Usman Khawaja scored his second century of the match to assist Australia to 265 for six declared on the fourth day of the fourth Ashes take a look at on Saturday, handing England an unlikely victory goal of 388. England, whose hopes of avoiding going 4-0 down within the sequence would appear to relaxation on stubborn batting and the climate, will resume on the ultimate day on 30 with out loss after Haseeb Hameed and Zak Crawley survived 11 overs earlier than stumps.
The day once more belonged to Khawaja, who returned to check cricket after 2-1/2 years as a makeshift substitute for Travis Head when the middle-order batsman examined optimistic for COVID-19.
The 35-year-old as soon as once more oozed class as he re-energised the Australian innings in a 179-run partnership with all-rounder Cameron Green after England had stalled their march in the direction of a second declaration of the match. Unflappable and classy, Khawaja added a 101 not out to the 137 he scored within the first innings, punching two runs down the bottom to succeed in the milestone for the tenth time.
“Surreal moment,” stated Khawaja, who now has three centuries towards England on the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).”I’ve by no means acquired back-to-back a whole lot in first-class cricket, not to mention take a look at cricket.”He was solely the third batsman to attain centuries in each innings in a take a look at match on the floor, becoming a member of compatriots Doug Walters towards West Indies in 1969 and Ricky Ponting towards South Africa in 2006.
After being dismissed for 294 within the first 40 minutes of the day, England had made a good fist of bowling at Australia and eliminated the highest 4 at the price of solely 86 runs. That solely introduced Khawaja and Green collectively, nevertheless, they usually have been closing on giving Australia a 400-run lead when the latter holed out to Jack Leach for 74 to lastly break the partnership.
Leach (4-84) then had Alex Carey caught behind off the following ball however Australia Pat Cummins denied the spinner a hat-trick alternative, declining to pad up and calling Khawaja again to the dressing room with the declaration. Four of the Australian wickets have been taken behind by Ollie Pope, who was retaining wickets instead of the injured Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow, who scored England’s solely century of the sequence within the first innings, Buttler and all-rounder Ben Stokes all had scans on accidents earlier than play however are anticipated to bat on Sunday. The climate would possibly but have one thing to say about that with storms sweeping down the Pacific coast but when they miss Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, England’s process appears to be like imposing.
The highest profitable fourth-innings run chase in 140 years of take a look at cricket on the SCG got here when Australia’s overhauled a goal of 287 towards South Africa in 2006.
