Marsh clocks brutal ton as wickets tumble in Leeds

An innings for the ages by Mitchell Marsh, at a point in his career when he might have conceivably believed his time as a Test player was done, has kept Australia in the third Ashes contest after England launched a fast-bowling blitz on the liveliest pitch of the series.

Marsh's bludgeoning 118 came with his team on the ropes and against the run of play, and enabled them to post a competitive total of 263 after being sent in despite a spectacular lower-order collapse in the face of Mark Wood's exhilarating pace.

Wood snared 5-34 in a similarly compelling comeback tale to Marsh's, although his Australia counterpart might claim to have completed a better day after claiming a key wicket with the ball shortly before stumps.

England finished day one played at a furious pace 3-68 in their first innings with local lads Joe Root (19) and Jonny Bairstow unbeaten, after Pat Cummins nipped out opener Ben Duckett (2) and new number three Harry Brook (3) before Marsh crowned his day with the scalp of Zak Crawley (33).

The belated sight of a sporting pitch, one that offered pace and bounce as well as seam movement and subtle swing, proved an antidote to the turgid tracks dished up at Edgbaston and Lord's as bowlers suddenly found themselves in the game.

And it was that restoration of balance towards the ball that ensured Marsh's run-a-ball 118 will endure as one of the more extraordinary solo Ashes feats, given no other batter was able to reach 50 on a day of dizzying events.

It began with the news that Marsh would make his first Test outing for almost four years with incumbent all-rounder Cameron Green hobbled by a slight hamstring injury from which he should recover in time for the fourth Test at Manchester, although selection now looms as his major impediment.

That's because, after so long on the sidelines hoping for one final chance to prove his Test credentials before time passed him by, Marsh seized his chance with such surety it's difficult to imagine an Australia Test line-up in the near future without him.

His hundred, off 102 deliveries, was the fastest by an Australia batter in England after Victor Trumper's 95-ball effort to Old Trafford in 1902.

Furthermore, in blasting 113 from just 109 balls faced puts him among serious batting company, alongside Stan McCabe (127 in 1938) and Don Bradman (115 in 1930, also at Headingley) as third-highest score by an Australia batter in an afternoon session in England.

The disdain shown by the 31-year-old was best exemplified when he reached 99 courtesy of a thumping drive that soared above the sightscreen as well as the fielder stationed – in apparent contravention of the 'Bazball' ethos – stationed in the rarely used position of straight hit.

Next ball, Marsh dabbed Chris Woakes to backward point and hared off for his milestone moment, almost sacrificing Travis Head in the process who might have been run out had England's substitute fielder Will Luxton not add to the team's litanies of fielding faux pas.

It's also sobering to think what Australia's position in this Test would be without him, given that 155 runs of their 263 total before being bundled out soon after tea came from Marsh's union with Travis Head.

The damage was largely inflicted by England's own comeback couple, with Mark Wood setting day one alight with one of the most electrifying spells of fast bowling witnessed in an Ashes encounter since the legendary summer of 1974-75 when Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee terrified England.

Wood, who was not played for more than six months due largely to an elbow injury, was hostility manifest from his opening over and regularly exceeded 150kph to intimidate Australia's top-order and flatten their tail.

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If not for some woeful fielding behind the wicket, where Yorkshire favourites Bairstow and Root turfed three straightforward chances and missed a couple of tougher ones, Australia's position might have been decidedly worse as England threatened to make good their boast of turning a 0-2 deficit into a series win.

Marsh could hardly have imagined a more fraught scenario into which his return to Test cricket would come than 4-85 on the cusp of lunch on day one of an Ashes Test, with Headingley's near delirium and England's four-pronged seam attack on the charge.

He was immediately confronted by five slips and none other than England captain Ben Stokes under a helmet at short leg as the home team pressed for a fifth wicket in the session, which would have all-but pinned Australia to the canvas.

