Stuart Broad kickstarted England’s resurgence as a Australia backed themselves into a corner on day two of the final Ashes Test.
The tourists produced a thoroughly passive batting performance, attempting to grind their opponents down but coming unstuck as they coughed up five wickets in the afternoon session.
At tea they had lurched to 186 for seven, a colourless innings that gave England the upper hand and struck a stark contrast to the hosts’ thrill-a-minute 283 on the first day.
At the break, the Baggy Greens were 97 behind with Steve Smith unbeaten on 40 and carrying the bulk of his side’s hopes.
While England burned out in less than 55 overs and scored at a rampant rate of 5.17, Australia slammed the brakes on as they eked out their runs at 2.48.
With the scoreboard moving at glacial pace in the morning, Australia scoring 54 in two hours of stoic defence, Broad grabbed the initiative after lunch as he removed Usman Khawaja and Travis Head in successive overs.
England kept charging in and chipped away at a side who have retained the urn but lost their mojo. James Anderson claimed his first breakthrough of the match when Mitch Marsh dragged down his stumps, an out-of-sorts Alex Carey lobbed Joe Root to short cover and Mark Wood bounced out Mitchell Starc.
Root, who was only pressed into bowling action due to first-choice spinner Moeen Ali’s groin injury, had earlier got England on the board with a super reaction catch at first slip.
After almost 90 minutes of blocking in difficult batting conditions the ultra-defensive Marnus Labuschagne, who scraped together nine runs off 82 deliveries, eventually nicked Wood for what should have been a regulation caught behind.
But Jonny Bairstow failed to make a move a move and the ball would have raced away for four had Root not flung himself into action, diving to his left to pull off a remarkable one-handed grab.
Australia still appeared to be in control at the interval, going in at 115 for two as Khawaja produced a watchful opener’s knock, but the limited ambition came home to roost in the middle session.
They added just 71 between lunch and tea as they lost control of the narrative. Broad was the primary reason for the change in tone.
He found a way through Khawaja’s well-rehearsed defences after nearly five hours of occupation, angling in from round the wicket and hitting him in front of leg stump for 47.
He then followed by making short work of the dangerous Travis Head, the man most likely to energise a quiet day.
Head got off the mark with a boundary but that was the start and the end of his scoring, as he felt for contact in the channel and nicked through to Bairstow.
Broad had two in six balls, the crowd’s pulses had raised and Australia had seen their hard work come undone.
Borthwick names unchanged starting England team for Australia clash
Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged starting team for England's match against Australia on Saturday with two changes on the bench.
England enter their second November Test looking to bounce back from their narrow 24-22 defeat to New Zealand last weekend.
Borthwick, however has elected to name the same group that started against the All Blacks, though Henry Slade will shift to inside centre, while Ollie Lawrence moves to outside centre.
Marcus Smith retains his place at fly-half while Jamie George continues to lead the side at hooker, but there is no place for Theo Dan or Ben Curry.
The pair are replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme as England move from a six-two split between forwards and backs to a five-three combination.
Hooker Cowan-Dickie will make his first England appearance since November 2022 if he is introduced off the bench.
“Facing Australia is always a massive challenge, and we’ll work diligently this week to ensure we’re physically and tactically prepared to take on the Wallabies,” said Borthwick.
“The passion and energy from the crowd at Allianz Stadium last weekend was absolutely brilliant, from the opening whistle to the final moments, and we can't wait to be back at home this Saturday."
England squad in full:
George Furbank, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Fin Baxter, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall, George Ford, Ollie Sleightholme
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
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