England, who are 2-0 down in the ongoing Ashes, have made four changes to the playing XI for the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Jonny Bairstow, Jack Leach, Zak Crawley, and Mark Wood will replace Ollie Pope, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, and Chris Woakes.

While Pope and Burns could manage only 48 and 51 runs respectively in the first two Test matches, Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad, on the other hand, scalped three and two wickets in the series respectively. While Woakes has an average of 54.28 away from home and 55.61 in Australia, Broad averages 37.88 in Australia, which is quite below considering their standards.

Our 2021-22 Men's Ashes Squad #Ashes | #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/Sv1wStoqGB

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 24, 2021

As far as the series is concerned, Australia have already won the first two Tests where they won the second Test in Adelaide by a huge margin of 275 runs as well and took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series as well.

England XI for third Ashes Test: Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson.

“Ridiculous” – Michael Atherton on England’s changes

Meanwhile, former England opener Michael Atherton opined on the inclusion of Zak Crawley for the third Ashes Test. Atherton questioned the move too as he finds it “ridiculous”. Michael Atherton wrote in his column for The Times:

“Zak Crawley is in consideration to replace Rory Burns; Jonny Bairstow likewise for Ollie Pope, with Mark Wood and Jack Leach potentially coming into the attack for Chris Woakes and one other. One would feel especially for Crawley, a young player making his way in the game and potentially asked to open in a Test match having not batted for more than 2½ months. Ridiculous, really.”

“No batsman, bar Joe Root and Dawid Malan, could complain if dropped, but the lack of cricket played by the reserves must give pause to the understandable urge to change,” he further added.

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England got butchered in the first two Ashes Test by the might of Australians who won pretty comfortably on both occasions. This has made some unrest in the English camp, English media and all the English fans around the globe. With a massive 90,000 crowd ready to greet the away side, it’s only gonna get tough for the visitors. With Australia needing just a draw to retain the Ashes , England are desperate to get going at the colossal MCG.

After the two losses at The Gabba and Adelaide Oval England’s selection has been put under scruitiny. So England are trying to set things right and find the balance by bringing in four changes including the inclusion of the tall opener from Kent Zak Crawley.

Jonny Bairstow To replace Ollie Pope

Along with Zak Crawley Jonny Bairstow is likely to be recalled for Ollie Pope while Mark Wood seems to be an automatic choice for one of the pace bowlers and Jack Leach is set to come back after he got dropped in the pink ball Test at Adelaide.

However it would be a massive challenge for Zak Crawley to make an Ashes Debut facing the prolific pace attack of Australia at MCG is front of the massive crowd.

England are yet to make the final call on whom Zak Crawley should replace. Both openers are yet to score at least a fifty in the 4 innings they have played.

Hameed had two good starts at the Gabba while it was a horror show in Adelaide for him , while Burns who had a horror start at Gabba finally got through the new ball spell in the second innings at Adelaide.

England certainly has an interesting choice to make. It would be a direct choice between Burn’s experience or whether they would like to invest more on Hameed’s potential.

Zak Crawley meanwhile has had an up and down test career so far. He was a hero in the epic South African series win away from home and then later scored an astonishing 267 vs Pakistan in 2020. From there on it was a downward spiral for Crawley as he eventually got dropped from the English team after the test against India at Trent Bridge.

Zak Crawley who stands 6ft 5inch tall is believed to have an advantage on the bouncy Australian wickets.

The third Test starts at 5 am in the morning in Indian standard Time at MCG. Boxing Day Test is a massive occasion in Australian cricket calendar as it would certainly be sweet for Australian cricket team to retain the Ashes at the MCG as England would try not to surrender the urn this early in the tour.

England’s Playing XI For MCG Test

Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson

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Ravindra Jadeja has finally arrived with the ball as he removed well-set Haseeb Hameed with a cracker of a delivery moments after lunch on day 5. With this wicket, India have their tail up as they need six more wickets to go 2-1 up in the series with one more Test to go at Old Trafford.

The visitors began the second session on the right note as Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up Haseeb Hameed, who held England’s batting from one end. Jadeja got one to turn from the leg-stump beating Hameed’s defence to crash onto the stumps leaving the batter shocked.

Bowled him!

Haseeb Hameed is bowled for 63 runs by Ravindra Jadeja.

England 3 down.

Live – https://t.co/OOZebPnBZU #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/XOjqJ5jZJp

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 6, 2021

Ravindra Jadeja, who is expected to use the rough patches has finally picked his first wicket in his 23rd over.

Watch the clip here:

A good ball to end an impressive innings.

Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/Kh5KyTSOMS

#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/KS68VzSIsn

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 6, 2021

With the momentum on their side, India soon removed Ollie Pope to taste some blood with six wickets required to win. England are currently placed 145/4 at the time of writing with all their hopes pinned on their skipper Joe Root. India, on the other hand, will hope to get rid of in-form Root to have a shot at England’s tail.

