England earn slender lead in Ashes opener as Ollie Robinson shines with the ball
Robinson ousted centurion Usman Khawaja before adding two more scalps to give England a seven-run first-innings advantage.
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Your support makes all the difference.Ollie Robinson helped England salvage a slender seven-run lead on day three of the first Ashes Test, dismissing Australia for 386 to leave everything up for grabs at Edgbaston.
England took the last five wickets for 75 in the morning session, with Robinson claiming three of them as he roused himself from a wicketless second day performance.
He clean bowled centurion Usman Khawaja (141) and bounced out Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins to finish with three for 55, with James Anderson and Stuart Broad picking up one wicket apiece.
The day began with Australia on 311 for five, still 82 behind but in a marginally better position with half their wickets in hand and two set batters at the crease.
England needed early breakthroughs to nudge themselves back in front and Anderson almost delivered one when he took Alex Carey’s inside edge with his fourth delivery of the morning.
Anderson, who did not create a single clearcut chance on day two, had already started to celebrate as Jonny Bairstow tumbled low to his right but watched in dismay as the ball squirmed free from the wicketkeeper’s glove.
It was a painful start for Bairstow, who already had a missed a stumping against Cameron Green and another dropped catch off Carey on his ledger, and his frustration was plain to see.
Anderson continued to cause the left-hander problems and got him after 20 minutes, forcing one through Carey’s defences from round the wicket and trimming the bails with precision.
Moeen Ali started things off from the Birmingham End, fresh from receiving a fine from the ICC for using an unauthorised drying agent on his hands during Saturday’s play. If that was an unwanted present on the spinner’s 36th birthday, then things did not get a lot better as he worked through his spell.
A return to first-class cricket after almost two years in retirement has clearly caused some damage to to the all-rounder’s spinning finger – hence use of spray which caught the match referee’s attention. He got away with one loopy full toss but could not stop Cummins launching him for a couple of sixes as he struggled to get any purchase on the ball.
Stokes began to set some highly unusual fields in a bid to knock Australia off their stride and it seemed to work when Robinson uprooted Khawaja’s off stump. With a ring of four close catchers on the leg side, the opener tried to force the ball through cover and succumbed to a yorker.
The tail was knocked over with efficiency after that, Lyon pulling Robinson straight to deep square-leg, Scott Boland backing away and popping Broad to silly point and Cummins holing out off another short ball.