Burns vows that hosts will keep on fighting hard

RORY BURNS insists England will fight on despite their Ashes hopes hanging by a thread last night. England closed the third day on 200 for five in reply to Australia’s 497 for eight declared, needing another 98 to avoid the follow-on, despite 81 from opener Burns and 71 for Root. Both fell to Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood in the evening session as the tourists took control of the game, but Burns called on England to summon the spirit of Headingley as they look to extend the Ashes into next week’s final Test at The Oval. ‘The way that last game went, anything’s possible,’ he said. ‘We’re not that far behind in this fixture. We’re a couple of good partnerships away from getting up to their score. ‘We’re in a fight and it’s very obvious what we need to do. It’s not ideal, losing those wickets, but the way we scrapped throughout the day, we’re in a decent position. It’s still a pretty good pitch to bat on.’ Hazlewood also removed Jason Roy for 22 shortly before play was ended by bad light, taking his haul in this series to an impressive 16 wickets. Asked whether he thought he was bowling as well as has ever done, he replied: ‘It’s up there. I’ve been doing it consistently, day in, day out, for the last two and a half Tests. ‘We’re pretty happy with where we’re at. The weather’s pretty good and there are two long days of cricket to go. The new ball is around the corner, and that’s in our favour, so hopefully we can use that well.’ Hazlewood praised Burns, saying: ‘He’s quite hard to bowl to and he’s done the job for the team.’