England’s chances of winning the second Ashes Test at Lord’s are hanging by a thread.
On an extraordinary day of Test cricket, Australia were bowled out for 279 before tea, setting England a Lord’s record target of 371.
A flurry of wickets in the evening session reduced England to 45-4 before they ended day four on 114-4, needing 257 more runs to level the series.
Stat of the day – England’s record short balls
In a day dominated by England bowling more than 50 overs of short balls, the hosts created two unusual pieces of Test match history.
As per CricViz’s data, in the morning session, their average bowling length of 9.71m from the batter was the shortest length of any session in Test cricket since those records began in 2006.
England then smashed that record in the afternoon session, bowling an average length of 11.05m.
Considering a cricket pitch is just 20.12m long, a whole session averaging 11.05m will take some beating.
Essential day four reading
Quote of the day – ‘That is a disgrace’
“I’m sorry, that is the biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever seen. He’s got that under control, the ball is under control. I’m sorry, I’ve seen everything this game has to offer, if that is not out, then every other catch that has ever been taken should not be out. That is a disgrace. I’m sorry, that is a disgrace. I’ve seen everything now. I cannot believe that. That is ridiculous. If that ball is not under control, that is ridiculous.”
Former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath was left perplexed in the closing minutes of the day when the tourists thought they had dismissed Ben Duckett for 50.
Mitchell Starc caught Duckett’s attempted ramp shot off Cameron Green on the boundary, but as he slid after making the catch, he scraped the ball along the turf before stopping.
Duckett was virtually off the field when the decision went to the third umpire.
Starc shrugged off boos from the crowd when the replays were first shown at Lord’s, raising his finger to signal it was out, but his smiles soon faded when Duckett was adjudged not out.
Australia legend McGrath, commentating on Test Match Special, labelled the decision a disgrace, arguing with any notion that the right decision was made.
Image of the day – Stunning sub fielding
In the absolute chaos that ensued when the hobbling Nathan Lyon came out to bat, there was some sensational fielding from England’s teenage substitute Rehan Ahmed to save five potentially crucial runs.
Starc looked to have hit Stuart Broad for six, with the ball in the air over the boundary rope by a few feet, only for Ahmed to dive, stretch an arm out, catch it and throw it back inside the rope before he landed.
Lyon managed to hobble a single, putting himself through the pain barrier to get there.
And finally…
There have been nine days of cricket so far in the 2023 Ashes series and for the third day out of those nine, there was a no-ball wicket.
At Edgbaston, Broad thought he had got Usman Khawaja out, only to discover he had overstepped his mark, and on day two at Lord’s Root was reprieved after Green erred.
On day four, England captain Ben Stokes put his side 2-1 up in the no-ball wicket tally when he thought he had removed opposite number Pat Cummins, only for umpire Ahsan Raza to stick out his arm.
