(Cricket news) Australia started day 3 at 343/7 with Travis Head and Mitchell Starc at the crease. England made a massive comeback as the 3rd day ended with England just 58 runs behind in their 2nd with 8 wickets in hand. The situation promises a very interesting day 4 and possibly an exciting day 5 finish.
Australia came out with the intent of scoring quick runs with Starc being the aggressive one. He hit a few boundaries off Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes before the latter got his wicket on 35. Head hit a few boundaries and a maximum to get to 150. Mark Wood turned the heat on with some hostile bowling to get rid of Nathan Lyon and Travis Head as Australia were bowled out for 425 with a lead of 278.
After what happened in the first innings, England switched things around as Haseeb Hameed took strike against Mitchell Starc. Despite that, Rory Burns was on strike for 3 balls of the first over, the last of which struck him on pads. He was given out by the umpire but the DRS showed that it had bounced too high as it often does at the Gabba. Both the openers played a couple of good shots as lunch was called while England were 23/0.
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Skipper Pat Cummins struck in the very first over of the 2nd session with a brute of a delivery which Burns edged to the gloveman. Lyon was brought into the attack after 9 overs and got the ball to turn straight away. Hameed was starting to look really good after a couple of gorgeous leg glances and square cuts. His innings ended at 27 when he edged Starc's leg stump ball behind to Carey. From then on it was the Joe Root and Dawid Malan show.
The pair batted for one and a half session to put together 159 runs on the board. Root finished the day unbeaten on 86 while Malan is 80 not out. Root went past Micheal Vaughan to become the English player with the most runs in the calendar year. The partnership has certainly brought England back into the game and given them hope. Australia are still clear favorites but England have a much better chance now than they did at the end of the previous 2 days.
