A hostile spell of fast-bowling from Mark Wood after Jonny Bairstow’s aggressive batting helped England close in on a win against Australia that would level the Ashes series.
Wood claimed three wickets to restrict Australia to 113/4 in their second innings on Day III of the fourth Ashes Test, still trailing England by 162 runs.
Earlier in the day, Bairstow produced a blistering display with the bat to finish unbeaten on 99 as he helped England post a colossal 592 all out in front of a raucous Old Trafford crowd on Friday.
With rain forecast for the weekend and England holding a 275-run lead, it was clear Australia were playing for a draw that would help them to retain the Ashes.
After a steady start, Wood struck to dismiss Usman Khawaja (18), and after David Warner (28) had played onto his own stumps off Chris Woakes, the Durham fast bowler removed Steve Smith (17) and Travis Head (1) to put England in command.
Marnus Labuschagne was holding one end up, batting on 44 off 88 balls when the stumps were drawn.
On Friday morning, England resumed on 384/4 and continued to dominate with their ‘Bazball’ approach 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 Bairstow stranded on 99 not out from 81 balls. The only other Ashes batter to score 99 not out was Australia’s Steve Waugh in 1995 in Perth.
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.
Josh Hazlewood (5/126) finished as the top wicket-taker for Australia.
With inputs from Reuters, AP/PTI
