Jack Crawley and Joe Root show fight as England battle to avoid Adelaide defeat

England Fighting to avoid embarrassing defeat in the Ashes adelaideReached 106 for two in the world record chase to keep the series alive.

Before lunch, the tourists took Australia’s last six wickets for just 38 runs, leaving a huge target of 435 runs for an almost unimaginable comeback.

The highest score so far in the fourth innings is 418, while England posted their best performance in 2022 against India by scoring 378 runs.

England’s task as home captain seemed almost impossible pat cummins achieved two initial successes, ben duckett His second ball was hit in the slips and Ollie Pope took a sensational one-handed catch in the circle off Marnus Labuschagne.

But jack crawley (36 no) played with unusual composure in a serious stance with Joe Root (37 no). By the tea interval the pair had put up a partnership of 75 runs to give hope of a meaningful fight.

The scale of the challenge was still staggering – 329 runs were needed in four more sessions on a poor pitch – but Crawley and Root at least showed there was some spirit left in their team, which had been dragged through the mud in 10 days of disappointing cricket.

Earlier, their pace attack had made an impact, led by Josh Tongue, who took four wickets for 70 runs, and Brayden Carse, who took two wickets in two balls. Ben Stokes took one wicket for 26 runs in a seven-over spell as he was too tired to bowl on the third day, and Jofra Archer completed his sixth over of the match.

It was a brief reminder of how England had envisioned things going when they attacked, but it was hard to escape the feeling that too much damage had already been done.

Australia had started with a lead of 356 runs and with each run the asking price increased. His top target Down Under, 332, had already been surpassed and his top Ashes chase of 362 – Stokes’s 2019 Headingley miracle – was quickly followed.

But a surprising amount of haste saw them collapse from 311 for four to 349, leaving England’s unsuccessful opening pair with just two overs before the break.

This proved too much for Duckett, who clipped his first ball for four runs and then guided his next ball straight into the slips, making this tour an increasingly frightening one for the left-handed batsman.

Crawley and Cummins continued to waste time in the moments before the lunch break, culminating in a final ball that came dangerously close to the outside edge.

Pope scored 17, his perfect average against Australia, before Cummins was out, with Labuschagne making a brilliant take that energized his entire team.

But Crawley, who scored one run from his first 28 balls, refused the temptation to come out of his bunker and Root batted with composure for the remainder of the session, which ended with England in an unexpectedly strong position.