Buttler helps England fight but Australia chip away – Cricbuzz – Cricbuzz, Cricbuzz.com

Buttler and Overton have put on 28 for the seventh wicket. © Getty

A half-century from Joe Denly on Sunday (September 8) was followed by a fighting performance by Jos Buttler but Australia kept chipping away and were four wickets away from retaining the Ashes. Although wickets didn’t come in a flurry, Australia managed to strike at regular intervals to leave England at 166 for 6 at Tea on Day 5 of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, with the hosts still needing 217 more for a victory with 36 scheduled overs left in the day.

Denly, who had put on 66 runs with Jason Roy in the morning session, didn’t give up on his fight as he went on to bring up his second of the series in the post-lunch session. But there was nothing much he could do when Nathan Lyon bagged his first wicket of the game with a delivery that kicked up after landing on the rough, with the batsman gloving it to short leg. The Day 5 wicket wasn’t getting any better but that didn’t diminish England’s spirit as Australia were made to work hard for the wickets.

Jos Buttler, celebrating his 29 th birthday, joined Jonny Bairstow and both batsmen continued in the same fighting vein that Denly and Roy had managed earlier. With the older ball, they found batting slight easier compared to the first session but there were still those deliveries that tested them outside off and directed at the stumps. But Buttler and Bairstow were up to the task, extending Australia’s wait and even forced Tim Paine to try out different bowling options like Marcus Labuschagne and Travis Head.

A partnership worth 45 runs that lasted for nearly 14 overs, finally came to an end when Mitchell Starc, with a change of ends and bowling from around the wicket, caught Bairstow at the crease to dismiss him leg-before. But England continued to test Australia’s patience as Craig Overton managed to stick around with Buttler in a partnership that lasted for 95 deliveries before Tea, even overturning a leg-before decision during his stay, with both remaining unbeaten at the break having added 28.

Earlier, an under pressure Roy started the day reaching out to some deliveries and playing away from his body while there were a couple of leg-before appeals when Denly was on strike. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who began the proceedings for the day, kept the England batsmen on their toes and went past the edge a few times. Starc and Lyon then came on and they found the edges but the ball landed well clear of the fielders as Roy and Denly rode their luck, grit their teeth and raised a half-century stand.

But Australia were persistent and it paid off as Cummins bagged his third wicket of the innings, finding a big gap between Roy’s bat and pad. Australia England’s hopes rested on the hero of the previous game – Ben Stokes but much to their shock, they saw the all-rounder walking back in what was a soft dismissal as the ball from Cummins brushed the back of the bat when he was attempting to shoulder arms.

Brief scores: Australia497 / 8 decl. & 186 / 6 decl.lead England301 & 166 / 6 (Joe Denly 53; Pat Cummins 4 – 41)by 216 runs.