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James Anderson who remained wicketless on Day 2 of the Ashes opener between England and Australia at Edgbaston, finally rewarded with a prized wicket of Alex Carey on Sunday (June 18). Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey steered Australia to a commanding position from a perilous 220/5. After the end of Day 2's play, Australia were stable at 311/5 despite losing the likes of David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith early. Australia resumed the play on Day 3 with Khawaja and Carey's overnight scores of 126 and 52 respectively.
But Anderson finally delivered and broke the crucial partnership between Khawaja and Carey to give England an early advantage on Day 3. The pair stitched 118 runs together for the seventh wicket but just when things looked hunky dory for Australia, Anderson bamboozled Carey with a ripper delivery.
Carey belted back to back boundaries before falling prey to Anderson. Coming from around the wicket, Anderson pitched the ball on off-stump which stormed in through the defence of Carey's bat and ended up shattering his stumps. With Carey's dismissal Anderson notched his 1100th First-Class wicket. Notably, Carey was Anderson's 686th Test wicket.
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Carey returned to the pavilion after scoring 66 off 99. Shortly after Carey's dismissal Ollie Robinson landed another blow to Australia after trapping Khawaja on 141 to leave the visitors reelin at 372/7. It was all over for Australia as they kept on losing wickets on regular intervals then. Nathan Lyon, Scott Bland and Pat Cummins too returned to pavilion and Australian innings were reduced to 386 runs, trailing the hosts by seven runs. Stuart Broad and Robinson took three wickets each for England, who are chasing their first victory in the Ashes since 2015.
In reply, England were 26 for no loss as of 6.5 overs before rain hindered the play on Day 3.
Earlier, England declared their innings at 393/8 after Joe Root (118) notched his 30th Test century.
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