Adelaide [Australia], December 21 (ANI): A half-century from Jamie Smith and a 91-run stand with Will Jacks sparked hopes for England, but Jacks continued his fight with Brydon Carse to end the first session on the final day of the third Ashes Test against Australia with some serious resilience, with the hosts needing three wickets to secure an outright Ashes win and England needing 126 runs to keep the fight for the prestigious urn alive.
At the end of the first session, England was 309/7, with Jacks (38*) and Carse (13*) unbeaten.
England started the final day at 207/6, with Will Jacks (11*) and Will Jacks (2*) unbeaten.
The duo started cautiously against Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green until it was Jamie who dispatched a Lyon delivery with a slog sweep for a six over deep mid-wicket in the 68th over and found another six over deep backward square leg against Green in the 71st over.
After a rain break, Jamie got more aggressive, finding some more boundaries against Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, a couple of part-timers. 250 was up for England in 77.5 overs. The duo had formed a fifty-run stand in 133 balls.
Jamie continued to give nerves to Aussie bowlers, clocking skipper Pat Cummins for two successive fours, one an authoritative hit over mid-off to bring his first Ashes fifty in 80 balls, with five fours and two sixes.
The partnership continued to grow, with Jamie shrugging off past failures with some shots oozing authority and power, including two back-to-back boundaries against Mitchell Starc, who had the new ball in hand.
However, the adrenaline of taking down bowlers got the best of Smith, as he ended up hitting an unnecessary aerial stroke against the left-armer, giving Cummins a catch and ending a fine knock at 60 in 83 balls, with seven fours and two sixes. Australia could breathe a little, with England at 285/7 after breaking off a 91-run stand with a wicket against the run of play.
England reached the 300-run mark in 86 overs, with Jacks and Carse continuing the fight for England and ending the session without any further casualties.
Earlier on day four, Australia started off things at 271/4, with Head (142*) and Carey (52*) in reply to England’s first innings total of 286, which they had made in reply to 371 by Australia, who won the toss and chose to bat first. They led by 356 runs.
The visitors were more clinical with the ball in that first session, getting Head (170 in 219 balls, with 16 fours) and Alex Carey (72 in 128 balls, with six fours) after they helped Aussies cross the 300-run mark. The tail was wiped off quickly as Aussies were bundled out for 349 runs, giving England a 434-run lead and 435 runs to win.
Josh Tongue (4/70) and Brydon Carse (3/80) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Jofra Archer, skipper Ben Stokes and Jacks had a wicket each.
During the run-chase, England lost Ben Duckett (4) and Ollie Pope (17) early, reducing to 31/2.
Joe Root (39 in 63 balls, with five fours) and Harry Brook (30 in 56 balls, with two fours) put on a 78-run stand and got promising starts but threw it away and failed to make it count with valuable milestones, while a determined Zak Crawley (85 in 151 balls, with eight fours), playing one of his career’s finest knocks, also lost his wicket in a collapse which took England from 177/3 to 194/6, as Lyon and Cummins bowled probing spells testing England’s patience and technique.
Jacks and Smith ended the fourth day for England at 207/6.
Brief Scores: Australia: 371 and 349 (Travis Head 170, Alex Carey 72, Josh Tongue 4/70) vs England: 286 and 309/7 (Zak Crawley 85, Jamie Smith 60, Pat Cummins 3/43). (ANI)
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