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Getting the worst of the conditions didn’t cost Australia victory in the second Test at Lord’s, but it may well cost them at Headingley.
After the first two sessions were totally lost to rain, the elements finally relented to allow play late in the afternoon on Day 3; and under dark skies, England’s bowlers feasted.
With the ball moving substantially both in the air and off the wicket, Australia would lose four wickets for just 54 runs as Chris Woakes and Mark Wood scythed through the middle order.
Only a majestic 77 from Travis Head prevented complete collapse and ensured a defendable total for the visitors, the left-hander unleashing in a near-mirror of Ben Stokes’ late onslaught on Day 2 to add 41 for the ninth wicket with Todd Murphy and then 13 more with last man in Scott Boland.
Head’s heroics ensured England would at least be made to run down 251 to keep the series alive, but with Zak Crawley (9 not out) and Ben Duckett (18 not out) seeing the hosts safely to stumps for no loss and 27 whittled off the total after just five overs, they will be confident of adding this to their swathe of recent successful run chases.
“I don’t think you can pair me and Stokes together,” Head quipped when his efforts were compared with the England skipper’s batting fireworks.
“I just tried to pick targets and tried not to get a hole put through me with Wood. I tried to give myself as much space and not be as predictable.
“He’s a challenging bloke to get after, especially in those positions where I’m taking most of the strike off him.
“I battled through (the short stuff) today for periods and then was able to try to put some pressure back on them at the end there.
“Ideally I would like to have still added a couple more, but I feel like we’re in a position where we’ve got an opportunity to win a Test match.”
And the match is very much in the balance, he insisted.
“This game has ebbed and flowed,” Head said.
“As much pressure that’s in our dressing room, it’s in their dressing room as well. It’s a huge day in the series tomorrow.
“Knowing what we can achieve tomorrow. Knowing what England can pull, fighting back to try and go 2-1. There’s a lot on the table. There’s a lot to play for.
“Hopefully we can redeem ourselves from 2019 at this place.”
Resuming on 4/116 in treacherous conditions – and rain still persistent enough to call a brief half after just one over – a violently hooping ball did nothing to dampen Mitchell Marsh’s spirit.
Crunching a superb on-drive past Stuart Broad before cutting Woakes in front of point, another counterattacking innings was on its way: but it would, ironically, be a defensive stroke that brought him undone.
On 28, looking to leave a length offering from Woakes, the England seamer found sharp bounce to catch the underedge of Marsh’s bat as he shouldered arms, Bairstow taking the simple catch.
With Australia having collapsed after Marsh’s fall in the first innings, history looked set to repeat when Alex Carey fell in similar fashion for 5: also attempting to leave, Woakes again found extra bounce off a still-spicy wicket to catch his gloves, the ball ricocheting back onto the stumps.
Mitchell Starc would survive long enough to add 16 priceless runs, the highlight a picturesque cover drive off Wood: but the quick’s express pace would eventually undo the left-hander again.
Going at the body, Starc’s attempted flick could only be top-edged straight up, with brief confusion between short leg Harry Brook and keeper Jonny Bairstow as to whose catch it was ending with the former taking a diving grab.
As he had in the first innings, Wood would soon add Pat Cummins’ scalp to his collection; wide of off stump, the captain was drawn into a false stroke, a nervous prod, the product of pure pace, getting a feather edge through to the keeper, and a desperate review was never likely to result in a reversal.
Eight down and with only Murphy and Boland to come – though a cover-driven four first ball from the former did show the Victorian could stick around – it was time for Head to swing the bat.
On 34 when Cummins fell, Head dispatched two boundaries – a pull and a cut – off Woakes’ next over, then brought up 50 with two more off Wood, the milestone reached with an agricultural heave across the line.
Head next began to target the grandstands, as Stokes had done the previous day: Woakes the first to be sent over the mid-wicket boundary before consecutive blows to leg off Wood brought the Australian lead to the cusp of 250.
In between, Broad had returned to end Murphy’s stay, tormenting the spinner with late swing past his groping edge before an inswinger trapped him plumb in front for a handy 11.
But with only Boland for company, Head’s bombs would at last fail: in another mirror of Stokes, he would finally get a heave wrong, skying another leg side hoick within metres of the boundary, where Duckett claimed the offering.
Having bowled Australia out for 224, the day’s play had already been wildly successful for England: it was in the final 25 minutes, though, where their ascendancy was secured.
Chris Woakes celebrates dismissing Alex Carey. (Photo by Stu Forster – ECB/ECB via Getty Images)
With Cummins bowling perhaps the worst two overs he has ever bowled against England to waste the new ball, a short and wide offering and leg stump half-volley dispatched for four by Duckett to waste having pinned the opener on the gloves and forced medical treatment the ball before providing eight of the 17 runs he’d leak.
Finding swing, Starc was more deadly at the other end, twice finding Duckett’s edge – the first falling just short of Smith, the second leaping over the cordon for another four – and eliciting a strong appeal from Carey for a catch down the leg side.
Australia’s review, though, nicely summed up their growing desperation, with the opener soon proved to have been nowhere near the ball.
With another edge off Duckett again falling perilously short of Khawaja upon Boland’s introduction for the last over of the day, it simply wasn’t to be for Australia.
With the prospect of brighter skies on Sunday, the 224 runs England require – and crucially, with all ten wickets still intact – is now within reach; as is a 2-1 series margin and an Ashes bid restored.
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