BIRMINGHAM-Seven wickets fell before rain curtailed day three at Edgbaston, with England 28/2 and leading by 35 runs with two days of the first Ashes Test remaining.
A mini-spell between rain delays saw Australia prise out both of England’s openers to set the game up perfectly heading into Monday’s day four, with Joe Root and Ollie Pope set to resume with both yet to score. Australia had resumed on 311/5 on Sunday morning and had hopes of building a first innings lead, but James Anderson struck with the first wicket of the morning, and his first of the Test, to clean up Alex Carey for 66.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins and centurion Usman Khawaja bedded in as England opted for some unusual bowling tactics to slow the scoring. And a particularly odd field helped unsettle Usman Khawaja when he was yorked by Ollie Robinson to depart for 141.
England wrapped up Australia’s tail quickly from that point on, with Robinson removing both Nathan Lyon (1) and Cummins (38), with Stuart Broad taking the other wicket to fall – Scott Boland for a duck. The five wickets fell for just 75 runs, with Robinson ending up with the pick of the figures for England with 3/55, and Broad finishing with 3/68.
England did have some complications to deal with on a morning when Moeen Ali was fined for the use of a drying agent on his hand the evening before. The England spinner’s infraction was due to an injury he had sustained to his spinning finger, with the 36-year-old bowling just one spell in the morning session before receiving treatment. His ability to bowl in the second innings must now be in question.
England began their second innings in steady fashion, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett still there when the first shower of rain came. But a dry period allowed a sharp 3.4 over session before the rain set in again, and Australia prized out both openers with the ball moving around, Cameron Green brilliantly catching Ben Duckett in the gully off Pat Cummins for 19, and Scott Boland dismissing Zak Crawley for 7.

Scores in Brief

ENGLAND 393-8d and 26-2 lead AUSTRALIA 386 (Khawaja 141, Carey 66, Robinson 3-55, Broad 3-68) by 35 runs.