Ashes 2023: Australia edge ahead as 'normalcy' returns on rain-hit day at Edgbaston

In case you had forgotten Sunday brought the reminder that the Ashes 2023 is being played in England. After two largely sun-kissed days, with an aggressive England facing off against a defensive Australia, on a pitch offering little for the bowlers, the afternoon of day three came to offer a brief window into normalcy.

The morning session had followed the crazy-paved trail blazed by the first two days of this Test, easing into things with a Jonny Bairstow drop in the first over – the starter pistol for another lap of tedious wicketkeeper selection discourse – as Australia crept up on England’s perhaps rashly curtailed first innings effort.

No man could ever accuse Ben Stokes of letting things drift in the field, after Alex Carey had become James Anderson’s 1100th first class wicket, he threw every plan he could conceive of at Australia in an effort to winkle out their remaining four wickets.

Eventually, his efforts were rewarded, Usman Khawaja seemingly confused as much as anything by the bizarre six man horseshoe field in close, and bowled by an Ollie Robinson yorker.

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