Rain, rain and yet more rain, but England have hope
Hosts chase 224 to keep Ashes dream alive
England were eyeing another memorable Ashes climax at Headingley after knocking over Australia to leave themselves in charge of a fourthinnings chase in the third Test.
The third day in Leeds looked destined to be a washout, with no play possible until 4.45pm, but the home side kept alive their dream of regaining the urn.
They picked up the hunt and took six wickets for 108 to roll their rivals for 224. That left a chase of 251, with openers Zak Crawley (9no) and Ben Duckett (18no) making a breezy 27 without loss in five overs at the death.
England have no option but to win, with defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s leaving them 2-0 down with three to play.
Travis Head was the star performer for Australia, blasting 77 to propel his side into a competitive position, but he will now pass the baton over to the bowlers who need 10 wickets in a hurry.
When play finally got under way, there was a false start. Only one over was possible before rain returned. Mercifully, the next break only took 10 minutes and, when the contest resumed, Chris Woakes decided to let the conditions do their work.
Mitch Marsh had picked up a couple of boundaries to put England on notice when Woakes tossed it up towards off stump, found the perfect outswinger and flicked the glove as Marsh (28) made an unconvincing attempt to withdraw the bat.
England lined up Alex Carey as their next victim. He groped haplessly at Stuart Broad, edged one through the cordon, then brought down his own stumps, deflecting a Woakes delivery into them.
At 139 for six, the call went up for Mark Wood to enter the fray. The extra pace initially helped Australia get the scoreboard moving, Head punching his second ball for four and his second over costing 12, including four byes soaring high over the wicketkeeper’s head.
But his ability to force errors paid off as he blasted out Mitchell Starc
and Pat Cummins in successive overs. Starc flicked Wood high off his hips in what should have been a simple catch for Jonny Bairstow. The Yorkshireman appeared to freeze, leaving Harry Brook to throw himself into a diving catch. Cummins left Bairstow no choice a few moments later, fencing away from his body and nicking straight into the gloves. Australia’s lead was 196 when Todd Murphy arrived at number 10 and 237 when he pinned lbw at the end of a superb over from Broad.
Head played a blinder in the 41-run stand, exposing his partner to just 10 deliveries while scoring rapidly and won his personal duel with Wood. Consecutive sixes into the leg side sealed the deal.
When England finally got a full over at Murphy, Broad was sure to make it count.
He worked the tailender over for five excellent seaming deliveries then pinned him lbw with the sixth.
Head’s magic was about to run dry too, with one big shot too many picking out Duckett in the deep to set up the intriguing end game.
Crawley made a secure start for his side, with Duckett a more frantic operator.
Every run was cheered to the rafters as it thinned out England’s day-four target.
Another 224 are needed to send the teams to Manchester with the score at 2-1 and England expects.