On the second morning at Headingley, England’s middle order collapsed, giving Australia control of the third Test against England. England relied significantly on their senior middle order triumvirate of Joe Root, Jonny Baristow, and Ben Stokes on the first day, when they trailed by 195 runs. However, Root and Bairstow departed without making an impression, while Stokes, who was observed suffering with an injury, remained on the field until lunch.
Australia’s day began in remarkable fashion when Cummins struck the second ball to catch the largest fish. Root attempted to direct the ball to third man, but ultimately edged it to first slip. Bairstow scored a boundary in the same over, but he was promptly dismissed by Starc, who had just entered the attack. In all truthfulness, the dismissal resulted from an unexceptional delivery, as Starc delivered it wide of the off stump and the batter chased and edged it behind.
Stokes was once again tasked with rescuing England, and it appeared for a brief moment that he, too, would be returning to the pavilion after surviving a very close appeal for leg-before-wicket. After England lost these two crucial wickets, Stokes and Moeen Ali applied pressure to consolidate for some time. At one stage, Stokes appeared to be suffering from a lower back injury and was observed receiving treatment.
The two batters raised the aspirations of the home crowd with a lovely little stand, but Cummins ruined the celebration. The Australian captain returned for his second spell of the morning, and the visitors once again took a wicket off a routine delivery. After Moeen top-edged a delivery, Cummins pitched another short delivery, but it lacked sufficient menace. Still, the left-hander was unable to hold it down, and this time the upper edge was securely pouched.
Australia bombarded Chris Woakes with short-pitched deliveries, resulting in his dismissal. He did hit one of those for a six, much to the delight of the spectators, but Starc found a faint edge with a bumper in the next over, which was captured by the keeper. Still trailing by 121 runs at 142/7, England is now counting on another miracle from their captain.
Brief scores: England 142/7 (Zak Crawle 33; Pat Cummins 4/59, Mitchell Starc 2/28) trail Australia263
