For the first time in the ongoing Ashes series, England are ahead of the game and have a genuine chance of toppling the Test champions Australia at Headingley. Australia are 2-0 ahead in the series and England have a chance to make it 2-1 as they need 224 runs on what will be the final day in the third Test in Leeds on Sunday, July 9. England started aggressively in the 24 minutes they had to bat on Day 3 and scored 27 runs in five overs after Australia set them a target of 251 runs to win.
Australia were 142 runs ahead before the rain delayed almost six hours of play on Saturday, July 8. After the play finally resumed for over two hours, England pacers came out firing on all cylinders in helpful conditions under the overcast sky. Chris Woakes was the wrecker-in-chief for England as he snared first innings' centurion Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper Alex Carey for not much.
Head continued his smashing form and as soon as he knew that it could get over very quickly after losing two frontline batters, he just played his natural game. On the other hand, the pace trio of Woakes, Mark Wood and Stuart Broad was on just fire. After Woakes' twin strikes, Wood sprung into action by removing Mitchell Starc and skipper Pat Cummins in quick succession.
Australia just continued to lose wickets in clumps but Head kept firing from one end. After adding 29 runs for the seventh wicket with Starc, he added 41 runs with Todd Murphy to take his side's score beyond 200. Stuart Broad cleaned up Murphy and Head to get the final two wickets as Australia were bowled out for 224 runs.
England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett played well to play out that tricky period late on Saturday evening as England will be hoping to finally get on the board in the ongoing Ashes series.
