Third Test, day two: Australia 263 & 116-4; England 237 - England grateful for another six-filled assault from captain
The third innings of this fast forward affair began in what has become almost traditional fashion, Stuart Broad producing a carbon copy dismissal of David Warner when an edge again flew to Zak Crawley on one. Make that 17 times in Test cricket. But it was increasingly clear this would be a grind for England’s jaded seamers and Moeen Ali, now the spinner in a four-man attack, would need to step up for the captain who had charmed him out of retirement at the start of last month.
But for the dropped catches on day one that allowed Australia off the hook, things would be markedly different. To that end, and with blue skies overhead first thing, there was an expectation that at least one of the guilty parties would look to make a statement. The Yorkshire members will no doubt point out that appearances for the club are fleeting these days, but Joe Root and Bairstow, cheered to the rafters as they galloped out, still know every blade of Headingley grass.
So began the Brummie engine room, Stokes joined by Moeen and the pair getting their heads down in a stand of 44 that featured a couple of succulent fours from the latter. But by lunch England were 142 for seven, the city of a thousand trades delivering a lamentable hook from Moeen that soared to Smith on 21 – the ball after top-edging one just short – and a skittish 10 from Woakes ended with a feather behind on the pull.
Australia had been clinical, but then came the fightback – England somehow trowelling 95 runs on to their pile in just 62 balls after the break. It started with Wood cracking a gunslinger’s 24 from eight – three sixes and one four, remarkably – only to be shut down by Cummins for his fifth. But the Headingley crowd had been stirred into life and Stokes, struggling with a newly pulled glute, that dodgy left knee, and having worn blows to the hand and box, summoned the inner beast once more.
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