July 20, 2023

Ashes 2023 LIVE updates: England recover after early stumble, Australia on the back foot

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10.45pm

Play resumes

It’s Cameron Green and Pat Cummins bowling in tandem after lunch.

Australia need to land a blow. England are getting away after losing an early wicket.

I said it before, if the trend of the series continues Australia will reel England in before there’s another momentum shift.

10.25pm

WATCH: Australia’s early strike

In case you missed it, here’s how Australia claimed their only wicket in the first session.

10.05pm

Crawley riding his luck

Zak Crawley has led a fortunate existence at Old Trafford but his partnership with Moeen Ali has England off to a sound start at lunch on day two in their pursuit of Australia’s 317.

After Ben Duckett edged Mitchell Starc, Crawley was beaten on numerous occasions by Starc and Josh Hazlewood, edging the latter just short of David Warner in the slips.

He was also given lbw by Joel Wilson to Cameron Green, only for HawkEye to predict the ball would have missed leg stump – how Green would have wished for a similar ball-tracking verdict on the previous afternoon.

Moeen played attractively, meanwhile, raising his 3000 runs in Test cricket.

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10.03pm

Lunch

Good session for England, who make it to the interval on 1/61, chasing 317.

The unlikely first-wicket pair of Zak Crawley and Moeen Ali have added 52 after the early loss of Ben Duckett to Mitchell Starc.

If the trend of this series is any guide, I expect Australia to land some blows after lunch to tighten it up.

The session belonged to England, who claimed two wickets for the addition of 19 runs. They are marginally ahead in the game.

9.55pm

Rare milestone for Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali joins a very exclusive club in English cricket.

He’s just the fifth man to score 3000 runs and take 200 wickets. He follows in the footsteps of Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad. Ben Stokes is likely to the be fifth. He’s on 197 wickets, having already scored in excess of 6000 Test runs.

9.49pm

Wicket overturned

Zak Crawley escapes. The review goes England’s way.

The Australians thought Cameron Green had Zak Crawley trapped in front but the England opener sends it upstairs.

It’s a smart call. Ball-tracker had it missing leg stump. It may have been a bit high as well.

Green will be smarting after the way he went out yesterday.

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9.44pm

Double change – Green time

This is an important bowling change from the perspective of Australia’s selections.

Cameron Green is into the attack. He was a line-ball call ahead of Todd Murphy. The big all-rounder made 16 with the bat, so selectors need him to make an impact with the ball. I’m backing him in.

9.40pm

Cummins into the attack

For the first time this innings, it’s Pat Cummins into the attack. And he almost strikes first-up. Zak Crawley nearly chops on.

Crawley and Moeen Ali have done well against the new ball – but they will need to be on guard against the might of Cummins, who has a habit of making things happen against the flow of play.

9.30pm

Ellyse Perry, you star

We all know there’s another major sporting event on tonight involving Australia. Just so you don’t have to switch tabs, the Matildas are up 1-0, 62 minutes in. Steph Catley scored from the spot for the hosts.

While I’m at it, we can’t let a football reference go without mentioning this wondergoal from Ellyse Perry at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Twelve years on, I feel as if sports fans in this country don’t fully appreciate how big a feat it was by Perry to make it to the top of two sports. She will go down in history as one of the finest cricketers of her generation.

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9.22pm

Edge, and it doesn’t carry

Josh Hazlewood’s generating some heat. He’s got one to rise sharply off a good length to Zak Crawley. The ball earlier, he found Crawley’s outside edge but it lands short of David Warner at first slip. Nice soft hands there eby Crawley. Good contest building.

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