MANCHESTER: Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood strengthened Australia’s grip on the fourth Test at Old Trafford with three England wickets late on the third day on Friday.
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England were 200-5 when bad light ended play shortly before the scheduled close, still 297 behind Australia’s imposing 497-8 declared built on Steve Smith’s commanding double century.
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Hazlewood has taken 4-48 in 20 overs, with England needing a further 98 runs just to avoid the follow-on.
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Ben Stokes, whose unbeaten century took England to a stunning one-wicket win in the third Test at Headingley, was seven not out and Jonny Bairstow two not out.
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England were making steady progress during a third-wicket partnership of 141 between Rory Burns (81) and captain Joe Root (71).
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But Hazlewood removed both well-set batsmen before clean-bowling Jason Roy.
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Victory in this match would see holders Australia retain the Ashes at 2-1 up with one to play in a five-Test series.
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Rain meant there was no play before lunch yesterday.
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England resumed on 23-1, with left-handed opener Burns 15 not out and nightwatchman Craig Overton three not out after Cummins had dismissed makeshift opener Joe Denly on Thursday.
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Overton had added just two to his score when he edged a full-length, rising delivery from Hazlewood to second slip, where Smith held a waist-high catch.
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Burns, who scored a century in the first Test, cover-drove Mitchell Starc for a resounding four.
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Burns’s back-foot drive for four off Starc, playing his first match of the series, and a steered boundary off the left-arm fast bowler saw him to a 100-ball fifty.
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England were 125-2 at tea, with Burns 62 not out – his third score of fifty or more this series – and Root unbeaten on 47.
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Root, who had his box snapped by a Starc delivery and was struck a painful blow on the leg by Cummins, should have been out on 54.
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But an edge off Cummins went between Australia captain and wicketkeeper Tim Paine – who should have gone for the catch – and David Warner at first slip.
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Paine, whose poor use of the review system contributed to Australia’s defeat at Headingley, wasted another challenge after Root was given not out in response to an lbw appeal from Cummins.
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It prompted a huge cheer from a large crowd.
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They also took every opportunity to jeer Nathan Lyon, who had fumbled what would have been a match-winning run-out at Headingley, every time the spinner failed to take the ball cleanly.
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Burns, in sight of what would have been a second Test century after his 133 in the series opener at Edgbaston, fell when he was undone by a fine Hazlewood ball that nipped away and took the edge, with Smith holding another sharp slip catch.
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Burns batted for nearly five hours, facing 185 balls including nine fours.
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Hazlewood, demonstrating great control, then had Root lbw with a fine nip-back delivery to end a 168-ball innings, the skipper not even bothering to review umpire Kumar Dharmasena’s decision so certain was he of his own dismissal.
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Roy, having struggled as a Test opener, had changed places with Denly but England’s use of a nightwatchman meant he came in at number five.
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He got off the mark with a cover-driven four off Hazlewood but the paceman had the last word, clean bowling him middle stump for 22 with a superb delivery that moved late off the seam.
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