CRICKET: Bethell looks to cement place as England number three

MELBOURNE – Jacob Bethell was not expected to be England's headline act in the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but he looked every bit the player who belonged as the tourists mounted a tense chase against Australia.

Called in to replace the dropped Ollie Pope at number three, 22-year-old Bethell faced a daunting challenge on a difficult pitch in front of a record crowd of 94,000.

His debut Ashes innings on Boxing Day, one of the biggest occasions in Australia’s cricket calendar, was far from a fairytale. He managed just one run from five balls before being caught behind off Australia’s fifth-choice seamer Michael Neser.

His second innings, however, offered a glimpse of why England hold such high hopes for the left-hander.

Bethell delivered a composed 40 runs off 46 balls, helping England avoid an Ashes whitewash and securing their first Test win in Australia in 15 years.

“I was pretty nervous,” he admitted. “Not so much because of the crowd, but because of the occasion. I’ve played in India where it feels like there are 160,000 people watching.”

He was referring to his time in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he played two matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore. While the IPL exposed him to large crowds, it also limited his opportunities in first-class cricket, including missing a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May.

Bethell had already shown promise during his debut Test tour of New Zealand a year ago, scoring three fifties. However, he was not selected for England again until the fifth Test of the home series against India, where he managed only single-digit scores.

Despite his limited Test experience, Bethell seemed unphased on day two in Melbourne, as England faced a white-ball-style chase of 175 runs. On his second ball, he lofted Jhye Richardson over the slips for a streaky four, and soon after, he drove Scott Boland to the long-on fence for another boundary.

In control of the chase, Bethell’s hopes of a maiden Ashes fifty were dashed when Usman Khawaja took a sharp catch in the covers. He walked off the field visibly disappointed.

Tailender Brydon Carse took the number three spot in England’s second innings, but Bethell, who batted at four, hopes to reclaim the position for the fifth and final Test in Sydney starting January 4.

“I like number three. You come in when the ball is new, and sometimes it’s moving all over the place,” he said. “But in other scenarios, it offers opportunities to score when bowlers are trying to take wickets and the field is attacking. There are loads of gaps. It’s a double-edged sword, but I’m enjoying it.”

-Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Reuters