England leads Australia by 35 runs after losing early wickets at rain-hit Edgbaston

Australia’s Scott Boland appeals unsuccessfully for the wicket of England’s Joe Root on Day 3 of the first Ashes Test match between England and Australia at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on June 18, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

England’s batters faced threatening clouds above and hostile Australian bowlers below as the latest twist in a dramatic Ashes opener at Edgbaston saw the hosts reduced to 28-2 at stumps in their rain-hit second innings on Sunday for an overall lead of 35.

A pitch inspection at 6 p.m. local time led to play being called off for the day with only 10.3 overs bowled so far in the England innings. Monday’s forecast is mostly rain-free but Tuesday afternoon could see heavy rain and thunder.

Play was first interrupted early in the afternoon session with England at 26-0 and buoyed from dismissing Australia for 386 right before lunch which gave Ben Stokes’ team a narrow first-innings lead of seven runs. Usman Khawaja was out for a superb 141 as Australia closed in on England’s 393-8 declared.

When play resumed after 75 minutes, England went on to lose both its openers in a disastrous mini-session of only four overs under floodlights. Rain was heavier this time and players again left the field — quicker than when they came on — with England having increased its score by just two runs at the cost of two wickets. In one ray of sunshine for England, it survived a potentially match-deciding appeal for a catch against its top batter Joe Root.

Australia captain Pat Cummins, who scored a six-laden 38 at No. 8 in sunshine, took 1-9 in 5.3 overs as the weather deteriorated in the afternoon. Scott Boland grabbed 1-1 in two overs.

Ben Duckett (19) edged Cummins to Cameron Green, who again showed his brilliance in the field by diving low to his left at gully. The dismissal survived a review despite the replay initially drawing jeers from home fans.

Three balls later Zak Crawley (7) was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Boland.

Enter Root, Australia’s nemesis in the first innings with his 29th test century, who skipped on to the pitch despite the increasing gloom and doom on what had been a mostly unthreatening wicket.

Root survived an early appeal against Cummins for a catch behind. Two balls later, heavy rain forced the teams off again. Ollie Pope and Root are both on 0. Even under England’s aggressive “Bazball” style of cricket, neither batter would have likely wanted to get back out Sunday.

England earlier ran through the Australia tail after the visitors had resumed on 311-5.

England seamers Stuart Broad (3-68) and Ollie Robinson (3-55) bounced their way through the lower order. At 338-5, Australia had looked like taking a useful first-innings lead but Robinson claimed the key wicket of Usman Khawaja and only Cummins provided more resistance.

England had dominated the morning session to set up a one-innings shootout at a thrilling first test that keeps living up to the hype and hopes of both sides to serve as a showcase for the longest format of cricket.

Khawaja, who hit his first test century in England on Saturday, was bowled after advancing against Robinson and then failing to stop the yorker with the ball hitting his off stump. That ended a useful partnership for the seventh wicket of 34, with Cummins providing 27 of those runs. At that stage Australia was 21 runs behind.

Robinson later defended his celebration at Khawaja’s wicket with expletive-laden words seemingly aimed at the batter.

“It’s the Ashes, it’s professional sport. If you can’t handle that, what can you handle? When you’re in the heat of the moment and have the passion of the Ashes that can happen,” Robinson said. “We’ve all seen (former Australia captain) Ricky Ponting and other Aussies do that to us so just because the shoe’s on the other foot, it’s not received well. It’s my first home Ashes and to get the big wicket at the time was special for me.”

James Anderson (1-53) had made the breakthrough for England in the fifth over of the morning session, bowling Carey for a 99-ball 66. It was Anderson’s 1,100th first-class wicket and 686th in test cricket. Carey had already been dropped by his English counterpart Jonny Bairstow off Anderson in the same session.

Cummins came to the crease at the start of the tourists’ tail but again showed he can definitely bat, and smashed Moeen Ali (2-147) for a six and then another in the same over, casting a dampener over the 36-year-old allrounder’s birthday which saw him leave the field with a finger injury and receive a fine for using a hand spray the day before. Ali, who had come out of test retirement for the injured Jack Leach, sent down a couple of full tosses and later left the field.

Australia had reduced the deficit to 16 when Nathan Lyon hooked a short-pitched delivery from Robinson to give Duckett a low catch near the boundary. No. 10 Scott Boland offered a tame close-range catch to Ollie Pope at silly point after another rising delivery from Broad.

Cummins, who hit three of Australia’s nine sixes, was the last man out, again to a short-pitched delivery from Robinson and caught by Stokes.