Australia Invitational XI vs. England Cricket 2013: Day 3 Scorecard and Recap
Australia Invitational XI 304 and 153-4 v England 418
England established a comfortable first innings lead of 114 on Day 3 of their final Ashes warm-up encounter thanks to an excellent partnership of 106 between Joe Root (75) and Jonny Bairstow (48).
Aaron Finch (59) led a spirited Australian reply in the evening, smashing a run-a-ball 50 before finding the hands off Michael Carberry off Graeme Swann.
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With Finch dismissed, the England attack managed to curtail the Australia Invitational XI somewhat, with the hosts closing with a lead of 39 but four wickets down.
| Alastair Cook | c Nevill b Bills | 81 |
| Michael Carberry | c Nevill b Lalor | 4 |
| Jonathan Trott | c Nevill b Lalor | 83 |
| Kevin Pietersen | c Sub b Muirhead | 57 |
| Ian Bell | c Rohrer b Muirhead | 35 |
| Joe Root | b Bills | 75 |
| Jonny Bairstow | c Nevill b Tremain | 48 |
| Stuart Broad | c Carters b Bills | 16 |
| Graeme Swann | c Cowan b Muirhead | 11 |
| Steven Finn | c Finch b Muirhead | 0 |
| Boyd Rankin | not out | 3 |
| EXTRAS | 5 | |
| TOTAL | 418 |
| Tremain | 25.0 | 5 | 101 | 1 |
| Lalor | 26.0 | 7 | 99 | 2 |
| Bills | 22.0 | 2 | 76 | 3 |
| Muirhead | 22.5 | 1 | 115 | 4 |
| Rohrer | 2.0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Finch | 5.0 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
England resumed in the morning on 302-5 and, largely thanks to the perseverance of Root and Bairstow, were able to add over 100 to their lead despite the tail falling cheaply.
While Root moved quickly to his 50, Bairstow's innings was less free-flowing, but he stuck at the crease to add 48 runs that will have been noted by the England selectors.
When the Yorkshireman fell with the score on 372, it was the beginning of the end for the England innings, though, with only Stuart Broad and Swann offering any sort of resistance in the tail.
| Ed Cowan | b Broad | 42 |
| Aaron Fitch | c Carberry b Swann | 59 |
| Callum Ferguson | b Finn | 26 |
| Kurtis Patterson | not out | 8 |
| Ben Rohrer | c Bairstow b Rankin | 13 |
| Ryan Carters | not out | 1 |
| EXTRAS | 4 | |
| TOTAL | 153-4 |
| Broad | 11 | 4 | 31 | 1 |
| Finn | 11.3 | 2 | 53 | 1 |
| Rankin | 10 | 3 | 23 | 1 |
| Swann | 19 | 7 | 41 | 1 |
| Trott | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
With the hosts needing quick runs to give the game any chance of an exciting finale, Finch was unsurprisingly the man to step up and take on the England attack.
The Twenty20 specialist struck 10 fours and a six on his way to a score of 59, with England opening bowler Steven Finn taking much of the punishment.
The introduction of Swann saw the end of Finch, and the spinner, along with the immaculate Boyd Rankin, stemmed the flow of runs down to a crawl following the opener's dismissal.
In the final session, seamers Broad, Finn and Rankin would all get in on the act with a wicket apiece, with the latter dismissing Rohrer in the penultimate over of the day.
England have a good chance of sealing victory on Saturday if they can claim some quick wickets in the morning, which will hand them a morale-boosting win against a strong Invitational XI ahead of the first Ashes Test in just a week's time.
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