But he survived nine balls before the interval for the addition of five runs, and resumed after the break with heavy cloud looming and floodlights blazing.

His comeback knock should have been truncated on 12 when he was pushed hard at the second ball Chris Woakes sent down after the adjournment that flew from the outside edge at comfortable height to Root at slip.

But to the horror of the Headingley faithful, their favourite son shelled the simple offering moving marginally to his right and – with Australia wobbling at 4-132 – England fans were left to wonder if that profligacy might prove costly.

That answer, delivered across the next 25 overs of jaw-dropping counter-punching, was an emphatic yes.

As England pressed for another opportunity, and runs beckoned through the many gaps in the lightning fast outfield, Marsh stoutly defended ball on the stumps and threw his powerful arms at anything pitched wide of them.

Australia's cause was aided when Ollie Robinson, the bowler with the best average among either combatant heading into this Test, pulled up short just two balls into his 12th over and immediately took his jumper and walked from the field.

It was later revealed the right-armer had suffered a back spasm and didn't return to the field for the remainder of the day, with his involvement in the final days of the match unclear.

With their workhouse sidelined, England turned to spinner Moeen Ali who had himself been sidelined after the opening Test at Edgbaston because of a finger injury incurred through heavy workload and he might have made an immediate impact if Root had latched on to another chance.

This one would have required a freak catch, as Head – who had lost his wicket to Moeen in both innings of the first Test – tried to cut too close to his stumps and the resultant edge flew fast to the left of slip, unimpeded by Root's reflex extension of his left hand.

As the hosts' frustration grew, they felt Marsh (on 38) had inside-edged on to his thigh pad in the same manner as would ultimately end his innings, but their review showed no such initial contact and Marsh responded by crunching a boundary behind square to post a 50-run stand off 53 balls.

From there, Marsh summoned beast mode while England inexplicably opted not to unleash Wood – by far their fastest and most potent bowling threat – for any more than three overs between lunch and tea despite the hammering the other bowlers were copping.

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Perhaps that was because, when Wood did briefly appear, Marsh climbed into a 146kph short ball and drilled it eight rows back on to western terrace from where only noise was provided by section of Australia tour group members in their distinctive yellow livery.

Midway through the afternoon session, Marsh had posted 50 (from 59 balls faced) and so dominated his stand with Head, the Australia number five who under regular circumstances would be the designated enforcer was reduced to stolid second-fiddle.

The pair's 100 partnership arrived from a mere 118 deliveries, to which Marsh contributed 69 laced with 10 boundaries and a pair of sixes.

Four overs later, his third Test ton – all of them made in Ashes contests – arrived with some flourish, sparking wild scenes in Bali where his older brother Shaun celebrates his 40th birthday on Sunday, a standing ovation from Australia fans at Headingly and ashen-faced silence from a bulk of the crowd.

The moment had arrived in the sort of unseemly haste that characterised most of Marsh's stay, a lofted drive to the mid-on boundary off Woakes followed by the straight six then the audacious single.

It was immediately obvious what the moment meant to the affable West Australian who has endured a series of significant injuries since making his previous Test appearance at The Oval four years ago.

He raised his arms, threw back his head and waved his bat in acknowledgment to his teammates on the dressing room balcony and then family and friends in the eastern stand before wrapping his batting partner in a huge bear hug.

Another couple of brutal boundaries took Australia to the cusp of tea having plundered 149 runs from 26 overs without surrendering a wicket until – from the first ball of the last over before the session's end – Marsh did edge on to his thigh pad and not even England's butterfingered slips could squander that simple catch.

From there, the game swung violently back into England's favour thanks to Wood's frightening pace and the submission of the lower order that seemed unlikely when Root dropped another catch, off Carey when he was on four.

But from the next ball, the former England skipper finally clung on to one – albeit only just, as it bobbled out of his hands and he hugged it to his chest – with Root airing his relief at removing Head by hurling the ball into the rock-hard Headingley turf.

