The third Ashes Test is currently underway at Headingley in Leeds and the English quick bowlers are breathing fire after choosing to field first. England got their first breakthrough in the first over of the game, as Stuart Broad got his bunny David Warner yet again for the 16th time on a ball pitched at the fifth off stump. But the delivery by Mark Wood to get the other opener, Usman Khawaja was an absolute peach.
Bowling over the wicket, it was a lightning-fast delivery bowled full with a tinge of in-swing. Khawaja attempted to play the on-drive but missed it badly and the ball crashed hard on the leg stump and off it went flying. The gap between bat and pad was too much, as he managed to get just an inside edge, but that wasn’t enough to defend the stumps from the delivery which was bowled at an express pace of 152 km/hr.
Australia were quickly placed in the back seat as the scoreboard read 43-2 after the wicket. The dismissed batter Usman Khawaja has been in great form in the Ashes, winning the Player of the Match award in the first Test in Birmingham.
Watch the video here:
Mark Wood celebrated the big wicket wildly, jumping high in the air and going straight to his captain Ben Stokes. Wood was not a part of both the previous Tests and made his way into the lineup replacing veteran 40-year-old James Anderson. At lunch, Australia were 91 for four as Stuart Broad picked two wickets while Mark Wood and Chris Woakes shared a wicket each.
Watch Steve Smith's dismissal by Stuart Broad:
The Ashes have been hard and well fought till now, with Australia emerging victorious at Edgbaston and Lord’s both by close margins. The third Test at Leeds is a do-or-die game for England if they wish to stand a chance to win the prestigious Ashes. It will exciting to see how Ben Stokes and his men handle the pressure of the home crowd in this Test.