Tourists England led the fightback on Day 4 of the SCG Test on Saturday, 8 January. Early into the lunch session, a relentless attack from Mark Wood and Jack Leach led to four wickets inside 29 overs of Australia’s second innings, setting the Test match up for an exciting finish.
After an exciting fight back by Jonny Bairstow on Day 3, England were bundled out below 300 in the morning session of Day 4. Just when things seemed to slip off once again after conceding a lead of over 120 runs, Mark Wood’s barrage of short balls and ability to gain extra bounce from the surface put Australia under pressure. While Wood got rid of David Warner and Marnus Labuschange, Jack Leach from the other side dismissed Marcus Harris and Steve Smith. Both deliveries from Leach were beauties in their own right, with the Harris one drifting through the air to take the outside edge with a traditional offspinner and the Smith one, which was thrown flat and straight at the stumps, perplexing the former captain.
At the time of writing Australia were batting at 91/4 with Cameron Green and Usman Khawaja in the crease.