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England won't be relying on rain gods to save them from Ashes oblivion

(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
17th December, 2017
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England players have vowed to give it everything they’ve got to save themselves from Ashes oblivion, but don’t expect them to do a rain dance.

Australia are on the verge of a series-clinching victory in the third Test after putting England to the sword on a WACA deck that is starting to play tricks.

England will resume play on the final day at 4-132 in their second innings, still needing a further 127 runs to make Australia bat again.

Dawid Malan (28no) and Jonny Bairstow (14no) combined for a 237-run partnership in the first innings, and they’ll need to reproduce something close to those heroics for England to save the Test match.

Rain ended play early on Sunday and between 6-15mm of rain is forecast for Monday.

But batsman James Vince said the team would be relying on their batting powers to save the Test, rather than the rain gods.

“We’ll try to put the rain to the back of our minds,” Vince said.

“Sunday was meant to be more of a washout than it was. I haven’t seen a huge amount of rain in the time I’ve been in Perth.

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“We’ve got two guys at the crease who spent a lot of time there in the first innings.

“We’ve got to have belief that we can save the series and get over the line. It’s going to be tough. I’m sure there’s going to be some good balls flying around out there.

“But these two showed in the first innings that they can occupy the crease for a long time.”

Worryingly for England, the WACA cracks are starting to wreak havoc.

Vince was dismissed for 55 after a Mitchell Starc delivery straightened dramatically after hitting a crack and crashed into the off-stump.

England paceman Jimmy Anderson said it was important the batsmen don’t fret about the cracks.

“You’ve got to put them out of your mind a little bit,” Anderson told the ABC.

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“James Vince got a ball that was unplayable. That’s the nature of this pitch.

“You’ve just got to hope the ones that do hit the cracks miss the stumps and the outside edge.

“We’re still fighting. We’re still in the game.

“We’ve got a lot of hard work to do, but we’re going to keep believing.”

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