Australia hit back in a rain-hit third day of the Ashes Test

It lasted just 20 minutes, but the stars aligned in dramatic fashion for Australia as England were finally and perhaps decisively forced onto the back foot.

The light was desperately bad, the floodlights cast shadows on the outfield and storm clouds approached Edgbaston as the beast in Australia awoke to a riveting passage of play that has given them a slight advantage in this first Ashes Test.

There was little sign of perfect bowling conditions during a morning session when Ben Stokes had again shown himself to be an exceptional captain, winning the last four Australian wickets for 14 runs in 23 balls with the most imaginative tactics.

That, with Australia rejected for 386, gave England a seven-run lead in the first innings and Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley had extended it to 33 with ease, Australia again fielded ultra-defensive, as rain halted play for 75 minutes.

When the teams were able, albeit only for 22 deliveries, everything was changed. With the ball starting to flow, Pat Cummins finally went on the attack after two and a half unusually timid days, and England had to fight for their survival.

Not that it stopped them from doing it their way. Ben Duckett simply refuses to leave the ball, but there was always a chance that his great attacking power would become a weakness beyond the stump against this formidable Australian strike.

Now he played to a wide ball that, with umpires Marais Erasmus and Ahsan Raza getting flustered and looking at the lead sky, should have gone from Cummins and saw Cameron Green produce a sensational low dive ball into the gully.

Now this was the Australian machine we know so well, Cummins and Scott Boland steaming in and applauding frantically whenever the ball came anywhere near a path.

Twice Erasmus refused to listen to Boland’s highly optimistic cries against Crawley, before the metronomic accuracy of a man knocked out of step by England in the first innings finally paid off.

Crawley got the thinnest edges of a ball that slid away from Boland and Alex Carey took the catch low to leave England 27 for two. Crawley stared at the umpire, not questioning the decision in any way, but in disbelief that the game was still on.

England can lament that they were unlucky batting at a time when everything was in favor of the ball, but they can’t really complain. The lights were on in Edgbaston, even if it’s those quirky ‘e’-shaped ones that don’t really do their job, and England’s stated intention to entertain at all times demanded that the third day’s show had to go on.

But they were immensely relieved when heavy rain finally fell at 3:50 p.m. to wash it clean for the rest of the day with Joe Root surviving two more effusive calls, and Ollie Pope sticking around to start again today.

England going into their second innings with a small lead was almost entirely due to Stokes. His side had a sloppy start to the third day when Jonny Bairstow couldn’t hold onto an inside edge from Carey on 52 off Jimmy Anderson’s fourth ball of the day.

It meant England had missed five chances, three of them by a Bairstow keeper who was handed the gloves on his return to the side from injury in place of Ben Foakes.

The misses – Bairstow also squandered a great chance on Cameron Green’s second ball to drop Carey on 26 – will reopen the debate over England’s best glover, but really both Bairstow and Foakes should be on this side.

Crawley, or even Duckett, should have been the man to go, with the captain opening, keeping Foakes and Bairstow returning as a specialist batsman, but England insist they never considered that option. As it is, Bairstow remains a more than capable goalkeeper, as he showed in his spectacular hold on Marnus Labuschagne, and will improve as the series progresses.

England may be more worried about Moeen Ali, who is battling a blister on his spinning finger after throwing 33 overs on his return to Test cricket.

The third day opened with news that Moeen had been fined 25 per cent of his match money for spraying a ‘desiccant’ on his damaged finger during the 89th over of Australia’s innings on Saturday without the umpires’ permission.

It is clear that the injury affected Moeen, who threw some big full pitches yesterday, and England can only hope that he will be able to bowl effectively through the pain when it comes time for Australia to get back to bat. It can be crucial for the result.

Though Moeen wasn’t at his best and the conditions, at least in the morning, favored spin, Stokes somehow found the plans and energy to send Australia off by seam just when it seemed that they would get that lead in the first innings instead.

Anderson found a beauty to bowl Carey for 66 but Usman Khawaja still held on and Cummins had joined him in an enterprising stand of 34 before Stokes got funky.

His fields were straight out of the Bazball playbook, six fielders surrounded Khawaja in a mini circle and seemed to get into the batsman’s head before effectively beating himself for 141 against Ollie Robinson.

Khawaja departed for something of a Robinson broadcast that seemed to offend Australian sensibilities and led to referee Erasmus having a conversation with Stokes. But in reality, it was a little rashness on Robinson’s part that wasn’t exactly in Khawaja’s face.

More imagination in the field came with a short ball trick at the Australian tail, Nathan Lyon hollowing out to a deep square leg from Robinson, Boland sending Stuart Broad to a silly punt and Cummins beating the Sussex bowler from above.

It was brilliant from the captain and a bowler in Robinson who had not been at his best on day two and wore several boots, seemingly to protect the left ankle injury that threatened his participation in this Test.

So Australia is lagging, but a much better weather forecast for today. All still a lot to play for.