Former Australia captain Mark Taylor says Australia has its “noses slightly in front” of England as we head into day four, but believes the advantage could’ve been greater.
Australia looked set to secure a healthy first innings lead when skipper Pat Cummins and Usman Khawaja had formed a handy partnership in the first session on day three.
Unfortunately for Australia, Khawaja was bowled with the tourists trailing England by 21 runs, and they would add just 14 more before being bowled out for 386.
Taylor suggested Australia might’ve benefitted from the batting of the overlooked Mitchell Starc.
“It was nice to see Pat Cummins get some runs,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“We know what Carey can do, he played well in the World Test Championship final, but Pat Cummins’ batting has been a bit patchy of late. He had to take over when Khawaja went and his 38 was very useful.
“Unfortunately he was running out of partners at the end and it’s probably the disadvantage of not picking Mitchell Starc.
“Having Mitchell Starc, a good hitter, in that situation would’ve been very handy, but it was nice to see Pat get some runs.
“At one stage I thought we were looking at making 400-plus (and) maybe getting a lead of 40-50. Once Carey and Khawaja went … we lost 4-14 at the end, so what looked like a 40 or 50-run lead turned into a seven-run deficit.
“Not a bad situation because we got a chance to bowl while this weather was around.”
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