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Ashes | Joe Root, Bairstow, Crawley Bomb Australia On Day 3 To Secure Massive Lead

image-lkoc9ek5Jonny Bairstow celebrates his 50 on Day 3 (Twitter)

England’s batting line-up, sans Harry Brook, collectively carpet-bombed the Australians throughout Day 3 to gather a massive lead in the fifth Ashes 2023 Test match.

Opener Zak Crawley and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow cracked sparkling 70s, while former skipper Joe Root contributed 91 to England’s run-riot in an 80-over day at The Oval.

England bat out Day 3 to gain massive lead

The Englishmen started out Day 3 while facing a 12-run first innings deficit. Openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett effortlessly wiped out the difference during their confident 79-run stand at the top.

Crawley himself registered an attacking 76-ball 73, while Duckett became England’s first casualty of the innings at 42. The left-handed opener became one of Mitchell Starc’s four victims of the day, as he succumbed to the speedster’s thunderous pace and captain Pat Cummins’ excellent use of DRS.

Hosts skipper Ben Stokes promoted himself up the order and shared another 61 runs with Crawley. The all-rounder was soon joined by batting veteran Joe Root, who later commanded England’s rapid run-scoring splurge with Jonny Bairstow.

The former skipper top-scored on the day with 91, while the wicketkeeper-batter unleashed 78 from just 103 deliveries. Notably, apart from Harry Brook, every batter in England’s top seven scored runs before Starc’s thunderbolts and Todd Murphy’s spin magic reduced them from 332-4 to 379-9.

Fast bowling legends Stuart Broad and James Anderson survived the final three overs of the curtailed day to add another 10 runs to the total, as the hosts will now resume their second innings on Day 4 at 389-9.

Brief Scores:

England: 283 (54.4)
Harry Brook 85 (91), Ben Duckett 41 (41)
Mitchell Starc 4-82 (14.4), Todd Murphy 2-22 (6)

Australia: 295 (103.1)
Steve Smith 71 (123), Usman Khawaja 47 (157)
Chris Woakes 3-61 (25), Stuart Broad 2-49 (20)

England: 389-9 (80)
Joe Root 91 (106), Jonny Bairstow 78 (103)
Mitchell Starc 4-94 (19), Todd Murphy 3-110 (22)

England lead by 377 runs