Catch our ball-by-ball coverage, the scorecard, and full stats from the third Ashes Test here.
Eleven days so far in this Ashes series, and all 11 have been of the highest standard. Today has been full of nervous tension. As if England is to win the Ashes, this is a must-win match for them. So how have things gone so far?
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to field first. His teamsheet had Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood carded for the injured Ollie Pope and the rested James Anderson and Josh Tongue.
Pat Cummins handed in his sheet with Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy and Scott Boland in for the injured pair of Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon and the rested Josh Hazlewood.
As for the conditions, there was a bit of a green tinge to the wicket and some help for the seamers with overhead cloud cover.
The Aussies got off to a dreadful start when Stuart Broad had opener David Warner (4) caught at third slip by Zak Crawley off the fifth ball of the innings and match.
Fellow opener Usman Khawaja and number three batter Marnus Labuschagne then battled hard and pushed their luck to make 37 for the second wicket before Ben Stokes brought Mark Wood into the attack who hit his straps from ball one sending the ball down at over 95 mph.
With the score on 44-1 Khawaja was cleaned bowled having been beaten for pace by Wood to the elation of the England players and the partisan Headingley crowd.
Steve Smith joined Marnus Labuschagne at four. They too struggled to get going against some tidy seam bowling. Just as Labuschagne (21) looked to have found his groove, he got a jaffa from Chris Woakes that had him edging into the mid-riff of Joe Root at first slip (61-3).
Travis Head was next to the crease. He and Smith looked to take advantage of the sunshine that had crept through the clouds and the ball that had started to soften.
Having put on 24 more runs for the third wicket, Smith got a feather of an inside edge through to Jonny Bairstow off the bowling of Stuart Broad and the Aussies were now in a bit of pickle at 85-4.
Mitchell Marsh was in at six. Marsh immediately threw caution to the wind knowing that pushing and poking the ball around will not get his team to a decent first innings score. He decided to unleash some hard-hitting stroke play that took him to a magnificent third Test hundred (17x4-4x6).
Having the England side and their faithful starting to get worried, on the stroke of Tea, Marsh got an inside edge onto his pad from Woakes which spooned the ball to second slip for Zak Crawley to take the easiest of pouches (240-5).
After tea, it was all about Mark Wood. Wood had already battered the Aussie top order with his fiery short deliveries but had claimed just the one wicket, that of Khawaja. However, whatever he ate at Tea did the trick and he ended up sending down a spell of bowling that saw the last five Aussie batters fall for just 23 runs to close on 263 all out.
Wood came in as England’s standout bowler returning figures of 5/34, his fourth Test five-fa. Chris Woakes was next best with 3-73 off his 17 overs and Broad nabbed two wickets at a cost of 58 runs.
Like Australia, England in their first innings got off to a very poor start being two down with just 22 runs on the board. Ben Duckett (2) was caught behind cutting at one too close to his body from Pat Cummins and Harry Brook (3), promoted to number three, being caught at second-slip poking at a length ball again off the bowling of the Australian captain.
Joe Root was in at four. He and Crawley batted sensibly and with intent putting on 43 for the third wicket before Crawley (33) edged an away swinger from Marsh to David Warner at second slip (65-3). Root (19*) and Jonny Bairstow (1*) have brought their team in on 68-3 still 195 runs behind.
With the ball, the Aussie seamers have bowled tidily and not bowled away too many loose deliveries. They have been well supported in the field, unlike the English bowlers who had Marsh, Head and Carey all dropped behind the wicket. Cummins is the only bowler to have a number in his wicket column (2-28) with Scott Boland the most economical of the four bowlers used so far going at 2.33 rpo.
Catch our ball-by-ball coverage, the scorecard, and full stats from the third Ashes Test here.
Third Ashes Test preview
It feels as though the dust has just settled from the heated affray at Lord’s and yet the two sets of players are back in the ring for another round just four days after Australia established an almost unassailable 2-0 lead.
