Crawley, Duckett give England fast start

LONDON : Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett shared a rapid opening partnership of 79 as England advanced to 130-1 at lunch on the third day of the final Ashes test at The Oval on Saturday, 118 runs ahead of Australia.

Trailing by 12 runs on first innings, Crawley drove the first ball of the day from Mitchell Starc to the cover boundary to set the tone for England, who trail 2-1 in the series.

Although Duckett fell for 42, Crawley remained unbeaten on 71 at the interval with Ben Stokes on 12.

In marked contrast to the cautious approach adopted by the Australian batsmen on Friday morning, Crawley and Duckett peppered the boundaries around the ground with fine attacking strokes.

Duckett, who hit seven fours, edged Starc to wicketkeeper Alex Carey and the Australians successfully reviewed the umpire's decision of not out.

Captain Stokes came in at number three in place of the injured Moeen Ali and Crawley reached his fifty with a firm punch down the ground for three, his 10th half century in 39 tests.

Australia, bidding to win the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001, failed to restrict the scoring rate before the interval and the hosts' positive start has given them a solid platform to set a challenging target with over two days of the match remaining.