LEEDS (TIP)- Captain Ben Stokes continued to perform heroics as he single-handedly guided England to a more respectable 237 all out in their first innings on day two of the third Ashes test on Friday, July 7, before Australia moved on to 29-1 in reply at tea.
With England struggling on 142-7 at lunch, Mark Wood came in after the restart and got a quick-fire 24 off eight balls to take the hosts a little closer to Australia’s total, with Stokes looking on in disbelief down the other end.
The fast bowler was then caught after one slog too many to give Australia skipper Pat Cummins his first five-wicket haul in England, before Stokes took on the big-hitting mantle, passing 50 with a huge hit. While England’s scoring rate in the morning session was uncharacteristically slow, Stokes ensured the runs continued to flow, despite struggling with the knee injury that plagued his pre-Ashes build-up. Back-to-back sixes took Stokes past 6,000 test runs before he finally fell for 80 to bring an end to England’s first innings, trailing Australia by only 26 runs, thanks to their captain.
Earlier, on his home ground, Joe Root edged through to the slips off the second ball of the day without adding to his overnight score of 19, before another Yorkshireman, Jonny Bairstow (12), was out moments later.
Stokes, whose incredible century at Lord’s in the second test was in vain as England fell 2-0 behind in the series stemmed the flow of wickets alongside the recalled Moeen Ali, before the returning spinner wildly hooked the ball straight to Steve Smith.
Chris Woakes (10) tried to up the ante with some big shots, but got a top edge through to wicket keeper Alex Carey on the last ball before lunch to leave the hosts seven down and staring down the barrel of another defeat before Stokes’s afternoon onslaught. Back in to bat, Stuart Broad again took opener David Warner’s wicket in identical fashion to his dismissal in the first innings, the Australian falling to the veteran England bowler for the 17th time in his test career for one.
Usman Khawaja and Marcus Labuschagne steadied the ship, seeing Australia through to tea without being overly troubled.
Trailing in a match England have to win to prevent Australia retaining the Ashes with two matches to spare, the hosts need some wickets in the evening session to give themselves a chance of resurrecting the series.
Source: Reuters