawaja on 18. The opener reviewed, curiously, with the tremor on snicko that followed mere confirmation of the fact.
Once Woakes continued a similarly stellar series by persuading David Warner to chop on to his stumps for 28 after the interval, resistance formed. Steve Smith had survived an early scare – an edge third ball going that was deemed not to have carried to Joe Root at first slip – and offered an hour of resistance alongside Labuschagne.
But the return of Wood had Old Trafford bouncing once more, his removals of Smith and Travis Head in the space of 10 balls summing up the point of difference here; why his presence since Headingley has changed the mood of this Ashes summer.
Smith was hurried into an awkward position on the hook, Wood’s lifter hitting the glove and ballooning to Bairstow on 17. Head, who has been peppered by England’s seamers on tour, was similarly beaten by pace and angle, Wood’s bouncer fended to Ben Duckett at gully off the splice of a tentative bat.
This was an understandably hurried performance from England on a pitch that was offering only the occasional gremlin, their desperation for breakthrough matched only by Labuschagne’s dogged defence at the other end. But as the newly arrived Mitch Marsh offered the same to the final ball of the day from Moeen Ali, it was hard not to wonder whether this was the final act of a one-sided Test match.
Two days of rain would be cruel on England amid an increasing belief that the dam has burst in this series and they are now totally dominant; that Australia did well to barricade the doors of city hall early on using desks, and bins, and boundary riders from the outset, only for the state troopers to burst through and make a spell in Joliet inevitable.
The tourists, lest we forget, are the ones who are leading 2-1 at the time of writing and hold the urn. But then this is one of the weird mind tricks this England team play; mind tricks like adding 112 runs in just 24 overs before lunch on the third day, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes registering half-centuries, and it feeling almost pedestrian.
What followed in the afternoon, from 506 for eight, was no illusion, however, rather an irrefutable display of shock and awe from Bairstow. He was glowering throughout the Headingley Test, consumed by that run out at Lord’s, and here, against an Australian team with brains turned to pâté, he handed out a dish best served cold.
Bairstow had hustled his way to 48 from 50 balls by the time Anderson walked out after the ninth wicket and had faced just 31 more when he was left one short of his century. The charge was signalled with a glorious short-arm jab that muscled six off Mitchell Starc and brought up his half-century, before clearing the rope three more times.
The pick came off Cummins, Bairstow clearing the front leg and leaving Stokes open-mouthed in the dressingroom as the ball soared over midwicket. These blows were not the only catharsis either, Bairstow scampering a couple of byes to pilfer the strike and the crowd revelling in Alex Carey’s ability to bullseye the stumps having evaporated.
In the end Anderson could not quite cling on long enough, his stand of 66 with Bairstow ended when pinned lbw by Cameron Green. But Bairstow was still a barrel-chested bundle of delight as he walked off to a standing ovation and England set about trying to unpick 10 locks. The question now is whether the final six rust over. – Guardian
