Chris Rogers survived a swing-bowling masterclass from Stuart Broad and another contentious umpiring call to underpin Australia’s recovery by tea on day two of the fourth Ashes test against England on Saturday.
The 35-year-old opener moved onto 71 as he enjoyed a fifth-wicket partnership of 72 with Shane Watson (38), with Australia 148-4 in overcast conditions that made batting extremely tough.
Broad ripped through the top order before lunch and beat Rogers’ edge on numerous occasions after it but failed to snare the opener, with Steve Smith (17) the only wicket to fall in the second session after edging Tim Bresnan behind.
Rogers could have been given out on 20 but he went to DRS to correctly overturn a caught-behind decision, even though replays showed he could have been out lbw.
Australia, which is 2-0 down in the five-match series, trails by 90 runs.
Scoreboard
England
Alastair Cook lbw Bird 51
Joe Root c Haddin b Watson 16
Jonathan Trott c Khawaja b Lyon 49
Kevin Pietersen c Haddin b Lyon 26
Ian Bell c Harris b Lyon 6
Jonny Bairstow lbw Lyon 14
Matt Prior lbw Siddle 17
Tim Bresnan not out 12
Stuart Broad c Warner b Harris 3
Graeme Swann c Lyon b Harris 13
James Anderson b Bird 16
Extras- (5b, 1lb, 3w, 6nb) 15
TOTAL- (all out) 238
Overs- 92.
Fall of wickets- 1—34, 2—107, 3—149, 4—153, 5—155, 6—189, 7—193, 8—197, 9—214.
Bowling- Ryan Harris 19—3—70—2 (5nb), Jackson Bird 22—9—58—2, Shane Watson 13—6—21—1 (2w), Peter Siddle 18—6—41—1 (1w, 1nb), Nathan Lyon 20—7—42—4.
Australia
David Warner b Broad 3
Chris Rogers not out 71
Usman Khawaja c Prior b Broad 0
Michael Clarke c Cook b Broad 6
Steve Smith c Prior b Bresnan 17
Shane Watson not out 38
Extras- (2b, 9lb, 2nb) 13
TOTAL- (for 4 wickets) 148
Overs- 48.
Fall of wickets- 1—12, 2—12, 3—49, 4—76.
Still to bat- Brad Haddin, Peter Siddle, Jackson Bird, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon.
Bowling- James Anderson 16—7—39—0, Stuart Broad 14—4—41—3 (2nb), Tim Bresnan 10—2—38—1, Graeme Swann 5—2—9—0, Jonathan Trott 3—0—10—0.
Toss- England.
Series- England leads 2—0.
Umpires- Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Tony Hill, New Zealand.
Third umpire Marais Erasmus, South Africa. Match referee- Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lanka.