Ashes 2021-22 Day 5 LIVE score, play: England needs 358 races to win, Australia needs 10 wickets

Welcome SportsstarLIVE coverage of the 4th SCG Ash Test.

DAY 4 – IT HAPPENED

Usman Khawaja scored the second goal of the match on the fourth day of the Ashes Test on Saturday 26th for Australia’s 265th goal, giving England a hard-fought 388 victory goal.

England, whose hopes of a 4-0 win in the series seem to be on the brink of tough batting and the weather, will start again on the 30th day without losing after Haseeb Hameed and Zak Crawley survived 11 overs.

The day was again for Khawaja, who returned from the test cricket after 2.5 years as a temporary replacement for Travis Head, when the midfielder had a positive in COVID-19.

The 35-year-old once again gave the class a boost in his Australian entry with Cameron Green in a 179-run partnership after England stopped the march for the second declaration of the match.

Flappy and elegant, Khawaja entered the first inning when he missed a 101 to 137, making two runs from the ground to reach the milestone for the 10th time.

READ
Stokes should replace Root as England Test pattern, Ponting says

“It’s a surreal moment,” said Khawaja, who has been playing against England for three centuries at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

“I’ve never gotten a hundred backstroke in first-round cricket, let alone test cricket.

“It’s very nice to score and put the team in a situation where we hope to win a test match tomorrow,” he added. “Pretty special.”

He was only the third batsman to score in two innings in a two-inning game on the ground, joining fellow countrymen Doug Walters in 1969 against the West Indies and Ricky Ponting in South Africa in 2006.

After being knocked out by 294 in the first 40 minutes of the day, England made a decent bowl in Australia and eliminated the top four with only 86 runs to pay.

This only brought Khawaja and Green together, however, and they were closing in on giving Australia a 400-run advantage, the latter pulling Jack Leach 74 out to eventually break the partnership.

Leach (4-84) was caught by Alex Carey behind the next ball, but Australia’s Pat Cummin denied the spinner the opportunity to cap, refused to do the papilla and called Khawaja to return to the locker room with a statement.

Ollie Pop led four Australian wickets, keeping wickets in place of the injured Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.

Bairstow, who scored just one century in the first leg of the England series, but Buttler and Ben Stokes underwent injury examinations before the match, but they will all be reunited on Sunday.

“I’m sure the boys will take everything they need to take tomorrow,” said England coach Graham Thorpe.

“They’ll all be together and I’m sure they’ll all be fine.”

The weather may have something to say about the storms along the Pacific coast, but with the loss of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, England’s task seems impossible.

The most successful 140-year-old fourth-round SCC Test cricket race came when Australia renewed its 287 goal against South Africa in 2006.

– Reuters

GANGS

Australia: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (w), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Usman Khawaja, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Swepson

England: Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (w), Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Dominic Bess, Ollie Pope , Rory Burns, Craig Overton, Daniel Lawrence

WHERE AND WHEN TO SEE ASHES 2021-22 AUSTRALIA VS ENGLAND?

The match will be broadcast LIVE Sony Sports Network and will be available for live playback SonyLIV application from 5 p.m.