Zak Crawley's 189 and half-centuries by Joe Root and Moeen Ali provided 67 runs lead to England over Australia on the second day of the fourth Test match of the Ashes series here at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Crawley dominated the Australian bowlers as he played an aggressive knock of 189 off 182 balls while Joe Root and Moeen Ali provided supportive knocks of 84 and 54 respectively.
On the first day of the third test, England continued to let down with their on-field performance. Jonny Bairstow dropped catches behind the stumps of Steve Smith and Travis Head while Joe Root filed to catch Mitchell Marsh at 12 runs. Marsh then scored 118 runs in the match.
England skipper Ben Stokes reflected on his trust in wicketkeeper batter Jonny Bairstow and backed him to pull off high-scoring knocks in the third Test at Headingley following his stumping fiasco in the second Test of the Ashes 2023 series.
England skipper Ben Stokes opened up on the absence of Test vice-captain skipper Ollie Pope and the course of action that his team is willing to take in order to cover for it.
Smith's 'Player of the Match' effort of 110 and 34 have lifted him four places to the second position. Smith was last at the top in June 2021, when he replaced Williamson for a couple of weeks before being overtaken again by the New Zealand batter.
England batter Joe Root feels that it is time for the team to move on from Jonny Bairstow's stumping fiasco and focus on the game that lies ahead of them.
Former England batter Kevin Pietersen shared his thoughts on whether England can change their tactics during the middle of the Ashes 2023 series as Australia continues to tighten control over the second Test.
In 132 Tests, Root has scored 11,178 runs at an average of 50.57. He has scored 30 centuries and 58 half-centuries in the format, with the best score of 254.