Captain Ben Stokes and England’s tail stood between Australia and victory at lunch on the last day of the second Ashes Test that turned spicy on Sunday. (More Cricket News)
England, attempting a record chase at Lord’s of 371, was 243-6 and still a long way behind.
Stokes was on 108 and Stuart Broad on 1te, trailing Australia by 128 runs.
Australia prised out overnight batter Ben Duckett for 83 and Jonny Bairstow for 10. Bairstow ran himself out, but the crowd didn’t like the manner of it and accused the visitors in chants of cheating. The Australians were booed off at lunch, and one of them appeared to be verbally abused by a man in the Long Room.
Bairstow ducked a bouncer from Cameron Green and he neither checked the fate of the ball nor stood his ground. Instead, he immediately left his crease and wicketkeeper Alex Carey simply tossed the ball into his stumps.
Bairstow was confused and the umpires sent the decision upstairs, where he was ruled to have been run out.
Bairstow left shaking his head after his brain fade, Stokes expressed his anger to the on-field umpires and Lord’s came alive with chants. One was, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, cheat, cheat, cheat.”
Stokes, on a serene 62 at the time, took out his anger the next time Green bowled, by smashing three boundaries through midwicket, behind square and to cow corner.
That over conceded 14 runs. Stokes took 24 off Green’s next over with three successive sixes over midwicket, over fine leg — dropped by Mitchell Starc to cheers — and over backward square.
That last six brought up his 100 off 142 balls. He went from 62 to 100 in 16 balls.
He survived a sharp chance on 77 when he hit the ball hard back to Australia capain Pat Cummins, who couldn’t hold on.
The session ended in stark contrast to how it started.
Stokes and Duckett, 50 overnight, came together at a perilous 45-4 late Saturday and had a big rescue mission ahead. They settled in quickly on Sunday thanks to Starc and Cummins being unable to get their lengths right and find any bounce or swing until late in their spells.
Stokes, 29 overnight, hit consecutive boundaries off Starc in a 13-run over. Stokes also overturned a leg before decision against him on 39 because he knew he got bat on ball.
After their 100 partnership came up in 26 overs, Stokes got his fifty from 99 balls, and Lord’s buzzed at how comfortable they were — and unthreatening the Australian bowling appeared.
But the hopes seemed dashed after drinks when Duckett didn’t quite time a Josh Hazlewood bouncer.
Duckett fell agonizingly short of a century for the second time in the match. A short ball from Hazlewood got him again after he’d been playing them well in both innings. He top-edged a pull on 98 on Thursday, then fended a bouncer straight behind him, where Carey leaped to take a high one-handed catch.
But Duckett rode his luck. He was nearly out caught by Green before he scored, and was almost in the Long Room on 50 late Saturday until a boundary catch by Starc wasn’t deemed legal because he dragged the ball on the grass in the act of slowing down. The controversy prompted Marylebone Cricket Club, the game’s law-makers, to tweet a statement it was not a catch.
