England came back storming into the contest to breathe a new life in the 2023 Ashes series. The current ODI and T20 world champions need a win to stay alive in the series and hopes of getting the Urn back. Ben Stokes and his side face this uphill battle because of the two losses in the first tests of the series. The game being played at Leeds has three local lads in Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow.
The story so far –
England had the current World Test Champions in trouble after having snapped up four wickets before lunch. The English team was breathing fire as they got the top 4 wickets in an emotionally charged first session of play before lunch. Local lad, Jonny Bairstow was under the pump specially after his controversial dismissal in the Lords test.
Bairstow’s wicket keeping raises questions again –
Jonny Bairstow was picked as the wicket keeper ahead of Ben Foakes and Jos Buttler. The 34 year old had struggled with the gloves in the first two games of the series. Few dropped chances and a few stumping chances missed had put the Englishman under pressure.
Travis Head gets a lifeline –
The 24th over of the 1st day saw Mark Wood bowling to Travis Head from over the wicket. Wood, bowled one down the leg side as Head got a faint edge of his bat. The ball flew towards Bairstow as Head tried to glance the ball. Despite the Englishman diving full length he couldn’t grab the catch.
This was seen as yet another tick in the dropped chance category for Bairstow who is playing in front of his home crowd. The entire Leeds ground went into a huge roar of disbelief as the catch went down. Travis Head was a huge wicket as he has the ability to take the game away from the opposition.
Chance to make it five down before lunch –
Mark Wood, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes did the damage with the ball for the home side. Anderson, was rested for the game and the onus was on Broad to take over the lead and the 37 year old did not let down the fans or his team. Broad first dismissed Warner for 4, followed it up with the big wicket of Smith off 22. Wood got the wicket of Khawaja for 13, while Woakes got the wicket of Labuschagne.
Twitter reacts –
Cricket fans took to Twitter to have their say on the dropped chance and you can read all the reactions from fans below.
— Octopus Yadav (@OctopusYadav) July 6, 2023