Morning optimism slips through English fingers

The first session of the third Ashes Test was a tale of two catches for England – one that was spectacularly taken and one that frustratingly wasn’t.

When returning Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat on a beautiful, sunny day and seemingly flat pitch at Adelaide, England fans could have been forgiven for thinking here we go again…

The signs were ominous early on, with Travis Head (10) and Jake Weatherald (18) guiding Australia to 33 – 0 without appearing particularly troubled and tucking into some wayward bowling from Brydon Carse.

Any hardy English fans who made it to the 50th ball of the day were duly rewarded though, as Jofra Archer tangled up Weatherald, whose leading edge was safely pouched by Jamie Smith behind the stumps.

Life then got even better for the tourists, as Zak Crawley flung himself to his left at short cover and claimed a stunning one handed catch to remove the dangerous Head, bringing the tourists right back into the game.

However, as has often been the case for England so far in this series, no sooner had they seized the initiative, then they handed it straight back to the hosts with yet another costly drop.

Josh Tongue managed to find the outside edge of Usman Khawaja, whose career was revived by the concussion forced omission of Steve Smith, only for the usually dependable Harry Brook to spill the chance at slip.

From that moment on, England started to toil once more in temperatures exceeding 35 degrees in Adelaide, with Khawaja threatening to make the most of his lifeline.

The veteran left-hander cut and pulled nicely to reach 41* at lunch, sharing an unbroken stand of 61 with Marnus Labuschagne (19*), as Australia cantered to 94 – 2 at the interval.

After losing the toss, Ben Stokes would surely have bitten your hand off to have Australia two down inside the first hour and with less than 100 on the board at lunch, yet his side trudged off the ground feeling that another opportunity may have slipped through their fingers once more.

Both sides will reflect on a mixed session that could have gone better, but also had the potential to be much worse, although the end of the first session may hint at Australia having the advantage, as Khawaja and Labuschagne will resume on a pitch that will continue to bake in the afternoon sun.

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