Root rises from the Ashes
IN LEEDS ENGLAND captain Joe Root’s brilliant 75 not out yesterday gave his side an outside shot at chasing down the target of 359 at Headingley.
Earlier, Marnus Labuschagne’s 80 had put Australia on the verge of victory, but its bowlers still had work to do entering day four.
Root and Ben Stokes resumed last night with England needing 203 runs to win and Australia knowing it was seven wickets from retaining the Ashes. LABUSCHAGNE underwent two concussion tests in a matter of overs after wearing short balls on his helmet.
A Stuart Broad delivery whizzed off Labuschagne’s lid to the boundary and, almost comically, after replays confirmed no bat was involved, the voice of Broad was heard on the stump microphone demanding the runs be taken off Labuschagne. They were.
The second blow looked more serious as a Jofra Archer bouncer followed the batsman and, while Labuschagne swayed out of the way, the ball took the bottom of his grille.
Australian captain Tim Paine revealed before the match that Labuschagne wouldn’t mind dancing to England’s chin music.
“Marnus is strange. He seems to like getting hit on the head,” Paine said.
It rang true, as Labuschagne bounced straight to his feet and two balls later lifted an Archer short ball to the boundary over slips. WHAT do they say? Never run on a misfield? Well, Labuschagne tried just that, and Joe Denly recovered his fumble to effect a run-out.
The throw that caught Labuschagne centimetres short kept him from equalling his highest Test score of 81.
His wicket signalled the end of Australia’s resistance. ARCHER’S pair of tailend wickets restricted Australia’s lead to 358, which set England a historic chase.
Its highest successful Test run chase was 7-322 against Australia in Melbourne in 1928.
Only three teams have achieved a run chase of more than 300 in the fourth innings of Tests at Leeds: Australia 3-404 in 1948), West Indies 5-322 in 2017) and England 4-315 against Australia in 2001.
The Aussie romp in 1948 was built around Sir Donald Bradman’s unbeaten 173. CLOSE SHAVE: Australia's Marnus Labuschagne avoids a bouncer on day three of the third Test; and (inset) England captain Joe Root, Pictures: AP within four balls as England slumped from 0-15 to 2-15 early in the day.
A Josh Hazlewood delivery was short enough to leave, but Burns couldn’t help himself as he fended it into the sure hands of David Warner, who gobbled up his fifth slips catch of the match.
Then Roy copped a peach from Pat Cummins, the ball crashing into the top of off stump.
As England batting coach Graham Thorpe said on Friday, sometimes you simply get a ball that is too good. and beyond. While Denly played 22 false shots (12 misses, 10 edges), Root was class from the start.
As Ricky Ponting noted, apart from a few rash cover drives from Denly, it was impressive Test batting in a crucial situation.
With oodles of time left in the Test, the Joes were able to leave anything wide and patiently chip away at the mammoth target.
The partnership, the biggest of the match, reached 126 before Denly gloved a deadstraight short ball from Hazlewood to wicketkeeper Paine.
But there was a pulse for England. SAM LANDSBERGER MARNUS Labuschagne answered four questions to prove he wasn’t concussed and could continue raining blows on England’s bowlers at Leeds.
Who is the bowler at the other end? Who was the last wicket? How was he out? And who are you playing against?
“Look, you don’t want to get that one wrong (who are you playing against?),” Labuschagne said yesterday, laughing.
“You’re only playing one (RESUMED 6-171, LABUSCHAGNE 53, PATTINSON 2) Marnus Labuschagne James Pattinson Pat Cummins Nathan Lyon Josh Hazlewood EXTRAS: LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS FROM RUSSELL GOULD AND SAM LANDSBERGER AT HEADINGLEY HECROAUAI 80 20 6 9 4 27 292 64 14 23 6 187 48 6 17 5 Fall: 10, 36, 52, 97, 163, 164, 215, 226, 237, 246 Bowling: Archer 14-2-40-2, Broad 16-2-52-2, Woakes 10-1-34-1, Leach 11-0-46-1, Stokes 24.2-7-56-3 Rory Burns Jason Roy Joe Root Joe Denly Ben Stokes EXTRAS: 7 8 75 50 2 14 32 36 283 230 49 21 18 189 155 50 8 2 1 1 1 0 1 7 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fall: 15, 15, 141 Bowling: Cummins 15-3-33-1, Hazlewood 18-6-35-2, Lyon 21-4-42-0, Pattinson 13-3-23-0, Labuschagne 5-0-13-0