(Cricket news) England and Australia both made 3 changes each for the 3rd Ashes Test at Headingley. England made a tough call by dropping James Anderson to get in the rapid Mark Wood. The injured Ollie Pope was replaced by Moeen Ali which was a very bold decision. Replacing a pure number 3 batter with a lower middle order all-rounder meant that England needed a number 8 who can bat a bit which is why Chris Woakes replaced Josh Tongue who had a brilliant game at Lords. Australia as expected brought in Todd Murphy to replace the injured Nathan Lyon. Scott Bolland came back in for Josh Hazelwood while Mitchell Marsh replaced Cameron Green who had a niggle.

England won the toss and put Australia into bat first before unleashing Mark Wood’s fury. The fast bowler who missed the first two Tests came back with a bang. Wood picked up 5 wickets including that of the inform Usman Khawaja and only gave away 34 runs in 11.4 overs. He was bowling way too quick for the Australians except Mitchell Marsh who was a different animal. Marsh who last played a Test in 2019 got an opportunity after Green was ruled out. He scored a run-a-ball 118 including 17 fours and 4 sixes when Australia were struggling at 85/4. Marsh displayed his power hitting by counter-attacking when England were well on top.

Australia were bowled out for 263 but it could’ve been much less if England had taken their catches. The home side dropped way too many catches which ended up costing them dearly. Chris Woakes also made a good comeback by picking up 3 scalps while Stuart Broad got the two most important wickets of Steve Smith and David Warner. In response, England lost two quick wickets of Ben Duckett and Harry Brook courtesy of Pat Cummins. Marsh continued to boss things as he picked up Zak Crawley’s wicket. Joe Root is batting on 19 with Jonny Bairstow on 1 as England are 195 runs behind.

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