For the third successive series, England’s Plan A has not worked. In 2019, they fought back to win two of the last three Tests to claw back a 2-2 draw that was ultimately not enough to take back the urn. This time, anything short of three consecutive wins won’t be enough!
The short turnaround from London to Leeds won’t be ideal for the players from a physical perspective, but for everyone else, it’s probably for the best that we can move on from the Jonny Bairstow saga as quickly as possible.
Everyone has had their say about the matter, and some continue to do so. There are fears that emotions will still be running high at Leeds after some pretty fierce comments from the England camp, including a suggestion from Brendon McCullum that England could forgo post-series drinks with their opposition which left Australian coach Andrew McDonald stunned and “disappointed”.
Bairstow moves to his home ground of Headingley, where an already raucous crowd will be getting right behind him even more so than they previously would have in more peaceful circumstances.
He’s had a pretty ordinary series with the bat and the gloves but will be glad to see Nathan Lyon on the other side of the world, and the memories of his 162 in the third Test against New Zealand last year will be front of mind for inspiration.
Catch our ball-by-ball coverage of the third Ashes Test here.
Line-ups
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood
IN: Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
OUT: Ollie Pope (injured), James Anderson (rested), Josh Tongue (rested)
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
IN: Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
OUT: Cameron Green (injured), Nathan Lyon (injured), Josh Hazlewood (rested)
Team News (England)
As was first reported by Daily Mail correspondent Paul Newman on Tuesday evening local time, England have reshuffled the balance of their lineup with three changes.
Ollie Pope’s shoulder injury has forced him out of the remainder of the series with Lyon, but instead of the like-for-like replacement of Dan Lawrence, England have opted to add to their bowling stocks.
Ben Stokes revealed that his heroic fourth innings effort at Lord’s “took out a lot out of” him and that the adjustment to their side was made on the proviso that he was unlikely to bowl in this upcoming match due to soreness and fatigue.
Moeen Ali is replacing Pope, whilst James Anderson and Josh Tongue have been rested for Mark Wood and Chris Woakes.
Woakes and Moeen at their best with the bat should go some way to filling the void left by Pope, whilst Harry Brook was seen training against the new ball yesterday ahead of his promotion to number three.
Joe Root strongly prefers to stay at four, hence the experimentation with Brook despite him averaging just 22 as a number three in County Championship cricket without a single innings there since 2018.
Team News (Australia)
There was never any doubting that 22-year-old Todd Murphy would be a direct replacement for Nathan Lyon for the remainder of the series, and the way he bowled in India earlier this year suggests he should rise to the immense challenge of an away Ashes series.
Pat Cummins all but conceded yesterday that Josh Hazlewood will almost certainly not be risked for a third consecutive Test given his recent history with injury.
One interesting talking point to come out of Australia’s final training session at Headingley yesterday was the absence of Cameron Green, who has apparently pulled up after bowling 22 overs at Lord’s.
It has to be pointed out that Green’s Test career is still young, and he doesn’t often have to bowl more than ten overs in an innings. Mitchell Marsh was receiving one-on-one slips and gully catching practice yesterday, adding weight to the rumour that he will be taking Green’s place this week.
Widespread changes were always to be expected so quickly after back-to-back five-day Tests.
Key stats
England have won each of their last four Tests in Leeds, the most recent of which was their seven-wicket win over New Zealand in June 2022.
Three of those four games saw England bowl first and skittle their opposition for a first innings score of under 200.
There has been just one instance in history of a team coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win a Test series (Don Bradman’s Australia in 1936/37).
Usman Khawaja has top scored in six of Australia’s last 11 Test innings.
Josh Hazlewood to Ben Duckett in Test cricket: 3/45 from 44 balls.
Jonny Bairstow boasts a tremendous Test average of 63.67 at his home ground, which includes two centuries and two fifties from 11 innings.
Joe Root’s 15 Test innings at Headingley have produced two centuries, four half-centuries and three ducks. If he is to be selected, it’s worth noting that Josh Tongue dismissed Warner and Smith twice each at Lord’s for combined figures of 4/67 from 95 balls.
