Crawley crashes scintillating ton as England take charge

England unleashed the full fury of 'Bazball' and Australia found themselves unable to withhold its irresistible force as a brutal 189 from opener Zak Crawley handed his team control of the fourth Test at Old Trafford.

England's stumps score of 4-384 with Harry Brook 14no and Ben Stokes unbeaten on 24 has them 67 runs in front with three days remaining although at least two of those – Saturday and Sunday – are expected to be impacted by rain.

With that scenario in mind, England's sustained scoring rate of 5.33 across a remarkable day is the fastest in an Ashes Test with the previous benchmark being the 2-254 Australia scored from 49 overs (at 5.18) in their second innings at Lord's in 2015.

It would also appear likely Stokes will look to continue the rampage tomorrow morning before eyeing a declaration with a lead of 200 in the hope there will be sufficient playing time to level the series.

Crawley, who had set the tone for England's bullish approach to this Ashes campaign by driving Pat Cummins' initial delivery at Edgbaston to the cover boundary, was dismissed midway through the final session for 189 off 182 balls faced by which time England were 19 runs in the lead.

At a rate of 103.8 per 100 balls faced, it's the fastest century by an opener in the Ashes' 146-year history easily eclipsing Michael Slater's 113 off 139 on the famous first day of the 1998-99 battle at the Gabba.

It also eclipsed another flawless contribution from Joe Root, with whom he blazed a 206-run third-wicket stand off 186 deliveries, as the former England skipper cruised almost unnoticed to 84 from 95 balls faced before copping a near unplayable offering from Josh Hazlewood.

For the third time in as many Tests – after Ben Stokes' belligerent but ultimately unsuccessful counter-punch at Lord's then the chase of 254 from 50 overs at Headingley – Australia's bowling and fielding plans were relentlessly challenged, and today found wanting.

It was, by some stretch, their worst day of the so-far successful UK tour and the most one-sided of an otherwise finely balanced Ashes contest as they coughed up almost 400 runs at an average of almost 100 per wicket while surrendering the last two of their own inside half an hour of play starting.

And rather than offer some salve, the dismissals of Crawley and Root in the final hour could have served as consternation to Australia's batters heading into their second innings with both batters had their stumps rattled by deliveries that kept demonstrably low.

While the Old Trafford pitch had apparently flattened into a road as England's top-order sped along it throughout the afternoon, Crawley's attempted pull off Cameron Green took the bottom edge while Root was undone by a ball from Hazlewood that reached barely shin height and slid under his bat.

In some ways, those two breakthroughs against the run of play might have further strengthened England's belief they can defy both logic and Manchester's forecast weekend rain to level the series now they hold the whip hand after two days.

From the morning's very first ball when skipper Pat Cummins holed out limply to the infield, to the opening delivery of England's chase that Crawley gloved past keeper Alex Carey for a boundary, to the final over from occasional leggie Marnus Labuschagne, it could not have played out any more perfectly for England.

As their frustration and impotence grew, Australia also muffed the half chances that were fleetingly created, with Cummins's tough low chance off Moeen (on 53) and a run out chance late in the day that would have removed Ben Stokes (seven) had he pulled off a direct hit.

Furthering the visitors' woes was the sight of Mitchell Starc, who already looked to be suffering from hamstring soreness in his left leg, was forced from the field gingerly clutching his left shoulder which he landed heavily upon when he dived at mid-on to stop a drive from Brook.

But the ease with which Crawley, Root and Moeen Ali handled Australia's three specialist quicks and pair of seam-bowling allrounders brought into sharp focus the decision to eschew a frontline spinner and heavily underscored the vital holding role usually performed by injured Nathan Lyon.

Cummins' pre-match suggestion Travis Head could handle the spin overs if required was met by a pre-meditated onslaught from Crawley who reverse-swept his first ball for four and clobbered his second over long-on for six with Head's six overs for the day costing 48.

Given the situation of the series with England needing nothing short of a win to remain alive, and with Manchester's gloomy weather expected to play a decisive role over the weekend, it was known days before this Test began that the home team's batters would come hard.

But the ferocity and effectiveness of the assault launched by Crawley, Root and – for an hour or so – Moeen was breathtaking in its audacity and equally stunning was Australia's inability to quell it.

Crawley had become a maligned figure in the lead-up to Old Trafford, with an average of just 28 from his 69 innings, but will now be held in reverence for unfurling the second-fastest Ashes hundred witnessed at Old Trafford behind Ian Botham's 86-ball effort in the equally epochal 1981 campaign.

Crawley reached his first Ashes ton from 93 balls – the second 50 arriving off just 26 deliveries - laced with 12 boundaries and a soaring six off the bowling of Australia's sole spin option Travis Head at the height of England's post-lunch run glut.

