Burns, Root frustrate Australia

MANCHESTER: Having waited for a couple of days and watched Steve Smith help himself to a double century, a jaded England side was ripe for Australia’s picking.But indiscipline from the quicks and a solid partnership involving Rory Burns and Joe Root helped the hosts mount a fightback as they moved to 125 for 2 at Tea on Day 3 of the fourth Ashes Test in Manchester, with the first session on Friday (September 6) being washed out.After a lengthy rain delay, Mitchell Starc led a pacy start, keeping Burns on his toes. At the other end, Josh Hazlewood bagged the first wicket of the day - and his 50th against England - when he found the outside edge of Craig Overton’s bat and later saw Root shouldering arms to incoming deliveries that were perilously close to the stumps.In what was a testing period, with Starc’s speed and Hazlewood’s accurate lines complementing each other well, the England batsmen managed a few fours through the cover region while keeping the bowlers at bay.Burns was peppered with short deliveries but he did well to stay out of harm’s way. Root didn’t appear too confident - be it footwork or shot-making - but he hung around nevertheless and assisted Burns in building a partnership as they denied Australia further wickets in the hour following Overton’s departure.There was some loose bowling from the Australian bowlers as well, which allowed England to add to the scoreboard at a decent rate. Root was happy to oblige to deliveries that were pitched on his leg with a couple of hits to the ropes.Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, found some turn and caused some problems for Root, targeting the England captain’s inside edge with a forward short leg stationed.But the pacemen could have been a lot tighter with their lines, and their lack of control - especially from Starc - allowed England to get away as the Burns-Root pair collected some easy runs. Burns, who did all the hard work earlier, ensured his efforts translated into a half-century and was also involved in his fifth fifty-plus stand in this series.With the batsmen settling down well and Australia’s bowling not getting any better, Burns and Root made the most of it as they raised the team’s third century stand in this series - all three involving the England skipper at one end. Despite not being in complete control, Root, who even played and missed in the final over before Tea, remained unbeaten three short of a fifty at the break.Brief scores: Australia 497/8 decl. lead England 125/2 (Rory Burns 62*, Joe Root 47*; Pat Cummins 1-17) by 372 runs.

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