- By JE Sports Desk
- Thu, 06 Jul 2023 11:29 PM (IST)
- Source:REUTERS
On another sensational day of Ashes action, with the pendulum swinging this way and that, England finished day one of the pivotal third test on 68-3 after bowling Australia out for 263 at Headingley.
A superb century from forgotten man Mitchell Marsh on Thursday dragged Australia back into the contest after the tourists had been struggling on 85-4 before a blistering spell of bowling from Mark Wood had the crowd off their seats.
Taking the final six Australian wickets for 23 runs, England looked to be in the ascendancy in a match they have to win to prevent the tourists from retaining the Ashes with two games to spare.
However, the dismissals of both openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, along with new number three Harry Brook, before the close of play ensured it was difficult to call who had the advantage after an action-packed encounter.
Earlier in the day, Mark Wood who made his return to the Test side and was one of the three changes made by the hosts, put up a show with the ball as he took the fourth five-wicket haul of his Test career.
The pace bowler gave the Aussies no chance to take advantage of crucial runs from the lower order as he dismissed Alex Care (8), Mitchell Starc (2), Pat Cummins (0), and Todd Murphy (13) to complete his five-for.
Marsh who was included in the side as the like-to-like replacement for Cameron Green went on to play a magnificent innings as he smashed the third century of his Test career, his first away from home.
His remarkable innings of 118 runs included 17 fours and four sixes as his contributions helped the visitors reach 263 runs before Ben Stokes' side bounced back to dismiss them in just 60.4 overs.
Ben Stokes opted to bowl first after winning the toss as the hosts took the field for survival in the series having been 2-0 down.