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Australia regained any lost ground from the previous shock Test result and now need only eight wickets on the final day of the fourth Ashes Test against England to retain the urn. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of Day 5, starting from 8pm AEST.
A stunning turnaround with the bat and ball ensured Australia will begin the final day in a commanding position from what once looked like the game was headed towards a tame draw.
England were behind the eight-ball at the start of the day but it wasn’t like the match was beyond reach. They had Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow at the crease and with Jos Buttler and a reasonably sturdy lower-order still to bat, they could have looked to bat a good way into the second half of the day’s play.
Instead, Pat Cummins joined the party with Josh Hazlewood who had grabbed four wickets yesterday and later Mitchell Starc dislodged the tail like he usually does to help the visitors take a 196-run lead. While it wasn’t enough to enforce the follow-on the common consensus was that Australia were looking to bat again anyway.
Come the second innings, Australia didn’t need to bat long, but when they fell to 4/44 at one stage, those old worries of a collapse in conditions that helped bowlers, would have resurfaced.
England’s only worry at that stage, and their biggest one all series, Steven Smith was still at the crease though and for the fifth time this series, he took the game away from them.
Having hit a double-century in the first innings, Smith rubbed salts into the English bowling wounds by not just getting close to another 100 but also getting there quickly enough to facilitate a declaration.
A 92-ball 82 and his 105-run stand with Matthew Wade all but ensured Australia wouldn’t lose this game and once the lead had reached 382, Tim Paine pulled down the shutters on the innings.
Fading light and a slow overrate meant there weren’t too many overs remaining in the day but Pat Cummins had enough to play with. In his very first over, Cummins got Rory Burns caught off a leading edge and off the next ball, sent Joe Root’s stumps on a ride to reduce England to 2/0.
Joe Denly and Jason Roy played out the remaining time but with 98 overs to survive, England’s batting will be tested yet again. Only this time, it would be on a drier surface that will make batting a lot more difficult on a day five pitch than the Headingley one.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this fifth day of the fourth Ashes Test between England and Australia from 8pm AEST and don’t forget to drop a comment in the section below.
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