Ashes 5th Test: Crawley, Stokes take full control of game, England lead by 118 runs (Day 3, Lunch)
Jul 29, 2023
London [UK], July 29 : England batters dominated the entire first session to pull themselves back in the game on Day 3 of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval on Saturday.
At the end of the first session, England registered a score of 130/1 in 25 overs, with Zack Crawley and Ben Stokes unbeaten on scores of 71(73)* and 12(24)* respectively. England lead by 118 runs.
England kicked off Day 3 with Zack Crawley finding the fence on the very first ball off Mitchell Starc. Duckett struck two consecutive fours in the final two balls of the over to begin the day with 13 runs in the first over.
Australia's 12-run lead vanished in thin air and they found themselves behind a single run. They maintained a healthy scoring run rate in the next coming overs to put the hosts in a comfortable position.
Their partnership ended in the 17th over for a score of 79. Starc got his lines right with three out-swingers, a straight one to unsettle the batter. He got better of Duckett with another off-swing delivery which was met with a thick edge and ended straight into the gloves of the keeper.
Surprisingly, skipper Ben Stokes came in at number three to fill the vacant position which was created due to Moeen Ali's groin injury on Day 1.
After the arrival of Stokes on the pitch, England didn't face many difficulties as they managed to maintain their scoring rate above five.
Brief Score: England 283 & 130/1 (Zack Crawley 71*, Ben Duckett 42, Mitchell Starc 1-43) vs Australia 295 (Steve Smith 71, Usman Khawaja 47; Chris Woakes 3/61).
