The Ashes best bets for day three & odds: Khawaja ton puts Australia in charge

Free cricket tips, best bets and analysis for the fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 11.30pm Thursday

Scoreboard
Australia 416-8d (Khawaja 137, Broad 5-101) lead England 13-0 by 403 runs

Best prices
6-4 Australia, 50-1 England, 8-11 Draw

Story of day two

Australia started the day on 126-3 so a couple of early wickets would have put England in a strong position.

However, a century stand for the fourth wicket between Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja, playing his first Test match since the 2019 Ashes, laid a solid foundation for the hosts.

Khawaja, dropped on 28, made the most of his reprieve, motoring on despite the dismissals of Smith (67), Cameron Green (five) and Alex Carey (13).

The left-hander received excellent support from Pat Cummins (24) and Mitchell Starc (34 not out) before finally being bowled for 137 by Stuart Broad, who picked up a five-wicket haul.

Number ten Nathan Lyon hit Broad for six, prompting Cummins to declare with five overs remaining in the day.

Australia thought they had a breakthrough when Zak Crawley was caught at slip but it was a no-ball from Mitchell Starc so the Kent youngster and opening partner Haseeb Hameed will resume on day three with England more than 400 runs in arrears.

Star of the day

Like Travis Head in the first innings of the series in Brisbane, Khawaja stepped up to score a crucial century, piling the pressure on England. After completing his ninth Test ton, the 35-year-old averages 55.3 in 25 appearances at home and England would love to have a batsman of his experience and class in their top order.

Moment of the day

Khawaja's innings could have ended on 28 when Joe Root dropped a sharp chance at slip off spinner Jack Leach. Khawaja went on to add another 109 runs to his score while the luckless Leach has now taken two wickets for 237 runs in the series.

View from the camp

'We are still in this game and it makes tomorrow a really important day. It is a good opportunity for a batting group that hasn't stamped their authority on this trip to do it.'

Stuart Broad, England bowler

Day three preview

Despite Australia's dominance on day two, bookmakers still expect rain to scupper their chances of a 5-0 series win and the draw is 8-11 in Sydney.

The Aussies are 6-4 and an England victory looks to be out of the equation as the 50-1 tourists will be batting for survival in their first innings. Rain is forecast for the third morning of the match, and for most of day four, but Root's men still need to bat well if they are to avoid a fourth straight loss.

Khawaja and the Australian lower-order looked largely untroubled but Starc and Cummins found some bounce late in the day and England are yet to reach 300 in the series. Their first-innings runs line is quoted at 253.5 by bet365 while openers Hameed and Crawley, both two not out overnight, have runs lines of just 16.5 with BoyleSports.

Ben Stokes suffered an injury while bowling on day two, which is another concern for England, and much will depend on numbers three and four, Dawid Malan and Joe Root.

The pair have been comfortably England's best batsmen in this series – no other visiting player has more series runs than Khawaja, who has batted only once – and in the first innings of the SCG Test four years ago Root scored 83 and Malan 62.

After his prolific year of Test cricket in 2021, skipper Root is clear favourite to top-score in England's first dig of 2022 but Yorkshire left-hander Malan looks worth supporting at the prices.

Best bet

Dawid Malan top England first-innings runscorer
1pt 9-2 BoyleSports

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