Melbourne: A morning that brought two wickets for England and a sniff of a drought-breaking Ashes win gave way to a bleak afternoon for the tourists as rain washed out most of day four, Friday and left Australia well-placed to save the fourth Test.
The home side were 103 for two in their second innings at the MCG when rain interrupted play before tea and the showers lingered long enough for umpires to abandon the day without another ball bowled.
David Warner (40 batting, 140b, 3×4) and Steve Smith (25 batting, 67b, 2×4) were at the crease when play was finally called off. The hosts need 61 runs to make England bat again.
“Any time there’s a bit of rain and you’re on top in the game it’s a bit frustrating but we’ve got an opportunity tomorrow (Saturday) to win and that’s the attitude we’ve got to take into the game,” England coach Trevor Bayliss told reporters. “We’ve got to be very disciplined, there’s not a lot you can do on that type of wicket.”
England had resumed on 491-9 in the morning but were unable to extend their total, with tail-ender Anderson dismissed first ball by paceman Pat Cummins, fending a catch straight to Cameron Bancroft at short leg.
That left former captain Cook unbeaten on his overnight score, a record total among openers who have carried their bat through an innings.
Australia’s second innings began brightly but soon, the tourists’ seamers struck twice to leave Australia wobbling at 65-2 before Warner and Smith showed patience and poise in their unbroken stand of 38.
All-rounder Chris Woakes made the early breakthrough, bowling Bancroft for 27, with Anderson having No.3 Usman Khawaja caught behind for 11.
England rubbish tampering charges
Melbourne: England rejected ball-tampering allegations as a ‘beat-up’ after comments made on TV. Some of the commentators had alleged that James Anderson had scuffed the balls with his thumbnail. “I’m not sure you are allowed to use your fingernail there,” former Test spinner Shane Warne said on the ‘Channel Nine’ coverage. Fellow former Test star Michael Slater added: “That’s interesting, you can’t get your nail into the ball. That’s a no-no.” England coach Trevor Bayliss, however, remained unperturbed. “It’s a beat-up. As soon as I saw the headlines I raced into the umpires and that was their words: ‘Nothing to worry about, it was a beat-up, absolutely fine’,” Bayliss told reporters. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle said after the day’s play there would be no report into the allegations.
Brief scores: Australia 327 & 103/2 (David Warner 40 batting); England 491 (Alastair Cook 244 n o). Match to continue.