England will be eyeing early Australia wickets as thoughts drift to what might be a manageable chase for the hosts in the third Ashes Test at Headingley.
While there may be weather-related interruptions with storms forecast on Saturday, there are still three days in which to force a result after Australia went to stumps on 116 for four and a lead of 142.
Ben Stokes had earlier been England’s hero again, dragging them from 87 for five to 237 all out with a belligerent 80 containing five sixes, while Mark Wood chipped in with an astonishing eight-ball 24.
Moeen Ali then took the key wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith in a tidy spell, with Australia unable to get away even though Stokes and Ollie Robinson were unable to bowl for England.
Captain Marvels
Despite his body appearing to be in rebellion against him – adding to his left knee trouble is hip discomfort for which he took a couple of pain-killing tablets – England captain Stokes conjured another defiant innings to get his side within touching distance of Australia’s first innings. His opposite number Pat Cummins also led from the front with six for 91. While he possesses an outstanding record in England with 47 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 22.02, this was his first five-for on UK soil.
Six of the best
Stokes pumped Australia’s rookie off-spinner Todd Murphy over the boundary rope five times to extend his lead over Kevin Pietersen for most Ashes sixes.
Wood fires
Having burst on to the scene with his breakneck pace on day one – averaging a searing 90.5mph across 11.4 overs which yielded a maiden five-wicket haul in England – Mark Wood showed no sign of slowing down after trading leather for willow. Wood’s template for backing away and swinging brought boundaries from his first three balls and three sixes in his first six balls. His luck finally ran out when another mighty heave across the line took the top-edge to mid-on. Still, Wood’s quickfire 24 roused England.
Broad problems for Warner
It was groundhog day again for David Warner, who has been well and truly muzzled in Leeds by his nemesis. It was bowled Stuart Broad, caught Zak Crawley, for a second time in two days after the Australia opener was squared up as he edged into the cordon. He will not look back fondly on this Test after scores of four and one, lasting just five balls in each innings.
Moeen at the double
Has any Test career fluctuated as much as Moeen Ali’s? Recalled after his finger drama at Edgbaston, Moeen seemed to lack a bit of snap in his action early on but then snared Labuschagne and Smith for his 199th and 200th Test wickets – albeit after some loose shots from the Australia pair. While Moeen, who held up an end as he conceded just 34 off his 17 overs in a row, often comes in for criticism, only Derek Underwood (297) and Graeme Swann (255) have more Test wickets among English spinners.
Bairstow blunders continue
Since controversially superseding Ben Foakes and donning the wicketkeeping gloves at the start of the summer, Jonny Bairstow’s doubters can only have grown after a subpar showing behind the stumps. His catching success rate in this series hovers at just over 50 per cent (nine pouched and eight dropped) and while it is true at least a couple of his put downs would have required outstanding reflexes, he has shelled more routine efforts. His reprieve of Labuschagne down the leg-side edged towards the latter. It was his third drop of the match but did not too prove too costly after Labuschagne was out next ball while Bairstow might have redeemed himself slightly in some English eyes with an inoffensive send-off of Smith, who seemed to take exception to being told ‘See ya, Smudge’.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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