A sensational 189 from Zak Crawley and Joe Root’s 84 helped England rapidly overtake Australia’s first innings total of 317 on Day II of the fourth Ashes Test on Thursday. The hosts reached 384/4 at the close, a lead of 67 runs.
With the weekend forecast promising rain, England know they are in a race against time to get the win they need to level the series. They really upped the ante after lunch, with Australia unable to cope with England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach. It showed in the run-rate with the hosts scoring 178 between lunch and tea.
Crawley, who lived a charmed life at times, led the attack, storming to the fourth fastest hundred from an Englishman against Australia in Test history off 93 balls to give the hosts real hope of securing a remarkable, quick-fire win.
Crawley’s streaky 189 off 182 balls, had lots of edged shots. “It was a conscious effort to take them down... when those bowlers come on it’s important to put them under pressure... I tried to bat time, but better to put bowlers under pressure and get them before they get me,” Crawley said later.
Moeen Ali, a makeshift No.3, aptly supported until he was caught for 54 by Pat Cummins. Root came in and continued on the front foot, putting on a 206-run partnership with Crawley.
Root looked more and more comfortable as the day wore on, playing some extravagant shots to put Australia on the back foot. The uneven bounce on the wicket led to both Crawley and Root’s dismissals.
With Australia resuming on 299/8, England looked set to wrap up the visitors’ first innings quickly after Jimmy Anderson dismissed Cummins off the first ball of the day, but they took another 30 minutes to remove Josh Hazlewood.
Crawley got England’s reply off with a boundary off the first ball, but Ben Duckett fell for 1 as he was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell Starc. England saw things through to lunch without any further damage, with Ali passing 3000 Test runs.
A draw or a win for Australia in Manchester will ensure they retain the Ashes, while victory for the hosts will level the series and take an exhilarating contest to a decider at The Oval.
Written with Reuters inputs
