Star Australia batter Steve Smith is furious with a report in a British tabloid that his teammate Alex Carey did not pay the barber after a haircut at a shop in Leeds. The Sun carried the report. However, Smith wrote on his Threads account: "I can confirm that Alex Carey has not had a haircut since we were in London. Get your facts right The Sun." Since Jonny Bairtsow's controversial dismissal in the second Ashes Test, things have taken a wrong turn for the two sides. The Australia side was heavily booed by the Leeds crowd during the third Test.
Meanwhile, England's quest for Australia wickets in the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Saturday was halted by bad weather after rain meant there was no play before tea on the third day, with the match outcome on a knife edge. Australia were 116-4 in their second innings, a lead of 142 runs, as they looked to go 3-0 up in the five-match series and secure a first Ashes campaign triumph in England since 2001.
England had slumped to 142-7 at lunch on Friday before captain Ben Stokes's dashing 80 took his side to 237 all out. That left England just 26 runs behind on first innings, despite Australia skipper Pat Cummins's impressive haul of 6-91.
Stokes also hit a blistering 155 in the second Test at Lord's last week as England suffered a 43-run defeat.
Friday's innings revived memories of Stokes's Ashes heroics at Headingley four years ago, when his astounding unbeaten century guided England to a remarkable one-wicket victory over Australia as they posted 362-9 -- the second-highest fourth-innings total to win a Test at Yorkshire's headquarters.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali followed Stokes's run-spree on Friday by taking two wickets for two runs in just nine balls to remove Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith -- two of the world's top three-ranked Test batsmen.
With AFP inputs