England fell to 36-4 after a regrettable top-order collapse on day three in Sydney before Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood led a comeback with the bat; Joe Root and Jos Buttler go for the ducks as England close 258-7, follow Australia by 158 runs
Jonny Bairstow led England’s comeback in Sydney with an undefeated 103
Jonny Bairstow’s Century led a comeback from England after another sad top-level collapse, but Australia remains well on top after day three of the fourth Ash Test in Sydney.
Bairstow (103rd of 140 balls) secured England’s first century in this Ashes series at the end of the day by splitting Pat Cummins into four as the tourists closed in to follow Australia for 158 runs that had previously collapsed to 36- Four.
Bairstow, whose tonne was his seventh in test cricket and his first since 2018, and Ben Stokes (66) put up 128 for the fifth wicket having joined forces in that morning session.
Stokes and Jos Buttler (0) fell in quick succession in the final session to leave England 173-6 and in grave danger of missing the 217 tracking goal, with Australia amassing 416-8 in the first two days. .
But Bairstow found another good ally in adventurer Mark Wood (39 of 41), who crushed Australia captain Pat Cummins by three sixes during a position of 72 in the seventh wicket of many deliveries.
That was in stark contrast to earlier in the day with England on one stage making 70 deliveries without scoring a run, during which time Scott Boland pitched Zak Crawley (18) and had Joe Root caught in the second slip by a duck before Cameron Green had Dawid. Malan (3) with bag on the leg slide.
England, who had seen Haseeb Hameed go through the six-ball gate for Mitchell Starc once the game started a couple of hours late due to persistent drizzle, were in absolute disarray in Sydney.
More to follow.
