England rallies after early setbacks on Day 4 of final Ashes test
Sydney (AP): England weathered multiple setbacks with skipper Ben Stokes limping from the field and opener Zak Crawley dismissed in the first over of the second innings before rallying to reach 80-1 at lunch Wednesday on Day 4 of the fifth and final Ashes test.
Opener Ben Duckett posted un unbeaten 40, his highest score of the series, but got a huge reprieve minutes before the interval when he fended a Michael Neser delivery and gloved it into the slips, where Cameron Green dropped a chance while diving in front of his skipper, Steve Smith.
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Duckett, who was on 37 at the time, was beaten by the next ball but survived the session. Jacob Bethel was not out 28. England still needed 103 to make Australia bat again at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
After dismissing Australia for 567, giving the hosts a 183-run lead, England's second innings started badly when Mitchell Starc struck in the first over to dismiss Crawley lbw on the fifth ball.
As he so often is, Starc was dangerous with his full, swinging deliveries early and Crawley, trying to leave, was trapped lbw without offering a shot to a ball that hit him high on the back pad. England reviewed the decision but the DRS technology upheld the umpire's original decision and England was 4-1.
Duckett got some edges that didn't carry to the wicketkeeper or slips early but settled into his best innings of the tour, hitting six boundaries in his 48-ball innings.
He and Bethell combined in a 76-run second-wicket stand that restored some confidence for the tourists.
The occasional ball was rearing up steeply off a length. Bethell was on 27 when he had to be assessed after a 140 kph (87 mph) short ball from Green glanced his batting helmet before skidding away to the boundary for four leg byes.
The follow-up ball was also a bouncer which the England batter ducked away from.
Stokes injured
England picked up the last three wickets for 49 runs after the Australians resumed at 518-7 but the morning session was overshadowed by an injury to Stokes. He bowled 10 deliveries before leaving the field, leaving question marks over his participation in the remainder of the SCG test. England team management said Stokes was being assessed for a right adductor complaint.
Australia's innings
Australia's commanding innings was built on centuries from stand-in opener Travis Head, his third of the series, and Steve Smith (138) and a late contribution from allrounder Beau Webster, who remained unbeaten on 71.
The Australians will be pushing for victory to complete a 4-1 series win after retaining the Ashes in 11 days of action with wins in the first three tess. England is determined to narrow the margin after its drought-breaking win in the fourth test at Melbourne.
Smith was 129 overnight but didn't settle into a rhythm before he was caught behind off Josh Tongue's bowling, ending a 107-run eighth-wicket partnership with Webster.
The last two wickets fell within six deliveries, with Starc (5) bowled by a full delivery from Tongue that moved late off the seam and off-spinner Will Jacks (1-34) having Scott Boland caught for a first-ball duck at first slip.
Tongue finished with figures of 3-97 from 20 overs.
The century was Smith's 13th in Ashes tests, the 37th of his career and his fifth at the Sydney Cricket Ground. With it, he moved up to sixth on the all-time list of most test centuries.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