It sparked a remarkable collapse, with Australia's final four wickets falling for 18 runs off 37 balls, completing a capitulation of 6-23 from 51 deliveries from the moment Marsh's ferocious resistance was ended.

For the third time in as many Tests in this series, Cummins found himself at the mercy of his captaincy counterpart Stokes when he again called 'tails' and the coin landed heads-up.

The day's helter-skelter tone was then set in the opening over when David Warner punched Stuart Broad's first ball down the ground, before the England veteran landed an even heavier counter-blow by having his habitual quarry neatly caught at second slip.

Broad immediately took off on one of his celebratory runs, waving his hands and exhorting fans on the western terrace who were already out of their seats and in their element.

Marnus Labuschagne went to the wicket to a thurderous din and was met by the sight of five conventional slips and another on the leg side.

But it was when Broad was spelled after three overs and Wood entered the fray for the first time in the series that the mood escalated to the point of frenzy.

Like a Formula One car, Wood went immediately into top gear with his first over averaging speeds around 150kph then wound up further in his next when the speed gun pushed closer to 155kph.

It might have been the injury prone 33-year-old's first Test outing since December last year in Karachi, but he was hardly about to nurse himself gently back into international cricket.

Wood's first three overs were bowled exclusively at Labuschagne, but it took just six deliveries at Usman Khawaja to claim his first wicket in circumstances that seemed entirely likely.

With what proved the ultimate seed of his opening spell, Wood shaped a ball back into Khawaja – Australia's most obdurate and productive batter of this series to date – that speared between bat and pad, grazing the inside edge before taking leg stump from its socket.

Such was the impact, as England's players huddled in celebration the umpires summoned a replacement ball because the first iteration had suffered a deep cut upon smashing into the woodwork.

Having sent the crowd into ecstasy, Wood was immediately spelled in favour of Robinson which meant new batter Steve Smith – in his 100th Test appearance – was spared the prospect of extreme pace at the start of his innings.

As events transpired, it should have proved a master stroke when Smith (on four) presented Bairstow with a difficult diving chance to his left from an inside edge off Robinson's bowling.

An over later, it was England's other comeback kid Woakes – playing his first Test since England's tour to the West Indies early last year that preceded the 'Bazball' revolution – who sat Australia on their rump when he squared-up Labuschagne and Root made no mistake.

With the ball swinging and slips catchers in the game for the first time in the series, it was a surprise to see Stokes drop back three fielders to the leg side boundary when Travis Head reached the crease, reducing the catching cordon to a deep-set gully.

The short-ball play that was clearly might have worked when, with Head on eight, he appeared to feather a catch off his hip from Wood which Bairstow muffed falling away to his right, despite getting both gloves to the wait-high chance.

Technically, England's wicketkeeper might argue it shouldn't be counted among the 14 turfed catches and one fluffed stumping they've managed across two and a half Tests in the field, given the resultant run was deemed a bye by umpire Nitin Menon.

However, such was the spontaneity of England's ultimately abandoned appeal they would sure have reviewed had Bairstow managed to hang on, with subsequent television replays confimrming the ball had indeed brushed the face of Head's bat.

Smith signalled his intention to take the attack to England despite the loss of three early wickets, lifting Woakes over deep backward square for six in the repeat of a stroke that brought his downfall at Lord's, but that demise came soon after.

The re-appearance of Broad shortly before lunch delivered the prized scalp, with the 37-year-old getting a ball to seam back into Smith who seemed bewildered when England's cry for a catch behind was upheld by umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

When Australia's former captain immediately called for a review it appeared he knew the ball had clipped pad rather than bat, but after the review technology confirmed the on-field verdict Smith was no less confused but the roaring crowd let him know what had happened.

If the baying from the outer wasn't sufficiently self-explanatory, a scoreboard showing 4-85 on the edge of lunch left no doubt as to who was in control.

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood