Nathan Lyon severely dented England’s desperate Ashes survival bid with three quick blows: vice-captain Harry Brook, bowled; captain Ben Stokes, bowled; leading scorer Zak Crawley, stumped. Just as England were starting to gain confidence on Saturday chasing what needed to be a world-record 435 to keep the Ashes series alive, Lyon returned to the Australian attack.
Crawley (85) and Brook (30) had combined in a 68-run stand to revive England’s innings from 109-3 to 177-3 after Australia skipper Pat Cummins took out the top order. Then Lyon, who moved to No. 2 on Australia’s all-time list of wicket-takers in the first innings, started a new spell in the evening session.
On his second ball Lyon dismissed a cavalier Brook, who reached too far and completely missed an extravagant reverse sweep. The 38-year-old spinner quickly took three wickets for eight runs in a sequence that ripped through the middle order and suddenly England were 194-6.
At stumps on Day Four, England were 207-6 and needing 228 runs for an improbable victory in the third test. Crawley said England had been outplayed by Australia. “Obviously we’ve been slightly short of our best but credit has to go them, they haven’t allowed us to be at our best,” Crawley said. “It’s disappointing, we came here to win the Ashes and we’re staring down the barrel now.”
Brief scores
Australia 371 & 349 (T Head 170, A Carey 72, U Khawaja 40; J Tongue 4-70, B Carse 3-80) vs England 286 & 207-6 (Z Crawley 85, J Root 39; P Cummins 3-24, N Lyon 3-64)
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