Australia's Usman Khawaja hits ton to keep England at bay in opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston

A superb century from Usman Khwaja kept Australia in the hunt in the opening Test of the Ashes series at Edgbaston, but England may rue missed opportunities. Australia began the day trailing England by 379 runs and looked in trouble on a couple of occasions, but Khawaja (126*) and Alex Carey (52*) put on 91 for the sixth wicket to cut the deficit to 82 at stumps on day two. Ad Carey and Khawaja were given reprieves by England in the evening session, but with the pitch beginning to misbehave on what is only the second day — and with the knowledge that Australia will have to bat last on a wearing surface — Ben Stokes’ men will still have high hopes.

CricketBairstow celebrates 'good day' as England declare on 398-8 against AustraliaA DAY AGO “It has been a slow, turgid pitch so to be 82 runs ahead of Australia with Pat Cummins and the tail next, we’re pretty happy,” Stuart Broad, who took two wickets on the day, told Sky Sports. “Things can happen pretty quickly for us tomorrow. «There was not a lot in that pitch today, it felt slow.

So to pick up their key batters relatively cheaply, we are happy. “Our aim is for Australia to bat last on that, for us to bowl last on that, and hopefully it keeps deteriorating.” England made early inroads, with Broad once again proving too good for David Warner. Warner was extremely studious the previous evening, but the desire to score saw him chase a wide one which he dragged on to leg stump to hand Broad his wicket for the 15th time in his career.