The Ashes: England battling to save fourth Test after Usman Khawaja completes twin hundreds | Cricket News

Australia’s Usman Khawaja scored 101 not out in the second innings after notching 137 in the first in Sydney

England reached 30-0 in their bid to save the fourth Ashes Test after Usman Khawaja’s second century of the game lit up day four at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

England, set an improbable 388 for victory after Australia declared on 265-6 with Khawaja 101 not out from 138 deliveries, lost no wickets in the 11 overs before stumps as Zak Crawley (22no) and Haseeb Hameed (8no) came through unscathed to share their side’s highest opening partnership of the series – topping the 23 achieved in Brisbane.

The tourists must now bat out 98 overs on the final day at the SCG – or score 358 more runs for an unlikely victory – to end Australia’s hopes of a 5-0 series sweep, and they could yet be aided by the rain.

England have fitness concerns over Ben Stokes (side), Jonny Bairstow (thumb) and Jos Buttler (hand) – Stokes did not bowl at all on day four, while the knocks sustained by Bairstow and Buttler meant substitute fielder Ollie Pope kept wicket in Australia’s second innings.

Pope took four catches during a tidy display behind the stumps and left-arm spinner Jack Leach bagged four wickets in a much-improved outing but the star of the show was Khawaja, who followed his first-innings 137 with another century in his first Test since August 2019.

The 35-year-old oozed class once again as he drove, cut, pulled and swept his way to a 10th red-ball hundred for his country, two days after notching his ninth, having only come into the side for the Covid-hit Travis Head.

Khawaja’s knock helped Australia declare on 265-6 at the SCG

Khawaja and Cameron Green (74 off 122) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 179 from 238 balls after Australia had been reduced to 86-4 in their second dig – the home side’s lead just 208 at that stage – once England had been dismissed for 294 in their first innings.

England quick Mark Wood dismissed David Warner (3) cheaply and then removed Marnus Labuschagne (29) for the third time in the series – both batters caught behind by Pope – while Leach had Warner’s opening partner Marcus Harris (27) pouched by Pope and bowled Steve Smith (23).

Pope’s four catches equals the most by a substitute fielder in a Test innings, first set by Pakistan’s Younis Khan against Bangladesh in 2001 and equalled by India’s Wriddhiman Saha against Australia at the SCG last year.

Pope’s only notable blemish with the gloves was dropping a sharp chance off the bowling of captain Joe Root while Khawaja was on 70.

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Rob Key feels Jonny Bairstow demonstrated how England should bat against Australia with a more positive approach

Khawaja made the most of his reprieve, clinching twin tons in the Test from 131 deliveries with a clipped two off part-time spinner Dawid Malan having accelerated in the final session after being on 35 from 74 deliveries at tea.

It took the left-hander just a further 57 deliveries to reach three figures, during which he nailed slog-swept sixes off both Leach and Root, as he followed countrymen Doug Walters and Ricky Ponting in scoring two tons in the same Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Khawaja has now scored more runs than any other England player in this series, bar Root, having only batted twice.

Green also impressed after a sketchy start to his innings as he accrued his second Test fifty and first since hitting 84 against India on this ground last January – but there were boos from the crowd as he retained the strike while Khawaja was closing in on his century.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins called his side in after Green and Alex Carey (0) fell to successive deliveries from Leach – Green caught on the slog by Root before Carey edged behind to Pope on the sweep and the stand-in England wicketkeeper snaffled one-handed lunging to his right.

Earlier, England added 36 runs to their overnight total of 258-7 as they surrendered a first-innings deficit of 122.

Leach (10) was caught slog-sweeping fellow spinner Nathan Lyon, before seamer Scott Boland (4-36) had top-scorer Bairstow (113) and Stuart Broad (15) caught behind by Carey.

England then made things interesting with four wickets inside 29 overs but Khawaja and Green’s partnership dragged the momentum back Australia’s way and, if the weather holds on day five, Cummins’ side will have strong hopes of taking a 4-0 lead in a series they have dominated with England yet to pass 300 at any stage.

Stats of the day

• Usman Khawaja became the sixth Australian to score two centuries in the same Test against England and just the third to do so in a Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• When he reached six in his second innings, Steve Smith became just the sixth batsman to score at least 3,000 runs in series between England and Australia. Don Bradman leads the way with 5,028 and Jack Hobbs is the leading Englishman with 3,636.
• At the close of the fourth day’s play, Scott Boland – with admittedly a very small sample size – has the joint lowest Test bowling average of anyone with at least 10 wickets. He currently has 11 wickets at 8.72 apiece, the exact returns that Charles Marriott managed in his solitary Test in 1933.
• Ollie Pope took four catches in Australia’s second innings, equalling the most by a substitute fielder in a Test innings first set by Pakistan’s Younis Khan against Bangladesh at Multan in 2001 and equalled by India’s Wriddhiman Saha against Australia at Sydney in 2021.

Thorpe: Stokes, Bairstow and Buttler could miss final Test

Speaking after the fourth day’s play in Sydney, England assistant coach Graham Thorpe said he was unsure whether Stokes, Buttler and Bairstow would be fit for the final Test in Hobart – but insisted they would bat if required on day five at the SCG.

Ben Stokes is being hampered by a side problem and England assistant coach Graham Thorpe does not know whether the all-rounder will be fit for the final Test

He said of the trio: “We’ve obviously got some blows. It’s possible [they will miss the final Test] but we will be assessing all of that at the end of the game.

“Obviously, Sam (Billings) has been called into the group and that’s obviously a good indicator of some of the concerns we have with the injuries.

“But I am sure the lads will take whatever they need to take to get themselves in a position where they are capable of performing on the final day. They will all bat and they will all do their very best, I know that.

“At the end of the game we have to assess who is potentially going to be available. With Stokes, his injury is not a great one being an all-rounder.”

Thorpe looking for England ‘intent’

Thorpe, speaking to BT Sport: “Tomorrow is going to require a lot of concentration but I still want to see good intent. You’re not going to be able to win the game but you can draw the game and there are ways you can draw a game.

“It’s a real opportunity for two lads, or whoever throughout the day to spend a lot of time at the wicket and put a good performance in for the team to get us to safely – which I believe we’re capable of doing.”

Sir Alastair Cook, speaking to BT Sport: “It’ll be a good feeling for [Hameed and Crawley]. They’d have known this period was coming so to walk off there as an opener, doing your job, surviving it and walking into the dressing room with everyone patting you on the back, it is a really nice feeling. They will take a lot from it but it’s just the start.”

Key pleased for Leach after four-wicket haul

Rob Key speaking to Sky Sports News: “I am really pleased for Leach as he has been treated pretty poorly by England. Very rarely has he been given a run in the side, very rarely has he been given any sort of responsibility with the ball. He has always been used as an afterthought.

“But because of Stokes being injured, it has forced England’s hand. Leach is now being allowed to learn on the job to try and find some rhythm so that’s really food good to see.”

Khawaja: I couldn’t have written this Test better

Australia twin centurion Usman Khawaja, speaking to BT Sport: “This game is not easy, you don’t always get games like these, back-to-back hundreds, I wasn’t supposed to be playing this game either. Fortune had it that I was in for [Travis Head] and it’s amazing how it’s worked out. I couldn’t have written it better myself.”