Bowlers push England Lions closer to victory over Australia A at MCG

​England Lions moved closer to victory against Australia A at the MCG, enforcing the follow on and taking five second-innings wickets before rain brought a premature close to day three.

The hosts still trail by 72 runs, having been dismissed for 176 in the first innings and finishing the day 180 for five.

Resuming their first innings on 103 for five, Josh Inglis and Jack Wildermuth added 31 more runs to their partnership before Ollie Robinson bowled Inglis for 40.

Wildermuth and Michael Neser put on 23 but Neser’s dismissal – caught behind off Tom Abell – prompted a collapse, with Australia A losing their final four wickets for seven runs in three overs.

Abell got Jackson Bird two balls after Neser, also caught behind by Bracey, while Brydon Carse wrapped up the innings by dismissing Mark Steketee and Mitchell Swepson in consecutive overs. Queensland’s Wildermuth reached his 50 in the penultimate over and remained unbeaten.

Lions captain Keaton Jennings invited his counterpart Moises Henriques to bat again, with Australia 252 behind England’s first-innings total of 428. Australia’s second innings started in much the same way as their first, with an early wicket falling.

Usman Khawaja hit a four and was then trapped in front by Craig Overton in the first over. Number three Nic Maddinson made up for his first innings failure to hit 52 off 55 balls, adding 77 with Marcus Harris, but both men fell within the space of four balls with the score on 81.

Sam Northeast took the catch of Maddinson off Overton, with Dom Bess bowling Marcus Harris in the next over for his first wicket of the match.

Bess took his second in his next over, with Henriques offering a catch to Overton for four to leave the hosts 81 for four. Inglis joined Kurtis Patterson to add 65 before being dismissed by Ollie Robinson for 35.

Wildermuth (16no) and Patterson (43no) put on 30 more before the rain set in to curtail proceedings and take the game into the final day.

QUOTES

Keaton Jennings said: “We’ve had another good day in the field but we know there’s still work to be done tomorrow if we’re to win the game.

“Patterson and Wildermuth are good batsmen and I’m sure they’ll do everything they can to frustrate us and take the game as deep as possible.

“Our bowling throughout the day was generally good and even when decent partnerships started to form we held our nerve to take advantage of any breakthrough and put the Australian batsmen under pressure.

“Winning any game in Australia is difficult, so hopefully we can push on to victory tomorrow.”