The exhilarating action continued in Ashes 2023 on Day 3 as England resumed their innings on 278/4 with Ben Stokes and Harry Brook at the crease. The morning didn’t get off to the best of the starts for England as they lost their captain Stokes (17 off 58) on just the second ball of the day. Harry Brook completed his half-century but threw his wicket away trying to smash Mitchell Starc over covers on a short ball and hit straight to Pat Cummins.
Jonny Bairstow (16), Ollie Robinson (9), Stuart Broad (12) and Josh Tongue (1) couldn’t do much with the bat as England got bundled out for 325 in the first innings. As a result, Australia got a lead of 91 runs with Mitchell Starc (3/88) starring with the ball.
In the second innings, Australia once again got off to a steady start by their openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja who added their second fifty-plus stand of the match. Warner played an uncharacteristic knock of 25 off 76 balls as he looked disciplined at the crease and didn’t play any rash shots. However, he was once again left undone by Josh Tongue's inswinger which trapped him in front of the stumps.
As a result, Australia lost their first wicket on 63, bringing Marnus Labuschagne to the crease. He was once again troubled by Stuart Broad who had several close shouts bowling against him. At the other end, Usman Khawaja raced to his third fifty-plus score of the series with an elegant drive straight down the ground. After surviving some close calls Labuschagne also looked set and added 60 runs for the second wicket with Khawaja.
Rain brought a premature end to Day 3
However, their partnership came to an end with Labuschagne hitting a wide delivery straight to Harry Brook at backward point resulting in Australia’s second wicket on 123. All of a sudden, England bowlers found their rhythm as they tried to get Steven Smith out early. Smith got beaten a few times before rain came pouring down and interrupted the play in the final session. Relentless rain resulted in stumps being called early on Day 3 and Australia finished the day on 130/2 leading by 221 runs with Khawaja (58*) and Smith (6*) at the crease.
Meanwhile, fans flooded Twitter with reactions on riveting cricket on Day 3.
Here are some of the Tweets:
Watching #EngvsAus
— Mohammed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) June 30, 2023
Big fan of Jimmy Anderson.
Just an observation, if he can bowl on the stumps he will have a very good chance of more scalps. @englandcricket @CricketAus
Great to see the umpires at Lords staying on the field with the lights on. Too often play is stopped in these circumstances. It proves whilst not perfect conditions are playable.👏👏
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) June 30, 2023
England clearly want to be bowling when the lights are on and the clouds are around .. 😜 #Ashes
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 30, 2023
Injury to Lyon big moment in the series if he's unavailable for this Test and further as well. Advantage to Eng as Lyon's such a key part of that bowling unit. #Ashes23
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) June 30, 2023
Perfect Batting conditions at the moment .. light drizzle around later so England could be bowling again with gloomy skies .. No Lyon makes this a genuine chance of a great victory for England this week .. #Ashes
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 30, 2023
5 wickets for Aussies today 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
— Damien Fleming (@bowlologist) June 30, 2023
98 Bouncers 62 attempted pull shots couple of ⛑️ hits
And a stumping #OzBall#Ashes2023
BazBall is fun.
— Liam O' Neill (@LiamONeill_Keir) June 30, 2023
It's changing the face of Test Match Cricket - for the better.
Yes there will be bumps on the road.
Yes the Harry Brook shot was stupid
But I for one am here for it all! #ENGvsAUS #Ashes2023
2nd test also going Australia’s way#Ashes2023 #ENGvsAUS
— DemoCrazy (@DemoCrazy2023) June 30, 2023
The infuriating thing about this #England cricket team is that they are so good, they could beat these Aussies, but they're just chucking it away with stupid batting #ENGvsAUS #Ashes2023
— Adam Edwards (@AdamEdw) June 30, 2023
How to describe that? England not ruthless enough. Batters not taking advantage of the conditions. Bowling was Ok. Australia dug in and kept it tight. #ENGvsAUS #ashes Fairly disappointing day 3. And it was cold.
— Brian (@BrianDRobertson) June 30, 2023
England repeated the same mistake twice that India did once #Ashes2023 #ENGvsAUS
— amit bhatta (@amitbhatta) June 30, 2023
The difference between good and great leaders is their plan B, not plan A. “Baz Ball” took the cricket world by storm. Now they’re being found out. How will the incumbent England Cricket leadership respond… #Ashes2023
— Owen Vachell 🇺🇦 (@owenvachell) June 30, 2023
Seems the those at Lords didn't want to hang around with that decision to abandon play. Advantage for Australia..they could win this by a country mile on Sunday...if they don't.. something went wrong #Ashes2023
— Andrew Webb (@THENUNEATONFOX) June 30, 2023
Only rain can save England from losing this match isn't it?#Ashes2023 #Ashes
— Prakash Umale (@PrakashUmale2) June 30, 2023
A horror day to cede the advantage completely and give up the series. What a gift from England. #Ashes2023
— Ashish C Bardapurkar (@riquelme08) June 30, 2023
Only a miracle can save Stupidity from Common Sense.#AUSvsENG #Ashes2023 #TheAshes2023 #CricketTwitter #ENGvAUS
— Abhi aks (@abhiaks9231) June 30, 2023
Horrendous 45 overs +17 = end of days play. Why have ashes when it’s rainy season. Shambles. Outrageous. Horrendous @ICC #ENGvsAUS #Ashes2023
— prateekdua62 (@Prateekdua62) June 30, 2023
Lords the "Home of Cricket" ...yes but the most pleasant place ever, the crowd NO intensity and England FOREVER having it handed to them by the opposition...esp Australia
— Bat & Trap (@Bat_n_Trap) June 30, 2023
We always make heavy weather of it at Lords#BBCCricket#ashes23#Ashes2023
Ohhhh!!!! this Englandi rain 😐
— Nikhil Pujari (@nikhilsp27) June 30, 2023
Tired of this Englandi rain and interruption in a match. 😤😖
In which month England doesn't get the rain? 😤😖
It should be called now as a Rainland. 😖 #Ashes2023
from CricTracker https://ift.tt/hRW5wir