Stuart Broad has removed David Warner for the 17th time in Test cricket, after Pat Cummins’ six-wicket haul gave Australia a slender first-innings lead at Headingley.
Australia went to tea on Friday’s second day of the third Test at 1-29 and with a lead of 55, after Cummins took 6-91 in England’s total of 237 to ensure the visitors had a 26-run first-innings advan-tage.
Broad then struck early for England, removing Warner for the second time in the match with a ball that angled in at the left-hander and took his edge. It was the 17th time in 29 meetings the veteran paceman had got his number.
Scores of four and one for the Test will put the pressure back on Warner, who has previously had plenty of starts on this tour without making a big score.
Usman Khawaja (20no) and Marnus La-buschagne (7no) then got Australia through to tea, despite another fiery spell from Mark Wood.
Earlier, Cummins had put Australia in position to shoot for their first Ashes series win in England in 22 years with victory with his fourth-best career figures.
Only Ben Stokes, with a defiant 80, has kept England in the match while battling a glute issue.
Evoking further memories of his efforts at the same ground four years ago, not to mention his heroics in the Lord’s Test defeat, Stokes blasted five sixes in 50 minutes of play after lunch.
He was eventually caught in the deep off Todd Murphy, after helping add 95 crucial runs for the last three wickets once England’s top and middle-order had let them down.
Australia were disciplined with the ball, but some serious introspection is required by England if they wish to stay in the series.
While most of England’s batters scored at a much slower rate than in the first two Tests, their wickets still fell to the kind of loose shots which have plagued them throughout the series.
Apart from Stokes and England’s tail, this was Bazball without the intent, but still with the flurry of wickets that has often come with it.
On a perfect day for batting under bright Leeds skies, England desperately needed Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow to bat through the first session after resuming at 3-68 in reply to Australia’s 263.
Instead, Root lasted only two balls when he edged Cummins to slip on 19.
It was the third time Cummins had successfully drawn an edge in the innings, after also having Harry Brook and Ben Duckett caught behind the wicket on the first evening.
Bairstow’s dismissal, though, was even more disappointing for England.
With the hosts already in trouble, he went hard at a full, wide ball from Mitchell Starc (2-59) and edged it straight to Steve Smith at second slip for 12.
Moeen Ali followed for 21, inexplicably skying a pull shot off Cummins after the exact same shot fell into vacant space earlier in the same over.—APP
