London: After setting a stiff target of 371, Australia put in a strong bowling performance to leave England at 114/4 at the close of day four’s play in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Saturday.
For England, Ben Duckett (50 not out) and captain Ben Stokes (29 not out) shared an unbroken 69-run stand for the fifth wicket after being reduced to 45/4, as the hosts now need 257 more runs for an improbable win on an exciting day five to level the five-game series.
In what was another enthralling day of Test, England pulled things back with the ball to bowl out Australia for 279 in 101.5 overs, with Stuart Broad the pick of the bowlers with 4/65 in 24.5 overs.
But Mitchell Starc’s burst with the new ball, one that accounted for Zak Crawley, caught down leg-side attempting an ambitious flick, and Ollie Pope, cleaned up a fast inswinging beauty, put Australia on top before Cummins ensured they stayed in control with his double strike.
During his sensational spell, Starc went past Mitchell Johnson’s tally of wickets in Test cricket to become the fifth-highest wicket-taker for Australia in Test cricket, with his numbers at 315 wickets from just 79 matches.
Cummins struck twice as Joe Root was undone by some extra bounce, and Harry Brook was castled by a peach in the same over, leaving England reeling at 45/4. But Duckett and Ben Stokes revived England’s fortunes with some solid batting, putting on a half-century stand at a decent rate.
Duckett made his second fifty in the Test and was reprieved shortly after when a top edge off Cameron Green was caught at deep fine-leg by Starc, only for the third umpire to rule that the fast bowler had grounded the ball while attempting the catch, setting day five for a blockbuster finish to the see-saw Test match.
Earlier, the hosts adopted the short ball ploy to success to rattle Australia, starting with Broad getting a short leg cutter to climb on Usman Khawaja, who top-edged the pull to the fielder in the deep.
Josh Tongue doubled the blow next over when Steve Smith attempted a tame pull shot off him to find the fielder in the deep, followed by Travis Head falling cheaply. Cameron Green and Alex Carey played with restraint.
Green played out 67 balls for his 18 runs while Carey took 73 balls for his 21. The duo successfully batted Australia to lunch, but with the lead still not outside England’s grasps, the dup departed in quick succession post lunch.
Tired of leaving and ducking under the short balls, Green eventually took one on from Ollie Robinson and picked out a deep square leg. Carey was bounced out too, the short one forcing him to fend one to Joe Root at short leg off Robinson.
The twin strike gave England renewed energy to have a crack at Australia and the visitors were reduced to 264/9 in no time with Broad and Stokes dismissing Cummins and Josh Hazlewood respectively.
Nathan Lyon, hobbling and clearly in pain in his right calf, walked out to a big ovation from the stands and England players, while coming out to bat at number 11. Alongside Starc, he stood up to another barrage of short balls from the relentless English attack.
A couple of boundaries from Starc and one from Lyon himself pushed Australia’s lead over 370 before Broad picked up his fourth by bouncing out Lyon to end the innings.
Brief scores:
Australia 416 & 279 in 45.4 overs (Usman Khawaja 77; Stuart Broad 4-65) lead England 325 & 114/4 in 31 overs (Ben Duckett 50 not out, Ben Stokes 29 not out; Pat Cummins 2-20, Mitchell Starc 2-40) by 257 runs
(IANS)
