On Day 3, England’s pacers attempted to contain Australia by taking advantage of the favourable circumstances brought about by their subpar batting effort. The sole positive outcome for them in the second session—despite their ability to control the scoring pace—came on Friday, June 30, when David Warner was benched. Australia kept the batters in check throughout a difficult session. Usman Khawaja is undefeated on 45 as the visitors score 69 runs in 26 overs to increase their lead to 172 at tea.
After lunch, Australia’s openers encountered more challenges as the bowlers continued to benefit from the favourable conditions. Warner dodged James Anderson’s shout to the leg previously. But England lost the review when replays adequately showed an inside edge. Khawaja could see the lines, albeit some of them were streaky. Josh Tongue promptly delivered two shots to him, one of which was from the outside edge of a Broad over that Anderson was unable to catch. Khawaja handled the loose balls with ease and scored the most of the runs. Despite David Warner being extremely careful at the other end.
Ollie Pope’s struggle with his right shoulder was evident throughout his time on the pitch, suggesting that he had injured it while trying to slide and stop a ball. His unexpected withdrawal from the pitch raised more questions for England. Despite Ollie Robinson twice running over the outside edge of Khawaja’s bat in the first hour of the second session, the Australian openers were able to hold on. The partnership had been going strong for fifty runs when Warner misplayed a lift off Tongue past the fielders. The next ball was a magnificent on-drive by Khawaja, which resulted in his eighth boundary.
Warner got lucky when he poked Robinson’s delivery beyond backward point with an edge that produced a four. The hesitant opener missed a Tongue delivery that came in . And brushed him on the pad, costing Australia a review and ending the innings. As seen on replays, the hit went outside off. Tongue gave an lbw call to Marnus Labuschagne in his subsequent over. At the time of the break, Khawaja and Labuschagne were still unbroken. Khawaja caught Broad’s two successive fours to move into the 40s.
Before getting dismissed for a total of 325 runs. England lost six wickets and only managed to add 47 runs on the previous day. After receiving a leading edge from Starc to Cameron Green at wide gully. Ben Stokes was out in the first over. Because of the hurried deliveries from the Australian pacers, Brook only made it to fifty when Starc removed him for one. Although Jonny Bairstow made a greater effort, his performance lagged behind Josh Hazlewood’s. Australia gained a 91-run advantage as they prematurely ended England’s innings with the wickets of Travis Head and Pat Cummins. Khawaja and Warner successfully finished a challenging six-over session before lunch.
Brief scores:
Australia 416 & 81/1 (Usman Khawaja 45*; Josh Tongue 1-21) led England 325 (Ben Duckett 98, Harry Brook 50; Mitchell Starc 3-88, Travis Head 2-17) by 172 runs.
