England dig deep to hold Oz
Sydney, Jan. 9: Battleweary England dug deep for a gripping draw with just one wicket left to deny dominant Australia a 4-0 series lead in the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney on Sunday.
Number 11 batsman James Anderson doggedly played out a tense
102nd and final over from leg-spinner Steve Smith in deteriorating evening light as England ended on
270 for nine chasing a 388run target in a heartpumping finish.
It all came down to the last six balls at the Sydney Cricket Ground with eight fielders crowding around the bat as Anderson fended off Smith’s part-time legspin.
Australia had looked set to win the day-long battle and pull off a thrilling victory when they claimed the ninth wicket of Jack Leach, caught in the slips by David Warner off Smith for 26 to mass team celebrations.
But Anderson and longtime pace partner Stuart
Broad played out the remaining two nail-bitingly tense overs to give the beleaguered tourists a morale-boosting fighting draw after losing the Ashes series 3-0 inside 12 days.
Australia decl.
England 1st innings: 294 Australia 2nd innings: 265/6 decl.
England 2nd innings (o/n
30/0): Z. Crawley lbw b Green 77, H. Hameed c Carey b Boland 9, D. Malan b Lyon
4, J. Root c Carey b Boland
24, B. Stokes c Smith b Lyon
60, J. Bairstow c Labuschagne b Boland 41, J. Buttler lbw b Cummins 11, M. Wood lbw b Cummins 0, J. Leach c Warner b Smith 26, S. Broad (not out) 8, J. Anderson (not out) 0. Extras
(lb-7, nb-3) 10. Total (for 9 wkts, in 102 overs) 270. FoW: 1-46, 2-74, 3-96, 4-156,
5-193, 6-21, 7-218, 8-237, 9270.
Bowling: Starc 18-2-68-0, Cummings 22-5-80-2 (3nb), Boland 24-11-30-3, Green 101-38-1, Lyon 22-10-28-2, Labuschagne 2-0-9-0, Smith
4-1-10-1.
1st
innings:
416-8