Aus on verge of keeping Ashes
Pat Cummins took two wickets in two balls, including England captain Joe Root for a golden duck, to leave Australia on the brink of retaining the Ashes at Old Trafford on Saturday.
England were 18-2 in their second innings at stumps on the fourth day of the fourth Test, still needing a further 365 runs on Sunday’s last day to reach a target of 383.
By contrast, Australia require eight wickets to seal a win that would see the holders keep the Ashes at 2-1 up with one to play in a five-Test series.
The most England have made in the fourth innings to win a Test the 362/9 they posted in their series-levelling success last time out at Headingley, where Ben Stokes’s stunning 135 not out and the resistance of No 11 Jack Leach secured a remarkable one-wicket victory.
Earlier, Steve Smith’s remorseless run-glut continued as he made 82 -- his lowest score this series -- in Australia’s second innings 186-6 declared.
Australia captain Tim Paine’s decision left England with an awkward 30 minutes in which to bat.
Rory Burns and Root had shared a partnership of 141 while making 81 and 71 respectively in England’s first-innings 301.
But on Saturday they were both out for nought in the first over of England’s chase.
Left-handed opener Burns, looking to turn Cummins’s third ball leg side, got a leading edge and was caught at short cover by Travis Head.
Next ball a brilliant delivery that nipped away off the seam and clipped the top of off stump saw Root bowled by an elated Cummins for his third nought of the series and second golden duck.
Cummins was on a hattrick, with the struggling Jason Roy next in but the World Cup winner responded to the crisis with a solid forward defensive shot and he got through to stumps on eight not out, with Joe Denly unbeaten on 10.
Earlier, Smith’s ninth successive Ashes fifty, extending his own record, followed his superb 211 in the first innings of his comeback Test after he missed the match at Headingley with a concussion suffered when hit by a 92mph Jofra Archer bouncer at Lord’s.
SCORES IN BRIEF
Australia: First innings 497 for 8 decl. & second innings 186 for 6 decl. (Smith 82, Wade 34; Archer 3-45, Broad 2-54)
England: First innings 301 (Burns 81, Root 71; Hazlewood 4-57, Cummings 3-60, Starc 3-80) & second innings 18 for 2 (Denly 10 not out, Roy 8 not out; Cummins 2-8)
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