The Ashes 2023: England dominates over the Aussies in 4th Test (Day-3) Match Report (England vs Australia)

The third day of England vs Australia’s fourth test of the Ashes 2023 could be entirely dedicated to the England side as they posted a humongous total of 592/10 in 107.2 overs on the scoreboard which included Bairstow’s brilliant unbeaten 99 runs and crucial half-centuries from Brook (61) and Stokes (51). Though, Hazlewood remained the most successful among Australian bowlers with 5/126, but completed failed to stop England from putting a huge total.

The Ashes 2023, 4th Test (Day-3): England batters shined

The England innings resumed from the last day’s 384/4 with Brook & Stokes on the pitch. Both batters dealt with Australian bowling attack sensibly without any rush as they knew they are already in a dominant position. Both anchored England innings by built an 86-run partnership when Stokes fell prey to Cummins when he got a slight inside edge on a full length delivery, thereby guiding the ball towards the stumps. Stokes scored 51 off 74 balls which included 5 boundaries.

The new batsman to join Brook at a score of 437/5 was Jonny Bairstow. Hardly 37 runs were added further to the total when Brook was shown the way to pavillion by Hazlewood when he got a top-edge which found its way to deep backward square where Starc grabbed the catch. By now, England had lost all the major wickets and Bairstow was the only batter to keep the hopes alive to take the team to a bigger total. From hereon, Bairstow started dealing with Australian attack single handedly along with tail-ender batters. Bairstow played an aggressive innings and by lunch England were 506/8 in 96 overs.

Post lunch, the match got delayed due to rain for sometime. But as soon as the game was resumed, Bairstow was back with his show and completed a quick fifty off 51 balls. Meanwhile the tail end batters kept giving more strike to the ace batter which helped him hit a marvellous unbeaten 99 before England’s innings ended at a score of 592. Hazlewood gave three back to back blows to England by claiming the wickets of Woakes, Wood & Broad, thereby completing his five-wicket haul. Anderson remained the last batsman to get dismissed as leg before by Green.

The Ashes 2023, 4th Test (Day-3): Australia got a stumbling start

The Aussies had a quite disappointing start to their second innings as they lost the early wicket of Khawaja (18 runs) at a score of mere 32 runs when he got caught behind on a clever bouncy delivery by Wood. Hardly, the Australian innings was moved 22 runs ahead when Warner once again disappointed his team as he got bowled by Woekes at an individual score of 28 when an inner edge of his bat guided the ball to the stumps.

At this stage, when the Aussies were at 54/2, Labuschagne & Smith were both new on the crease. Both took Australia to a total of 97 when Wood gave another blow to the visitors when claimed Smith’s wicket as he got caught behind while trying to play a shot on a delivery with extra bounce and pace down the leg side.

Things became more troublesome for the Aussies when within a frame of next four overs at a score of 108, the ace batsman, Travis Head was hunted down by Wood once again when the latter delivered a short ball to Head on which he played a confused flap shot on the back foot leading to his catch in the deep gully by Duckett.

The Ashes 2023, 4th Test (Day-3): At Stumps

At stumps, Australia lost its first four crucial wickets at a score of 113/4 in their second innings with Labuschagne (41) & Marsh (1) on the crease. England bowlers would surely want to restrict the visitors below a score of 200 so as to stand a good chance of chasing the target in the two remaining days.

BRIEF SCORE: Day-3 (4th Test), England vs Australia, The Ashes 2023
Australia: 317/10 (Marsh 51, Labuschagne 51, Head 48, Woakes 5/62, Broad 2/68)
England: 384/4 (Crawley 189, Bairstow 99*, Root 84, Hazlewood 5/126, Green 2/64)
Australia: 113/4 (Labuschagne 44*, Warner 28, Wood 3/17, Woakes 1/18)

Australia trail by 162 runs

The Ashes 2023, 4th Test (Day-3): Match Details

• Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
• Dates: 19 Jul – 23 Jul
• Toss: Won by England, Chose to Bowl first
• Umpires: Joel Wilson (WI) & Nitin Menon (IND)
• TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SL)
• Reserve umpire: Martin Saggers (ENG)
• Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SL)
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