Second Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 26 June: Day Three

26 June: Day Three

On the third morning, Bedser and Wright survived for 20 minutes, and Lindwall tried to break their resistance by aiming a few bouncers at the former. Bedser eventually inside edged a Lindwall bouncer onto his stumps, ending England's innings at 215, giving Australia a 135-run first innings lead. Lindwall ended with 5/70, while Johnson took 3/72 and Johnston 2/43. Toshack was the other bowler used, sending down 18 overs for the loss of 23 runs. In later years, Bradman told Lindwall that he pretended not to notice his bowler's pain. Lindwall was worried his captain had noticed the injury, but Bradman later claimed to have feigned ignorance to allow his paceman to relax. O'Reilly said Lindwall "bowled as well as any fast bowler can bowl. He always seemed to have the situation sized up correctly and he knew just when to put his all into the task ... and enjoyed a triumph which seldom comes to any bowler." Arlott praised Lindwall for his subtle variations in pace, line and length, and how he kept the batsman guessing as to what was coming to them.

The weather was fine as Australia started their second innings just after noon. From the second ball of the innings, bowled by Bedser, Barnes got off the mark to avoid his pair. Coxon took the new ball at the other end and Barnes and Morris saw it off. In contrast to their English counterparts, the Australian opening pair took a cautious approach to begin with, avoiding the hook shot and not playing at balls that were not going to hit the stumps and established a solid start for themselves. Yardley then introduced Laker, who induced Morris to hit a ball back down the pitch in the air, but the bowler was slow to react to the possibility of a caught and bowled. According to O'Reilly, most other bowlers would have been able to reach the ball and attempt a catch. Barnes survived a missed stumping opportunity from Laker in the same over when he was on 18; he came down the pitch and the ball bounced out of the footmarks and narrowly missed leg stump, but Evans fumbled it, and it went away for four byes.

Barnes took advantage of his reprieve to combine with Morris in an opening stand of 122, as Yardley made frequent bowling changes in an attempt to disrupt their progress. Wright came on and bowled a no ball, which Morris lofted into the crowd for six. Morris stopped shuffling, while Barnes decided to adopt a strategy of pre-emptively moving down the pitch to Laker. Earlier in the tour, Barnes had often been bowled or trapped lbw trying to force off breaks into the leg side. He drove Laker into the pavilion and Australia were 73/0 at lunch with Morris on 40 and Barnes 25, an overall lead of 208.

After lunch, Morris was bowled for 62, knocking a ball from Wright onto his stumps, after attempting a sweep from a long hop. This brought Bradman in to join Barnes. Yardley surrounded the Australian captain with fielders and Laker beat his bat thrice in an over. Bedser was brought in with the leg trap again in place as he bowled on Bradman's pads with the second new ball. The Australian captain decided to avoid the danger of being caught at short fine leg from a leg glance by padding the inswingers away with his front leg. Bedser responded by changing his tactics by bowling a series of outswingers, beating the outside edge of his bat three times in a row, narrowly missing the off stump on one occasion. Barnes responded by manipulating the strike and shielding Bradman from Bedser. The Australian opener had little trouble against the leg trap Bedser set for him, scoring freely into the leg side and taking the shine off the new ball.

Barnes was also quiet after lunch, and after one long period of defence, he drove Laker for four through the covers, eliciting a round of ironic applause. The Australian opener responded by placing his hand on his chest and bowing to the spectators. Barnes had started slowly, but he accelerated after reaching his half-century. Bradman took two consecutive boundaries from Wright to bring up his fifty. This left Barnes on 96 and Australia at 222/1, half an hour after tea. By this time, the pace of the pitch appeared to have slowed, making batting relatively easy.

Barnes lingered for a further ten minutes on 96 before reaching his century with a straight drive from Laker. He had taken 255 minutes and hit ten fours. After registering his century, Barnes became particularly aggressive. Barnes stepped out to attack Laker but missed; luckily for him, Evans failed to collect the ball as it turned down the leg side.

Barnes dispatched one Laker over for 21 runs, including two successive blows over the long on boundary for six, and two fours, and Australia's lead went past the 400 mark with nine wickets still in hand. Yardley then brought on the part-time left-arm unorthodox spin of Compton, and himself, in an attempt to stem Barnes' hitting. The Australian finally fell for 141, caught by Washbrook on the boundary from Yardley. The ball would have gone for another six had it not been intercepted by Washbrook. Barnes had struck 14 boundaries and two sixes in his innings. The speed of his batting had allowed Australia to reach 296/2 in minutes, after a 174-run partnership with Bradman. Yardley bowled Hassett for a golden duck off the inside edge, so Miller came to the crease at 296/3 to face Yardley's hat-trick ball. The Australian all-rounder survived a loud lbw appeal on his first ball, denying the English captain his hat-trick. Despite Yardley's failure to complete the hat-trick, he had taken four wickets in the match, and was going through an unusually productive period with his semi-regular bowling. While England's front-line bowlers struggled, Yardley managed 9 wickets at a bowling average of 22.66 for the series. His average was second only to Lindwall among all bowlers, and only Bedser (18) among his players dismissed more batsmen. In contrast, Yardley averaged less than two wickets every three matches throughout his first-class career, at an average above 30.

Bradman was on 89 and heading towards a century in his last Test innings at Lord's when he fell to Bedser again, this time courtesy of a one-handed diving effort from Edrich. Bradman had been worried by Bedser's angle into his pads and the leg trap, but the seamer's leg cutter moved the ball the other way towards the slips and caught Bradman's outside edge. Bedser had dismissed Bradman all four times so far in the Test series. Brown joined Miller at 329/4 after Australia had lost 3/33. The tourists reached stumps at 343 without further loss, Miller striking one six over square leg into the grandstand. He had also offered two chances, but none of the catches were completed. This gave Australia a lead of 478 at the end of the third day, with Miller on 22 and Brown on 7. In all, England had missed seven catches or stumpings. O'Reilly said the loss of three quick wickets in the afternoon was not so much a sign of an English revival but Australian complacency due to the large size of the lead.