Bethell’s first Test century helps England score 302

Jacob Bethell posted his first test century Wednesday and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time for England, ensuring the fifth and last Ashes test will be decided on Day 5 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The 22-year-old, Barbados-born allrounder went to the crease in the first over of England’s second innings when Mitchell Starc trapped Zac Crawley lbw on the fifth ball. He shared an 81-run second-wicket stand with Ben Duckett (42), 32 with Joe Root (6), 102 with Harry Brook (42) and 45 with Jamie Smith (26) to help England reach 302-8 at stumps on Day 4, a lead of 119 runs.

He finished 142 not out from 232 balls, helping England erase the 183-run first-innings deficit and maintain a chance of winning back-to-back tests Down Under. The Australians retained the Ashes with wins in the first three tests, but England is determined to close the gap.

“It was special to get the milestone,” Bethell said in a TV interview. “To have the family over ... (and) to top it off with a hundred here is very special.”

In just his sixth test, and second of this series, Bethell found a way to survive while wickets tumbled around him as allrounder Beau Webster (3-51) emerged as the unlikely star for Australia by taking three wickets with his occasional offspin.

Webster swung momentum back for Australia with two wickets in three deliveries in the 52nd over. He removed Brook, trapped lbw to a ball that turned sharply out of the rough, and Will Jacks, inexcusably hitting out and caught in the deep by a tumbling Cameron Green for a second-ball duck, as England slumped from 219-3 to 219-5.

A crazy run out, first ball after the drinks break in the evening session, saw Jamie Smith (26) sent back by Bethell and well out of his ground when Jake Weatherald threw to Marnus Labuschagne to whip off the bails at the bowler’s end.

Bethell was 123 at the time, and England at 264-6, when his injured skipper Ben Stokes went to the crease.

England added just three runs before Webster struck again, bowling around the wicket and enticing Stokes (1) to cut a turning ball and Steve Smith taking a sharp chance at slip.