Ashes, 3rd Test: Mark Wood’s deadly bowling caused havoc, 13 wickets fell in 1 day, this was the first day
Mitchell Marsh, returning after the year 2019, scored the highest 118 runs for Australia. At the same time, Chris Woakes took five wickets for England.
As expected, the start of the third Test match of the Ashes series was quite exciting. A total of 13 wickets fell on the very first day of this match being played at Headingley, which can be gauged with how aggressively both the teams are playing this match. Hosts England are trailing 0-2 in the series and the Headingley Test is a do-or-die match for them.
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bowl first. The bowlers also proved this decision right. Australia were bundled out for just 263 runs. Mitchell Marsh, returning after the year 2019, scored the highest 118 runs for Australia. At the same time, Chris Woakes took five wickets for England.
Mark Wood troubled the Australian batsmen
Australia’s start was very bad. David Warner hit Stuart Broad’s first ball of the match for a four, but on the fifth ball of the same over, the fast bowler had him caught by Crowley in the second slip. Mark Wood, who was ruled out of the first two Tests due to match fitness concerns, troubled the batsmen with his quick pace. He bowled the first three overs maidens and gave the first run on the 23rd ball.
Travis Head handled the innings
Wood gave Australia a second blow by bowling opener Usman Khawaja (13) on a fast and swinging full length ball. Johnny Bairstow failed to catch the catch of Steve Smith, playing the 100th Test, but Woakes caught Marnus Labushen (21) at the hands of Root. Bairstow then gave life to Head off Wood’s ball. Broad, returning to the spell, gave relief to England by getting Smith (22) caught by Bairstow and Australia’s score was 85 for four.
Bad start for England
From here Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head handled the innings. After the dismissal of both, it did not take much time for the team to collapse. In response, England’s start was also not good. The team got Ben Duckett out on a total score of 18 runs. After this Harry Brook could also make only three. Both players became victims of Pat Cummins. Jess Crawley scored 33 runs in 39 balls.
