Revenge was sweet for Jonny Bairstow despite running out of partners one run short of his century as England scored 592 all out against Australia to take a commanding innings lead of 275 runs on the third day Friday of the fourth Ashes test.
In reply, Australia were 39–1 at tea in their second innings, trailing England by 236 runs and hoping for rain at Old Trafford. Australia opener Usman Khawaja edged behind on 18 against pacer Mark Wood to give Bairstow his fourth catch of the match. David Warner was 17 not out and Marnus Labuschagne had 4. (Ashes 2023: Zak Crawley Chooses Brilliance Over Consistency After Century On Day 2 Of 4th Test, WATCH)
England resumed on Friday on 384-4 and continued to dominate right to the end of the innings as Bairstow and James Anderson shared a 66-run partnership for the 10th wicket.
Anderson got only five of those runs and was trapped leg before wicket by Cameron Green to leave wicketkeeper-batsman Bairstow stranded on 99 not out from 81 balls. The only other Ashes batsman to score 99 not out was Australia’s Steve Waugh in 1995 at Perth.
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Bairstow, whose place was in danger ahead of this Test after poor glove work and mostly failing to fire with the bat, blasted 10 fours and four sixes, with two of the maximums in the same over against Pat Cummins. The Australia captain was criticized by England for alleged ?unsporting? behavior after Bairstow was controversially stumped in the second Test at Lord’s by wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
England went to lunch on 506-8 with an 189-run lead in a Test it must win to retain any chance of reclaiming the Ashes. The hosts knew they needed quick runs because Saturday’s play might be lost to rain.
Cummins (1-129) got the first wicket in the morning by bowling counterpart Ben Stokes (51) to leave England on 437-5 and a lead of 120. An off-balance Stokes got a thin inside edge to end another key innings after scoring 155 and 80 at Lord’s and Headingley, respectively.
Australia delayed taking the new ball for 10 overs, balancing the threat of England accelerating the run rate against the reward of more wickets.
Mitchell Starc (2-137), who had briefly left the field after landing awkwardly on his left shoulder on Thursday, did take the new ball in the 91st over. The run rate immediately dropped with just a single off Starc. Josh Hazlewood went for only two runs in the following over, which included the wicket of rising star Harry Brook, caught by Starc near the boundary for 61. England’s lead was 157.
Starc then went for 12 runs in the 93rd over before Hazlewood had Chris Woakes caught behind for a golden duck in the 94th.
At stumps on Day 3, Australia are 113/4 trailing by 162 runs.