During that utterly dominant 25-over session, England piled on 178 runs for the loss of a solitary wicket – Moeen holing out to mid-wicket in search of yet-more runs – at a rate of 7.12 an over that rendered their rivals bereft of both inspiration and penetration.

The Old Trafford pitch that had a day earlier seemed constantly helpful to England's seamers as Australia's eight-man top-order searched and scratched for answers was seemingly replaced by a freeway on which England's free-spirits found no fears.

While Crawley and Root hit through the line with disdainful impunity and uncluttered minds, Australia's bowling and fielding plans chopped, changed and then swung back again without any impact on the scoring rate or the wickets column.

There was no greater contrast between day one when no Australia batter was able to push on past 50 and England's withering response than the consecutive boundaries that carried Crawley to the fastest Test 150 ever witnessed at Old Trafford.

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That milestone, reached at a run-per-ball, came via a pair of sweetly struck drives to the fence either side of despairing bowler Cummins and further banished any memory of the wafty plays and misses and streaky inside edges past the stumps that characterised the opener's first 50.

Given he had dismissed him in both innings of the previous Test at Headingley, it was surprising Mitchell Marsh was deployed against Crawley until he had 112 to his name, and was brought back again with that tally risen to 166, but by that stage the horse had bolted beyond view.

Australia paid a heavy price for repeatedly attacking Crawley's stumps in the early stages of his innings, playing into the right-hander's fondness for whipping the ball through the leg side while his off-side driving is always more speculative.

However, by the time that tactic was addressed he had careered past a century and was on his way to the second double-ton of his career and even his mishits yielded boundaries.

Image Id: 07CDFB8980724C9BB92F5B74283E7804 Image Caption: Zak Crawley (r) shared a century partnership with Moeen Ali and a double-century stand with Joe Root // Getty

It was a thumbnail sketch of England's day that has kept the Ashes tantalisingly alive.

Any suggestion the brave new world of 'Bazball' held no place for sentimentality was disproved when England chose to begin day two – using a ball just three overs old – with James Anderson (wicketless on day one) and Chris Woakes (needing one scalp to complete a first Ashes five-for).

The first feel-good wish was granted upon the opening ball of the morning, a gentle out-swinging half-volley from Anderson that might have passed as a loosener had Cummins not sliced it softly at knee height to his rival skipper at cover point.

The dream was then fully realised five deliveries into the next over when Woakes seemingly wrapped up Australia's innings for the addition of a single when Josh Hazlewood edged to second slip.

It wasn't until Hazlewood's batting and new-ball partner Starc had bolted from the field and was ascending the stairs to Australia's dressing room that word came through Woakes had over-stepped and the innings was ongoing.

The last pair then endured for a further 27 minutes during which they added 16 runs to Australia's total before Woakes began bowling around the wicket and had Hazlewood legitimately caught in the cordon to add his name added to an Old Trafford honours board on which Anderson remains a conspicuous absentee.

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Despite forecasts England would begin their innings in a blaze of Bazballing, it instead began with a sense of almost pre-ordained predictability with opener Ben Duckett staying true to his mantra of 'let nothing pass' and duly nicked a ball more prudent players would have left alone.

But from there, traffic began flowing almost exclusively in England's direction and at an ever-increasing speed.

Australia had Crawley adjudged lbw when he was 20 but, as was the case twice on day one, the verdict of on-field umpire Joel Wilson was immediately queried and the verdict overruled on appeal.

That seemed to be Crawley's cue to invoke one of 'Bazball's' central tenets and set about 'running towards the danger' although the imminent threat to England's gung-ho opener loomed as a self-inflicted wound.

As Crawley threw his hands with degrees of effectiveness that ranged from derisive to devastating, Moeen was neatly compiling the sort of contribution at number three he had self-deprecatingly suggested was beyond him pre-match.

Like Crawley, in between the exquisite drives and deft placement that produced a ready supply of singles and doubles, Moeen produced the occasional miscue that brought only more baying from the euphoric sold-out crowd.

An edge over gully took the 36-year-old beyond 3000 Test runs to go with his 200-plus wickets, installing him an exclusive club that contains just 16 members including fellow Englishmen Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad with Shane Warne the only Australia representative.

When Moeen shanked an attempted pull through mid-wicket off Head, it seemed set to land near Cummins at mid-on but the besieged captain lost the ball against the predominantly crimson backdrop of the Lancashire red rose and England's accidental number three instead reached 50 from 74 balls faced.

Two overs later, Moeen attempted the shot again from the bowling of Hazlewood and Cummins picked it up late in the air but failed to grasp it in his left hand as he dived forward and the wheels that had wobbled for almost an hour since lunch seemed set to spring fully loose.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood