England Win by Three Wickets
Heading into the fourth innings it was anyone’s match with the mark being set at 251 for the English to achieve victory. The innings would remain a back and forth nailbiter throughout much of the day with English runs and Australian wickets offsetting each other and causing momentum changes constantly.
The Aussies were bowling fairly well initially as they claimed their third wicket of the day before England hit the century mark when Zak Crawley sent Mitchell Marsh’s bowl through to Alex Carey behind the stumps. At this point the English were 93-3.
England would then go on to reach 161 with the loss of just one wicket taking control of the match at 161-4. With Captain and known big match performer Ben Stokes as the batter it appeared as though England were set to run away with the match. However, in a surprising turn of events Stokes fell for just 13 which seemingly ignited the Australians.
Quickly following the Stokes out, Jonny Bairstow caught the edge of the ball on a Mitchell Starc bowl and the ball clipped his stumps. At 171-6 with some of England’s most dangerous batters being dismissed it seemed as though the momentum had swung in the Aussies favour. At this point, an Australian match and subsequent series victory was very much a possibility.
Harry Brook however had something to say about that. Already sitting on 47 runs when England precariously found themselves at 171-6, Brook would go on to put up 75 and lead England to within 21 runs of victory before getting out at 230-7. The comeback had sports bettors who had bet on the event at small betting sites on the edge of their seat.
Chris Woakes, who was Brook’s partner in crime as they put on 59 runs for the seventh wicket, then continued what they started all the way to the match victory. He and Mark Wood claimed the remaining 21 runs needed with Woakesfinishing with 32 not out and Wood 16 as England finished the final innings at 254-7.
Mitchell Starc Shines Despite Loss
Mitchell Starc was Australia’sclear bright spot in what was otherwise a disappointing end to the Ashes third Test in which the Aussies had opportunities to claim the series victory. Starc claimed five of Australia’s seven wickets in the innings including those of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and eventually Harry Brook.
Updated Ashes Betting Odds
With the series now sitting at 2-1 in favour of the visiting Australians, the odds for which country will claim the Ashes urn have moved closer to one another.
Having been at -650 following their thrilling victory at Lord’s, Australia is still favoured but now are hovering around -250 on most betting sites. England, who were seen as massive +900 underdogs following the second Test have now moved to +400 while a series draw is not out of the realm of possibility at +550.
Betting sites see the most likely result being that the two countries split the final two Tests which would see Australia take the series 3-2, an outcome that has odds around +165.
As for the fourth Test, which is set to begin at Old Trafford on July 19th, both Australia and England sit at +135 to claim victory.
