Ben Stokes-led England are facing Australia in the first Ashes Test at the Edgbaston in Birmingham and the English batters are showing their ‘Bazball’ approach against a strong Aussie bowling lineup. However, Ollie Pope had no answer as he lost his wicket against Australian skipper Pat Cummins who bowled a deadly yorker on Day 4.
The English side had lost two early wickets in the last session of Day 3 as they lost both their openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley. On Day 4 of the first Ashes test, Joe Root and Ollie Pope came all guns blazing after which Australia needed a moment of magic to get back into the game.
Pat Cummins’ exceptional inswinging yorker stuns Ollie Pope
The pitch at Edgbaston looked pretty flat on Day 4 and England batters once again displayed their ‘Bazball’ approach and didn’t allow Aussie pacers to settle down initially. Skipper Pat Cummins then decided to take the responsibility of getting a breakthrough for his side.
Cummins came in to bowl the 17th over of England’s innings and conceded 5 runs including a boundary hit by Ollie Pope as he was bowling on a length. The Aussie skipper surprised Pope on the 6th delivery of the over as he bowled an exceptional inswinging yorker.
The English batter was stunned with the length of the delivery as he wasn’t expecting Cummins to try a yorker so early in the innings. It was a pacy delivery bowled around 140 kph and Ollie Pope didn’t get enough time to get his bat down as the ball went on to crash his off stump.
The perfect yorker 😍
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The English batter took the long walk back to the pavilion after scoring just 14 runs off 16 deliveries including a couple of boundaries. The pair of Root and Pope were looking pretty threatening in the morning session of Day 4 and Pat Cummins got the much-needed dismissal for his side.
However, even after the dismissal of Ollie Pope, Joe Root didn’t change his approach and kept playing his shots against all Australian bowlers. He played a crucial knock of 46 runs in just 55 deliveries including 5 fours and a marvelous six before getting dismissed by Nathan Lyon.
Young Harry Brook too played a quick-fire knock of 46 runs off just 42 deliveries. The aggressive approach shown by the English batters took them beyond the total of 150 runs in the first session of Day 4 after losing 5 wickets.