England’s tailenders resisted Australia’s bowlers in fading light Sunday to clinch a draw on a dramatic final day of the fourth test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Jack Leach, Stuart Broad and then Jimmy Anderson batted out the final 10 overs under im-mense pressure after Pat Cummins and Scott Boland took three quick wickets in the final session before Steve Smith removed Leach with two overs remain-ing to set up a nervous finale to a gripping test match.
At stumps, England finished on 270-9 with Broad unbeaten on eight and Anderson not out on nought to give England its best result of the five-match series that Australia leads 3-0.
“It’s a small step forward,” said captain Joe Root. “I think coming into the game I spoke a lot about putting some pride back into English cricket and into the test performance.
“The fight, desire and character shown today and throughout the five days has done that in a small way.”
With the final hour approaching, Cummins re-moved Jos Buttler and Mark Wood in the space of three balls to turn the test on its head after it was looking increasingly likely that England would earn a draw after its most determined batting effort of the series.
Boland then continued his torrid start to test cricket by having first-innings centurion Jonny Bairstow caught by Marnus Labuschagne for 41. It was Boland’s 14th wicket in just his second test after making his test debut in the third test at Mel-bourne where he was named man of the match.
But Broad and Leach saw out the remaining 10 overs despite Australia have all its fielders around the bat in catching positions as the fading light meant Australia had to bowl spinners Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith in the final three overs.
“From the position we found ourselves in at cer-tain points in this game, to be able to sit here having drawn… was going to take a good performance and I’m really proud of the way the guys dug in and managed to do that,” Root said.—APP