“Ravindra Jadeja is England biggest threat on the final day” – Moeen Ali

England all-rounder Moeen Ali said that fellow spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja of India would be the biggest threat for the hosts at the Oval on Day 5 of the fourth Test.

“Jasprit Bumrah is one of those bowlers that can make anything happen, but Jadeja is the biggest threat on that wicket. It’s such a flat wicket but we’re still going to have to play well. India always fight back strongly and that’s something we’re going to have to be wary about,” Ali told Sky Sports.

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Indian skipper Virat Kohli was seemingly annoyed with the onfield umpires after England opener Haseeb Hameed was seen marking his guard way down the pitch. He was almost close to the protected area on the pitch as he marked his guard a good 5 feet away from the popping crease Despite watching everything the on-field umpires did not take any action against Hameed which made Kohli fuming with anger. 

As it turned out, Hameed was dismissed by Bumrah for a duck off 12 balls. Both England openers in fact were dismissed early as India got back into the match. Harsha Bhogle and Ajay Jadeja who were in commentary with Sony Sports explained the rules when Hameed marked his guard almost at the center pitch.

Virat Kohli Angry With Haseeb Hameed’s Antics

What is your take on batsmen marking their guard perilously close to the forbidden area of the pitch?

Tune into Sony Six (ENG), Sony Ten 3 (HIN), Sony Ten 4 (TAM, TEL) & SonyLIV (https://t.co/AwcwLCPFGm ) now! #ENGvINDOnlyOnSonyTen #BackOurBoys #Hameed #Pant pic.twitter.com/pFuW2n3vEi

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 2, 2021

“Unfair play, the striker cannot mark the guard or take a stance in the protected area or so close to the protected area that frequent encroachment is inevitable” stated the law of Article 41.

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant was warned by the onfield umpires and was asked to change his chance which was coming close to the danger area in the Headingley Test. 

“Because I was standing outside the crease and my front-foot was coming into the danger area, so he (the umpire) told me that you can’t stand there” clarified Pant when asked about his stance in the third Test. 

After another failure from the batters, Indian bowlers produced some quality bowling to put the visitors back in the game. Batting first, India managed only 191 runs, thanks to some exemplary hitting from Shardul Thakur, who scored 57 off 36 balls including three sixes.

In reply, Jasprit Bumrah put England right on top removing both the English openers to have the hosts at 6/2. Joe Root and Dawid Malan tried to bail out England but Umesh Yadav produced an absolute beauty to get rid of Root (21) to put India back right in front.

At the end of the day’s play, England are at 53/3, still trailing by 138 runs.

Also Read: Virender Sehwag Reveals The Toughest Bowler He Had Faced In His Career

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Ravindra Jadeja has finally made an impact in the Test series as he castled Haseeb Hameed with a great spinning delivery. India dismissed both the openers in the first session. The dismissal of Hameed however will be a standout performance as the pitch has shown no help for spinners so far in the series. Both the openers made India restless for a wicket and Jadeja has provided the wicket just at the right time.

Hameed so far was very watchful in his innings but once he was beaten through his defence. He bowled from around the stumps with the ball pitching in the off stump and going onto hit the wickets beating the bat.

England is a place where even spinners produce jaffas
Jadeja gets his first wicket of the series!

Tune into Sony Six (ENG), Sony Ten 3 (HIN), Sony Ten 4 (TAM, TEL) & SonyLIV (https://t.co/AwcwLCPFGm ) now! #ENGvINDOnlyOnSonyTen #BackOurBoys #Hameed #Jadeja pic.twitter.com/fG3q7SxQ9o

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 26, 2021

Ravindra Jadeja Takes First Wicket In The Series

This was also the longest wait for a wicket by an Indian spinner. Ravindra Jadeja got his first wicket after 41 wickets fell over the period of two Test matches The previous longest was against Pakistan in 1989/90 when the first wicket to spin came in the 3rd Test of the series after 25 dismissals.

It was a smart move from Indian skipper Virat Kohli to bring on Jadeja seeing the footmarks. Hameed playing inside the line of the ball which turned just that little bit and managed to beat the bat of Hameed.

Hameed and Rory Burns earlier added a 135-run opening stand. Their partnership made the Indian bowlers tired and restless at the same time. Jadeja struck just before lunch as the wicket came at the right time. Kohli spoke about Jadeja playing a far more important role in this Test than he did at Lord’s.

Hameed’s dismissal brought out England skipper Joe Root out to bat. He is the highest run-getter in the series so far and is closing in on 400 runs in the series.

Also Read: IPL 2021: Punjab Kings Sign Adil Rashid As Jhye Richardson’s Replacement

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