adminBEN STOKES took five wickets to put England on the brink of regaining the Ashes at a jubilant Trent Bridge. The hosts declared on 391-9 after Joe Root’s 130 and a rapid 58-run partnership between Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad on the second morning.
Chris Rogers (52) and David Warner (64) briefly threatened an Australian fightback with a 113-run opening partnership.
But Stokes produced some magnificent swing bowling either side of tea to post figures of 5-35 and reduce the tourists to 241-7, still 90 runs behind England, when bad light ended play.
Adam Voges will resume today unbeaten on 48, but it is surely only a matter of time before England wrap up the series by taking an unassailable 3-1 lead with one match to play.
An England victory would avenge the 5-0 whitewash down under in 2013-14 and extend Australia’s winless run on UK soil to four Test series.
With Australia’s openers gaining in confidence with every crunching drive, England needed an inspiration, and Stokes was the man to deliver.
Swinging the old ball both ways in a brilliant spell from the Radcliffe Road End, Stokes took three quick wickets to ignite the Trent Bridge crowd.
Rogers edged an away-swinger, Warner top-edged a pull to mid-on and Shaun Marsh prodded to third slip for two.
In the space of 13 balls, Stokes had taken as many wickets as he had managed in his previous seven innings of bowling and, for the second successive Test, raised the prospect of an England victory inside two days.
Even though Voges and Peter Nevill saw through 17 overs to all but see off that danger, Stokes had Nevill lbw and Mitchell Johnson caught by Alastair Cook off a devilish late away-swinger to put England within three wickets of glory. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter