England battling to save fourth Test after Khawaja’s twin tons

England reached 30-0 in their bid to save the fourth Ashes Test after Usman Khawaja’s second century of the game lit up day four at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

England, set an improbable 388 for victory after Australia declared on 265-6 with Khawaja 101 not out from 138 deliveries, lost no wickets in the 11 overs before stumps as Zak Crawley (22no) and Haseeb Hameed (8no) came through unscathed to share their side’s highest opening partnership of the series – topping the 23 achieved in Brisbane.

The tourists must now bat out 98 overs on the final day at the SCG – or score 358 more runs for an unlikely victory – to end Australia’s hopes of a 5-0 series sweep, and they could yet be aided by the rain.

England have fitness concerns over Ben Stokes (side), Jonny Bairstow (thumb) and Jos Buttler (hand) – Stokes did not bowl at all on day four, while the knocks sustained by Bairstow and Buttler meant substitute fielder Ollie Pope kept wicket in Australia’s second innings.

Pope took four catches during a tidy display behind the stumps and left-arm spinner Jack Leach bagged four wickets in a much-improved outing but the star of the show was Khawaja, who followed his first-innings 137 with another century in his first Test since August 2019.

The 35-year-old oozed class once again as he drove, cut, pulled and swept his way to a 10th red-ball hundred for his country, two days after notching his ninth, having only come into the side for the Covid-hit Travis Head.

Khawaja and Cameron Green (74 off 122) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 179 from 238 balls after Australia had been reduced to 86-4 in their second dig – the home side’s lead just 208 at that stage – once England had been dismissed for 294 in their first innings.

England quick Mark Wood dismissed David Warner (3) cheaply and then removed Marnus Labuschagne (29) for the third time in the series – both batters caught behind by Pope – while Leach had Warner’s opening partner Marcus Harris (27) pouched by Pope and bowled Steve Smith (23).

Pope’s only notable blemish with the gloves was dropping a sharp chance off the bowling of captain Joe Root while Khawaja was on 70.

Khawaja made the most of his reprieve, clinching twin tons in the Test from 131 deliveries with a clipped two off part-time spinner Dawid Malan having accelerated in the final session after being on 35 from 74 deliveries at tea.

It took the left-hander just a further 57 deliveries to reach three figures, during which he nailed slog-swept sixes off both Leach and Root, as he followed countrymen Doug Walters and Ricky Ponting in scoring two tons in the same Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Khawaja has now scored more runs than any other England player in this series, bar Root, having only batted twice.

Green also impressed after a sketchy start to his innings as he accrued his second Test fifty and first since hitting 84 against India on this ground last January – but there were boos from the crowd as he retained the strike while Khawaja was closing in on his century.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins called his side in after Green and Alex Carey (0) fell to successive deliveries from Leach – Green caught on the slog by Root before Carey edged behind to Pope on the sweep and the stand-in England wicketkeeper snaffled one-handed lunging to his right.

Earlier, England added 36 runs to their overnight total of 258-7 as they surrendered a first-innings deficit of 122.

Leach (10) was caught slog-sweeping fellow spinner Nathan Lyon, before seamer Scott Boland (4-36) had top-scorer Bairstow (113) and Stuart Broad (15) caught behind by Carey.

England then made things interesting with four wickets inside 29 overs but Khawaja and Green’s partnership dragged the momentum back Australia’s way and, if the weather holds on day five, Cummins’ side will have strong hopes of taking a 4-0 lead in a series they have dominated.