Leeds [UK], July 9 : England captain Ben Stokes' first-innings 80, kept England in the game against the visitors Australia in the third Test of the Ashes series. All-rounder Chris Woakes referred to Stokes as "superhuman" but said that team should not just rely on him.
England need 224 runs to open their winning account in the Ashes series and keep the series alive. At the stumps of the third day of the third match, England were 27/0.
"Obviously we've still got another 220 runs to chase to win this Test match, but I think if we were given this opportunity at the end of the first innings, I think we would've taken it," Woakes said as quoted by Sky Sports.
"We don't want to be relying on Ben all the time, we want to perform all the way down the batting line-up. Although he is superhuman, he cannot do it every time. He is a world-class player but, one to 11, we all need to help," he continued.
Woakes is positive that England has a fair chance to win the third Ashes after ending the third day without losing any wickets.
"To chalk a few off is really nice but also to finish the day none down is a real positive for us. But we know we've got to come and bat well, the scores in this game haven't been high so we know it's probably not going to be straightforward.
Hopefully we can put some pressure on the Aussie bowlers and we know it's a fast-scoring ground and hopefully that helps," he said.
Coming to the match, England ended the day four at 27/0, with Ben Duckett (18*) and Zak Crawley (9*) unbeaten. They are chasing 251 runs to keep the Ashes alive.
Earlier, Australia was bundled out for 224 in their second innings. Important knocks came from Head (77), Usman Khawaja (43) and Marnus Labuschagne (33). Australia was once reduced to 90/4, but a 41-run stand between Head and Mitchell Marsh (28) and another 41-run stand between Head and Todd Murphy (11) took Aussies lead to 250 runs.
Stuart Broad (3/45), Chris Woakes (3/68), Mark Wood (2/66) were the best bowlers for England. The pace trio helped England get a tight grip on the game. Moeen Ali also took two wickets.
Also, England was in huge trouble in their first innings and was at 87/5 at one point with Zak Crawley (33) being a key contributor at the top. Another Headingley masterclass from Stokes (80 in 108 balls with six fours and five sixes) and important knocks from Moeen Ali (21) and Mark Wood (24 in eight balls, with one four and three sixes) took England to 237. England were trailing Australia by 26 runs.
Pat Cummins, the skipper was the best bowler for Aussies, taking 6/91. Mitchell Starc took two wickets. Mitchell Marsh and Todd Murphy got one each.
England put Australia to bat first and the visitors were bundled out for 263 runs in 60.4 overs. Australia slipped to 85/4, but with a 155-run stand for the fifth wicket between Mitchell Marsh (118 in 118 balls, 17 fours and four sixes) and Travis Head (39 in 74 balls), the Aussies were back on track. But after the dismissal of these two batters, Australia experienced another collapse and was bundled out for 263 runs.
Wood (5/34) was the pick of the bowlers for England. Chris Woakes (3/73) and Stuart Broad (2/58) also bowled really well.
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