Jonny Bairstow scored a remarkable century as England finally showed some fight against Australia on Day 3 of the ongoing fourth Ashes Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. Bairstow’s gutsy 103 not out helped his side to 258 for seven in reply to Australia’s 416/8 declared, a position that looked highly unlikely when England limped battered and bruised to lunch on 36 for four.
Bairstow celebrated his seventh Test century by running halfway towards the England team dressing room with arms aloft, where his teammates had gathered to acknowledge a vital innings in the context of the match which had earlier looked to be slipping away.
At stumps, Bairstow was 103 not out and Jack Leach was on four, with England trailing Australia by 158 runs. Earlier, England lost openers Haseeb Hameed and Zak Crawley, skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan cheaply before lunch, the last three without a single run being added to their tally of 36. Mitchell Starc removed Hameed for six to start the collapse but the most damage was done when Scott Boland picked up where he left off in the third Test in Melbourne.
Stokes enjoyed a major stroke of luck on 16 when a Cameron Green delivery thumped into his stump but failed to shift the bail and he survived after a DRS review to bring up his 25th half-century just before tea. He hit nine fours and a single six in his 91-ball knock before walking when he was trapped lbw by off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Cummins then got his first wicket of the match to dismiss Jos Buttler for a duck and his second after a DRS review detected a touch of Mark Wood’s bat on the ball before it was caught by Lyon. Wood slugged three sixes in his 39.
Brief Scores: Australia 416/8d; England 258/7 (Jonny Bairstow 103*, Ben Stokes 66; Pat Cummins 2-68).