Crawley and Root dig in to keep England alive

An unbroken partnership of 75 between Zak Crawley and Joe Root kept England’s slim hopes of staying in the Ashes alive, after lunch on day four of the third Test.

Crawley (36*) and Root (37*) guided the tourists to 106 – 2, with Ollie Pope (17) the only casualty in an unusually calm session for England.

The English pair batted sensibly, starting off slowly and gently going through the gears, without ever really adopting the full fledged version of ‘Bazball’ that has been much maligned this series.

Crawley was particularly restrained, whilst both he and Root managed to get through to the tea break without too many alarm bells.

Both were especially proactive against the off spin of Nathan Lyon, sweeping and reverse sweeping to good effect, allowing them to milk 35 runs from his first six overs.

Pope could count himself as a tad unfortunate to fall earlier in the session, with Labuschagne plucking an unbelievable, diving one handed catch at second slip, after the Surrey batter was drawn into an edge by Pat Cummins.

England are still overwhelming underdogs and require a further 329 runs to win with eight wickets remaining.

However, if they are able to head into the close of play without sustaining too many further losses and around halfway to Australia’s target, then there may be cause for English optimism heading into day five.

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