Jonathan Trott remained unbeaten as England were bowled out on the stroke of lunch for 513, a lead of 415 in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.
Trott continued to plunder the Australian attack on day three, hustling his way to 168 as hope of an Australian comeback evaporated.
In a further blow for the embattled home side, fast bowler Ryan Harris hobbled from the field with a serious left ankle injury.
The burly right-armer broke down mid stride and was unable to complete his 29th over.
Crowd favourite Peter Siddle, the shining light for Australia, claimed six wickets in a lion-hearted effort. He produced the first two wickets for the day after England resumed at 5-444 on Tuesday morning.
Australia staged a mini fightback during the first session of day two when hometown hero Siddle achieved two breakthroughs.
But Trott's dominating innings, which heavily favoured on-side scoring, put the visitors in what seems an unbeatable position.
An England victory would give them an unassailable series lead and retention of the urn.
This would add to the pressure on captain Ponting, who was fined 40 percent of his match fee on Monday night for dissent after an on-field row with umpire Aleem Dar.
"I accept the discussion went for too long and I understand the reasons for the dissent charge handed down by the ICC," Ponting said before play.
"I was simply trying to seek clarification from the umpires regarding how the decision had been made after being referred to the third umpire.''
No comments:
Post a Comment