Joe Root and Zac Crawley keep England’s Ashes hopes alive on Day 4
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Joe Root and Zac Crawley combined in a 75-run third-wicket partnership Saturday to help England maintain hopes of achieving a world-record chase to win at the Adelaide Oval and keep the Ashes series alive.
The chase didn’t start well with England losing wickets on either side of the lunch break to slip to 31-2.
But Root (37) and Crawly (36) patiently built their innings as England scored 101 runs for the loss of one wicket in middle session on Day 4.
At tea England was 106-2 and needed 329 more runs for an unlikely victory. Australia needed eight wickets to clinch the five-match series with two tests to spare.
With the Ashes on the line, the England batters settled into a patient test-match rhythm rather than the attack-at-all-costs Bazball tactics that hurt them in the first two tests.
Ben Stokes and the England bowling attack did everything possible in the morning session to keep the series alive, taking six Australian wickets for 78 runs and setting up a target of 435.
England’s chase
It didn’t start well for England. Australia skipper Pat Cummins (2-19) took a wicket with his second ball to remove Ben Duckett (4) in the tricky 11-minute period before lunch and dismissing Ollie Pope (17), spectacularly caught by Marnus Labuschagne diving to his left from second slip, to make it 31-2.
Australia’s veteran pace bowlers were troubling the England top order, with Cummins regularly beating the outside edge of the bat and Mitchell Starc getting the occasional ball to jag back.
Crawley, who was on 1 off 28 deliveries when he was joined by Root, lifted the tempo as the third-wicket pair got into a groove.
After 15 dot balls, Crawley crashed a boundary through the covers on the next delivery he faced against Starc in a distinct change in mentality.
Both batters attacked offspinner Nathan Lyon (0-35 off six overs) with the intention of hitting him out of the attack rather than let him settle into a good line.
State of the series
After losing the first two tests in Perth and Brisbane, England needs a victory to have any hope of reclaiming the Ashes. Australia needs only a draw to retain the Ashes.
Still, for England, it’s a far better equation than it appeared at stumps on Day 3, when Australia reached 271-4 in its second innings, a lead of 356, with Travis Head unbeaten on 142 and Alex Carey on 52.
Head’s dismissal for 170 on Saturday triggered a lower-order collapse, with the last six wickets falling for 38 in 11 overs. The Australians were all out for 349 in their second innings, a lead of 434.
Head’s 162-run stand with Carey ended when he pulled a short ball from Josh Tongue (4-70) high and deep into the outfield where Crawley took a catch looking into the sun at mid-wicket.
Stokes made a big momentum-swinging breakthrough when he had Carey out for 72, tucking a short ball around the corner and caught at leg slip in a smart piece of field positioning.
Brydon Carse (3-80) dismissed Cummins (6) and Lyon on consecutive balls but Scott Boland left a wide ball to deny England its first Ashes hat-trick since 1999.
The Australian No. 11 was out soon after when Jofra Archer (1-20) took a tough return catch.
Chance for record
The highest successful fourth-innnings run chase was West Indies’ 418 in a three-wicket win over Australia at Antigua in 2003.
England has successfully chased 370-plus targets twice to win against India in the last three years.
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