MELBOURNE: England rejected ball-tampering allegations as a “beat-up” on Friday as rain frustrated their push for their first victory of the Ashes series against Australia.
England’s Alastair Cook carried his bat for a world-record 244 not out before David Warner, unbeaten on 40, and captain Steve Smith, on 25, defied the visiting bowlers on a rain-truncated day. When the match umpires called off play at 5:20 pm (0620 GMT), after persistent rain, Australia were 103 for two and trailing by 61 runs with a day remaining.
Extended hours will be played on the final day on Saturday as England press for their first win of the series, in which Australia hold an unbeatable 3-0 lead. “Any time there’s a bit of rain and you’re on top in the game it’s a bit frustrating, but we’ve got an opportunity tomorrow to win and that’s the attitude we’ve got to take,” England coach Trevor Bayliss said.
“We showed in the first innings that we can take a number of wickets reasonably quickly. So, 98 overs tomorrow, it’s more than enough time if we play well to force a result.”
Bayliss also slammed claims of tampering after footage of England bowler James Anderson working the ball with his thumbnail drew suspicions. “I’m not sure you are allowed to use your fingernail there,” former Test spinner Shane Warne said on the Channel Nine TV coverage.
Fellow former Test star Michael Slater added: “That’s interesting, you can’t get your nail into the ball. That’s a no-no.”
Anderson, skipper Joe Root and fellow fast bowler Stuart Broad were involved in discussions with umpires Sundaram Ravi and Kumar Dharmasena. But Bayliss said the umpires had later told him that the allegations were trumped up. “It’s a beat-up. As soon as I saw the headlines I raced into the umpires and that was their words: ‘Nothing to worry about, it was a beat-up, absolutely fine’,” Bayliss said. — AFP
Scoreboard
Australia first innings 327
England first innings (overnight 491-9)
A Cook not out 244
M Stoneman c and b Lyon 15
J Vince lbw Hazlewood 17
J Root c Lyon b Cummins 61
D Malan lbw Hazlewood 14
J Bairstow c Paine b Lyon 22
M Ali c S Marsh b Lyon 20
C Woakes c Paine b Cummins 26
T Curran c Paine b Hazlewood 4
S Broad c Khawaja b Cummins 56
J Anderson c Bancroft b Cummins 0
Extras (b4, lb5, nb3) 12
Total (all out; 144.1 overs) 491
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-80, 3-218, 4-246, 5-279, 6-307, 7-366, 8-373, 9-473
Bowling: Hazlewood 30-5-95-3, Bird 30-5-108-0, Lyon 42-9-109-3, Cummins 29.1-1-117-4, M Marsh 12-1-42-0, Smith 1-0-11-0
Australia second innings
C Bancroft b Woakes 27
D Warner not out 40
U Khawaja c Bairstow b Anderson 11
S Smith not out 25
Total (2 wickets; 43.5 overs) 103
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-65
Bowling: Anderson 11-5-20-1, Broad 7-4-18-0, Woakes 11.5-6-24-1, Curran 11-3-26-0, Ali 3-0-15-0
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