Ashes 2023: Australia's strong bowling performance leaves England with 257 runs to win for day five

After setting a stiff target of 371 Australia put in a strong bowling performance to leave England at 1144 at the close of day fourrsquos play in the second Ashes Test at Lordrsquos on SaturdayFor England Ben Duckett 50 not out and captain Ben Stokes 29 not out shared an unbroken 69run stand for the fifth wicket after being reduced to 454 as the hosts now need 257 more runs for an improbable win on an exciting day five to level the fivegame seriesIn what was another enthralling day of Test England pulled things back with the ball to bowl out Australia for 279 in 1015 overs with Stuart Broad the pick of the bowlers with 465 in 245 oversBut Mitchell Starcs burst with the new ball one that accounted for Zak Crawley caught down legside attempting an ambitious flick and Ollie Pope cleaned up a fast inswinging beauty put Australia on top before Cummins ensured they stayed in control with his double strikeDuring his sensational spell Starc went past Mitchell Johnsons tally of wickets in Test cricket to become the fifthhighest wickettaker for Australia in Test cricket with his numbers at 315 wickets from just 79 matchesCummins struck twice as Joe Root was undone by some extra bounce and Harry Brook was castled by a peach in the same over leaving England reeling at 454 But Duckett and Ben Stokes revived Englands fortunes with some solid batting putting on a halfcentury stand at a decent rateDuckett made his second fifty in the Test and was reprieved shortly after when a top edge off Cameron Green was caught at deep fineleg by Starc only for the third umpire to rule that the fast bowler had grounded the ball while attempting the catch setting day five for a blockbuster finish to the seesaw Test matchEarlier the hosts adopted the short ball ploy to success to rattle Australia starting with Broad getting a short leg cutter to climb on Usman Khawaja who topedged the pull to the fielder in the deepJosh Tongue doubled the blow next over when Steve Smith attempted a tame pull shot off him to find the fielder in the deep followed by Travis Head falling cheaply Cameron Green and Alex Carey played with restraintGreen played out 67 balls for his 18 runs while Carey took 73 balls for his 21 The duo successfully batted Australia to lunch but with the lead still not outside Englandrsquos grasps the dup departed in quick succession post lunchTired of leaving and ducking under the short balls Green eventually took one on from Ollie Robinson and picked out a deep square leg Carey was bounced out too the short one forcing him to fend one to Joe Root at short leg off RobinsonThe twin strike gave England renewed energy to have a crack at Australia and the visitors were reduced to 2649 in no time with Broad and Stokes dismissing Cummins and Josh Hazlewood respectivelyNathan Lyon hobbling and clearly in pain in his right calf walked out to a big ovation from the stands and England players while coming out to bat at number 11 Alongside Starc he stood up to another barrage of short balls from the relentless English attackAlso Read Ashes 2023 Lyon limps before Australia reduce England to 454 chasing 371A couple of boundaries from Starc and one from Lyon himself pushed Australiarsquos lead over 370 before Broad picked up his fourth by bouncing out Lyon to end the inningsBrief scoresAustralia 416 amp 279 in 454 overs Usman Khawaja 77 Stuart Broad 465 lead England 325 amp 1144 in 31 overs Ben Duckett 50 not out Ben Stokes 29 not out Pat Cummins 220 Mitchell Starc 240 by 257 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever