A devastating spell of new ball bowling put Australia in an unassailable position at Lord’s against England (Picture: Getty)
A devastating spell of new ball bowling form Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins has put Australia within touching distance of a 2-0 Ashes series lead.
The tourists started the day at Lord’s in a commanding position, but England’s decision to resort to a relentless, and at times, stupefying barrage of short-pitched bowling hauled them back into the contest.
Josh Tongue and captain Ben Stokes, with his knee heavily bandaged, both put themselves through the ringer, while Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad also undertook heavy workloads.
Ultimately, Australia lost their last seven wickets for less than 100 runs as their batsmen struggled to find a solution to a barrage of bouncers on a two-paced wicket.
The afternoon session reached a somewhat farcical conclusion, meanwhile, when Nathan Lyon hobbled to the crease in an attempt to extend Australia’s lead.
At 264 for nine – with the Baggy Greens already 355 ahead – Lyon hopped down the steps of the pavilion to face up at number 11. Barely able to walk after suffering a serious calf strain on the second evening, and almost certainly out of the series, he received a warm ovation for bravely taking up a challenge few expected him to accept.
But the 35-year-old was rendered almost entirely immobile and appeared to badly aggravate the problem when he was forced to hobble through for a single following a sensational diving save on the boundary from substitute fielder Rehan Ahmed.
Nathan Lyon produced an astonishing cameo with the bat to help Australia extend their lead over England (Picture: Getty)
Ollie Pope had no answer to a sensational delivery from Mitchell Starc (Picture: Getty)
The overwhelming majority of shots from Lyon and Starc came to nothing, with fielders spread on the ropes and no prospect of any further running, but Lyon got one boundary away in a stand of 15 that occupied 25 painful minutes.
Ultimately, England were set an unlikely 371 to win and their innings got off to the worst possible start when Zak Crawley was strangled down the leg-side off the bowling of Starc.
The experienced left-armer then came up with an unplayable delivery to remove Ollie Pope’s middle stump with a ball that ducked back in late.
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Not to be outdone, Cummins got rid of Joe Root with a brute of a ball that spat up off the surface and saw England’s star batsman able only to fend the ball feebly to David Warner at slip.
Worse was to follow when the Aussie skipper produced the perfect comeback to Harry Brook, nipping one away and into his off peg having just been smacked down the ground for four.
Starc was in the thick of the action late in the day and was left perplexed when thethird umpire deemed he wasn’t in control of the ball when it appeared he had taken a sensational diving catch a fine leg to get rid of Ben Duckett who had just reached his second half century of the match.
Ultimately, England ended the day on 114-4 needing another 257 runs and a Headingley 2019 style miracle. With Stokes at the crease you can never say never, but this is a different Australia who are unlikely to repeat the mistakes of four years ago.
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The Aussies are closing in on victory at Lord’s and a 2-0 series lead