England were left needing to rewrite cricket’s record books after being set a mammoth 509 to win by Australia on the fourth day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in London yesterday.
At lunch, England were 7-0, Adam Lyth 2 not out and captain Alastair Cook 5 not out, after Australia skipper Michael Clarke had declared his side’s second innings on 254-2.
No side have made more in the fourth innings to win a Test than the West Indies’ 418-7 against Australia in St John’s in 2002-2003.
Photo: Reuters
The highest fourth-innings total to win a Test at Lord’s came when the West Indies made 344-1 against England in 1984 on the back of opener Gordon Greenidge’s unbeaten 214 and Larry Gomes’s 92 not out.
England’s corresponding record is the 332-7 compiled to beat Australia in Melbourne back in 1928-1929, when legendary opener Herbert Sutcliffe made 135.
“We spoke briefly in the changing room there at the end and we’ve got to get our heads round the fact we’re probably going to have to bat 150 overs to try to save the game,” all-rounder Ben Stokes said after stumps on Saturday.
However, yesterday morning’s play was overshadowed not by records, but by the concerning sight of Australia opener Chris Rogers leaving the field due to a dizzy spell.
Rogers, who in the first innings of the match scored a Test-best 173, had added five run to his overnight 44 not out when, after two overs’ play, he crouched down by the side of the pitch and then sat motionless.
He then received several minutes’ on-field treatment, before walking off unbeaten on 49, with Australia 114-0.
A team spokeswoman said the left-handed batsman, who had shown no signs of illness before play started yesterday, was still at Lord’s.
The 37-year-old Rogers, who has said he plans to retire after the Ashes, missed Australia’s recent 2-0 series win in the Caribbean with concussion after being hit on the head while batting in the nets and Friday saw Rogers struck on the helmet by James Anderson during his marathon first innings.
Rogers’ fellow left-handed opener David Warner, dropped on nought by Adam Lyth in the gully on Saturday, started yesterday on 60 not out.
Warner was missed again, on 66, when a leaping Joe Root at short extra-cover could only get fingertips to a mistimed pull off Mark Wood, but with a coveted century at Lord’s his for the taking, Warner fell on 83 when he drove Moeen Ali to Cook at short extra-cover.
Steven Smith, who made a Test-best 215 in Australia’s first innings 566-8 declared, had come in when Rogers retired.
With complete freedom to hit out, the audacious Smith several times stepped well outside off-stump to flick deliveries leg-side during the course of a 48-ball 58 that featured nine fours.
Smith was eventually bowled swinging at off-spinner Ali, the only member of England’s attack to take wickets in the innings.
Clarke (32 not out) and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh (27 not out) added further runs before the captain, looking to lead his side to a series-leveling win after England’s 169-run victory in the first Test in Cardiff last week, called a halt.
When England started their second innings, there were a minimum of 155 overs left in the match.
Only eight sides have survived for more than the equivalent of 150 six-ball overs to draw a match in the 138-year history of Test cricket.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB