Fourth Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 24 July: Day Three

24 July: Day Three

On the third morning, play resumed under hot and humid conditions. There had been rain on the pitch at 07:00, and Bradman resumed proceedings by taking a single from a Bedser no ball. In same over, one ball reared from the pitch and moved into Bradman, hitting him in the groin, causing a delay as he recovered from the pain and recomposed himself before play resumed. In the second over of the day, Pollard got the second ball to lift. Caught out by the unexpected bounce, Hassett was unable to get out of the way and edged the ball to Crapp in the slips for 13. Miller came to the crease and drove his first ball for three runs, bringing Bradman on strike for the fourth ball of the over. Pollard then pitched a ball in the same place as he did to Hassett, but this time it skidded low off the pitch, deviated back in and knocked out Bradman's off stump for 33. According to O'Reilly, Bradman backed away from the ball as it cut off the pitch with a noticeable flinch. O'Reilly attributed Bradman's unwillingness to get behind the ball to the blow inflicted on him by Bedser in the previous over and the rearing ball that dismissed Hassett.

Sensing the importance of the two quick wickets, in particular that of Bradman, who had been so productive at Headingley, the crowd erupted. Australia were struggling at 68/3 as Harvey, playing his first Ashes Test and the youngest member of the squad at the age of 19, walked out bareheaded to join Miller at the crease. The tourists were more than 400 behind, and another wicket would expose the lower order and give England the opportunity to take a large first innings lead. Harvey told his senior partner "What's going on out here, eh? Let's get stuck into 'em". He got off the mark by forcing the ball behind point.

The pair launched a counterattack, Miller taking the lead. He hoisted off spinner Laker's first ball over the square leg fence for six. Miller shielded Harvey from Laker, as his younger partner was struggling against the off breaks that were turning away from him, including one that spun and bounced sharply to beating the outside edge. Miller drilled one off-drive off Laker for four, and after mis-hitting the next, much to the amusement of the crowd, hit the off spinner flat over his head, almost for six into the sightscreen. This allowed Australia to seize the initiative, and Harvey joined the fightback in the next over, hitting consecutive boundaries against Laker, the second of which almost cleared the playing area. He struck another boundary to reach 44, while Miller's score stayed on 42. After half an hour of play, the early morning life in the pitch appeared to have died out.

Miller then lifted Laker for another six over long off, hitting a spectator in the head. The English captain, noted for his ability to break partnerships with his occasional bowling, brought himself on. Miller responded by striking a four over long on from Yardley's bowling to reach 54. He drove the next ball through cover for four. The English skipper responded by stacking the leg side with outfielders and bowled outside leg stump, challenging Miller to attempt another hit for six. Yardley bowled a half-volley outside leg stump and the batsman obliged, but edged the ball off the back of his bat onto wicket-keeper Evans' head and was caught by a forward-diving Edrich at short fine leg.

The partnership had yielded 121 runs in 90 minutes, and was likened by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack to a "hurricane". Fingleton said he had never "known a more enjoyable hour" of "delectable cricket". He acclaimed Miller's innings as "one of the rarest gems in the Test collection of all time" and "a moment to live in the cricket memory". O'Reilly said Miller and Harvey had counter-attacked with "such joyful abandon that it would have been difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to gather from their methods of going about it that they were actually retrieving a tremendously difficult situation". The crowd was in raptures at both the batting and Edrich's catch. Arlott said "two of the greatest innings of all Test cricket were being played", and praised Miller for elevating "cricket to a point of aesthetic beauty".

Loxton came in to join Harvey at 189/4, who continued attacking, unperturbed by Miller's departure. Cranston came on and Harvey square drove and then hooked to deep square leg for two consecutive boundaries. Yardley moved a man from fine leg to the location where the previous hook had gone; Harvey responded by glancing a ball to where the fine leg fielder had been, collecting three more runs. Australia thus went to lunch at 204/4, with Harvey on 70.

After lunch, Australia scored slowly as Loxton struggled to find his fluency against the bowling. Yardley took the new ball in an attempt to trouble the batsmen with extra pace, but instead, Loxton began to settle in. The Australian lofted Pollard to the leg side, almost for six, and hit three fours off a subsequent Pollard over. Harvey accelerated as well, and 80 minutes into the middle session, reached his century to a loud reception as Australia passed 250. He had taken 177 minutes and hit 14 fours. Loxton then dominated the scoring in a display of power hitting. He brought up his 50 by hitting Cranston into the pavilion for six, eliciting spontaneous applause from the English players. The century stand yielded 105 runs in only 95 minutes. Harvey was out for 112 from 183 balls, bowled by Laker while playing a cross-batted sweep. His shot selection prompted Bradman to throw his head back in disappointment. Nevertheless, it was an innings noted for powerful driving on both sides of the wicket, and Harvey's fast scoring helped to wrest the match back from England's firm control. O'Reilly said the innings was one of "no inhibitions ... completely unspoiled by any preconceived plan to eliminate any particular shot". He added that it was "the very mirror of truth in the batting art", "delightfully untrammeled by the scourage of good advice or any other handicapping influence", and deemed Harvey's innings to be most pleasing he had seen since Stan McCabe's 232 at Trent Bridge in 1938.

Harvey's departure at 294/5 brought the first of the bowlers, Johnson, to the crease. This did not deter Loxton, who was particularly severe on Laker, lifting the off spinner for four more sixes, two over the leg side followed by consecutive off drives into the gallery. On each occasion, umpire Chester walked to the edge of the playing field and tried to inspect where the ball landed amongst the crowd, trying to see if the point of impact was beyond the original playing arena. They were ruled as sixes in any case and some thought Chester's actions to be more for theatrical than umpiring purposes. Laker refused to be deterred by the aggressive batting and continued to bowl normally by pursuing defensive off or leg theory. Johnson scored 10 before falling with the score at 329/6, hitting Laker to Cranston.

Australia was still some way behind when Lindwall replaced Johnson at the crease. Fifteen runs later, Yardley bowled Loxton for 93, who appeared disappointed at playing such a wild cross-batted swing with a maiden Test century beckoning. Saggers came in and only managed five in his first Test innings before being stumped after being lured out of his crease by Laker, who was still bowling in an attacking manner and flighting his deliveries, undeterred by the sixes Loxton had hit from him, rather than bowling leg theory. This left Australia at 355/8 ten minutes before tea, with only Johnston and Toshack remaining.

Lindwall hit out, scoring 77 in an innings marked by powerful driving and pulling, dominating stands of 48 and 55 with Johnston and Toshack respectively. He particularly liked to use his feet to get to the ball on the half-volley so he could hit lofted drives. Of the 103 added for the last two wickets, Johnston and Toshack managed only 25 between them. Johnston accompanied Lindwall for 80 minutes, before Toshack lasted the last 50 minutes until stumps, with Johnston as his runner. Australia were 457/9 at stumps, with Lindwall on 76 and Toshack on 12. During Lindwall's partnership with Johnston, Yardley bowled himself for over an hour, failing to bring on a frontline bowler in his stead despite being unable to dislodge the batsmen. Lindwall farmed the strike by trying to hit boundaries and twos during the over, but Yardley did not resort to the tactic of setting a deep field to yield a single to Lindwall to get the tailenders on strike. Despite Toshack and Johnston's lack of familiarity with having and acting as a runner respectively, and the resulting disorders in running between the wickets, Lindwall was able to manipulate the strike so he faced most of the balls. Lindwall's partners were able to survive against the English pacemen, leading O'Reilly to lament the absence of leg spinner Doug Wright, whose guile and flight was held in high regard by the Australians. O'Reilly thought Yardley may have bowled himself in an attempt to contain the Australians rather than dismiss them before the close of play, so his openers would not have to bat for a short period before stumps when the visitors' attack could have made inroads. However, Yardley was neither able to contain nor dismiss the Australian tail.