Right, that’s it from us for today. Thanks as ever for all your emails and tweets. And be sure to stick around on site for the reports and reaction from Cardiff. Dan Lucas and Niall McVeigh will be on hand tomorrow to guide you through the fourth day. But for now, cheerio!
Well that was another brilliant day of Test cricket. Fifteen – 15! – wickets have fallen and well over 300 runs scored. England are in a dominant position but they haven’t put Australia in a completely hopeless position, which they would’ve hoped to do. It would be the second highest run chase ever if they were to get them, but they do have two days in which to do it.
Australia need 412 to win
That’s stumps. And England have set Australia 412 to win. It would be the highest run chase in Ashes history if they were to do it.
Anderson b Lyon 1 (England 289 all out)
Anderson attempts a slog-sweep … and misses.
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70th over: England 289-9 (Anderson 1, Wood 32) Anderson gets off the mark with a little glance to fine leg, and a yorker then knocks Wood from his feet. He actually did extremely well to dig that out – it was a cracker from Johnson.
“In response to - er - me (31st over), I no longer have The Fear, but The Ohmygodpleasedonotletusblowitfromhere is starting to raise its ugly, begrudgingly optimistic head,” reports Ant Pease.
WICKET! Ali c Haddin b Johnson 15 (England 288-9)
Another big waft from Ali outside off and this time the nick does carry through to Haddin.
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69th over: England 288-8 (Ali 15, Wood 32) The crowd have got it turned up to 11 here. There’s a huge appeal as Lyon spins one into Ali’s pads. Clarke opts to review, but Ali looks fairly certain that there was an inside edge. And the replays shows a fairly chunky one. That was the very definition of a may-as-well review. Moeen pinches the strike with a single off the last.
68th over: England 287-8 (Ali 14, Wood 32) Four more! Johnson bangs one in at the body and Wood simply helps it on to fine leg for four. And he shovels the next over midwicket for three more. He races on to 32 – 32! – from 16 balls.
Moeen's going to be batting at No9 at Lord's
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 10, 2015
67th over: England 278-8 (Ali 13, Wood 25) Wood immediately works Lyon away for a single. There’s always a lot of talk about Ali potentially being the best batsman England have ever had at No8 but they can’t have had too many No10s better than Mark Wood. He looks very organised. And he can play the odd shot too – a couple of balls later he dances down the tracks and heaves Lyon out of the ground and into the river Taff. What a shot. And he follows that up with a reverse sweep! For four! to take the lead to 400!
66th over: England 266-8 (Ali 12, Wood 14) Mitchell Johnson for one final blast before the close. Ali has a waft outside off at the first, feathering a toe end behind that drops well short of Haddin. And he has a much bugger waft at the second, this time making no contact at all. Despite the intent, it’s a maiden.
65th over: England 266-8 (Ali 12, Wood 14) Ali has a dance down the track at Lyon but aborts and ends up bunting away with his pad. And after four dots he drives down the ground for a single, leaving Wood to face just the one ball. Which he duly dispatches to the cover boundary for an all-run four.
64th over: England 261-8 (Ali 11, Wood 10) Wood digs out a full one from Starc and edges just wide of the man at gully for four. But he picks up another boundary from the next in delightful fashion, with a one-legged pull to midwicket.
“I just want to say this can all be traced back to Gary Naylor posting a video of Patsy Kensit just before Ian Bell was out,” writes Geoffrey Smith. “Woman is a jinx, dammit.”
63rd over: England 253-8 (Ali 11, Wood 2) Shot! A slog-sweep from Ali rattles to the fence at midwicket. Lyon struggled to pin down either batsman there.
62nd over: England 246-8 (Ali 5, Wood 1) Mitchell Starc with the chance of six balls at Mark Wood. … but he has to face only three, fending the third away to backward square leg for a single. An Ali inside-edge pinballs between the two pads and spins just wide of the stumps on its exit. And then there’s a play-and-miss from the last.
61st over: England 245-8 (Ali 5, Wood 0) So then. The lead is 367, England are in a hugely dominant position, but Australia still have a sniff. The game should really be out of sight for the tourists and it’s not yet. Not quite. 236-5 has become 245-8.
WICKET! Broad c Hazlewood c Lyon 4 (England 244-8)
Broad looks to heave Lyon into the stands at long on but he toe-ends it and Hazlewood, running in, takes a superb diving catch every bit as good as the one that Clarke caught at slip earlier.
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60th over: England 244-7 (Ali 4, Broad 4) Just when you thought it was safe …
Broad does well to dig out a couple of attempted yorkers from Starc, then flicks through backward point for four.
WICKET! Stokes b Starc 42 (England 240-7)
Now then. Stokes looks to drive Starc through the covers and can only send an inside-edge jagging back into the stumps. The England No6 departs “b Starc” for the second time in the match.
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59th over: England 240-6 (Ali 4, Stokes 42) DROPPED! Ali has a big swiping drive at one outside off and nicks it. Haddin can only flick the ball with his gloves, and in doing so he manages to divert the ball over the top of Clarke at slip, who can’t quite react in time. An escape for Ali then. though no real blame attached to either the wicketkeeper or the captain. The lead is 362.
WICKET! Buttler c Haddin b Lyon 7 (England 236-6)
Buttler attempts a reverse-sweep. Misses. Gloves. Ball floats up. Haddin takes. Buttler walks.
58th over: England 236-5 (Buttler 7, Stokes 42) One of the nice things about this England lower-middle order is that each man is capable of taking the pressure off his batting partner. Buttler has been able to steadily get himself in while Stokes attacks, and Ali will have the freedom to do likewise whichever of this pair he ends up with. Stokes picks up four more by running the ball down to third man off the face of the bat.
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57th over: England 231-5 (Buttler 6, Stokes 38) Stokes looks to take the cover off the ball with a brutal slog sweep that whistles to the cow corner boundary at terrific pace. And he follows it up with something a little more orthodox that flies squarer but is still struck well enough to beat the man on the fence. Nine from the over. England are looking to put this one to bed here.
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56th over: England 222-5 (Buttler 4, Stokes 30) Starc returns and Stokes welcomes his back with a club down the ground for four.
“It turns out that Steps were eerily prescient 17 years before their time when singing about 5,6,7,8 and it was all a prediction in how brilliant Root, Stokes, Buttler and Moeen are. Such a group of attacking exciting young cricketers. After the first four traditional Test cricketers comes the fun stuff.”
How can something this awful be a celebration of anything? Seriously, you’ve forgotten how bad it is. You think it’s awful – it’s so much worse than that.
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55th over: England 217-5 (Buttler 4, Stokes 26) Buttler has a dance down the track at Lyon but can’t make contact. Pad comes to the rescue, though. Stokes gets the reverse sweep out again, the man at leg slip cuts the ball off and Haddin yelps an appeal. He’s convinced and the umpires send it up to the TV official. It’s not far from the toe but bottom-edged straight into the ground. Not out.
54th over: England 216-5 (Buttler 3, Stokes 26) A lovely spot from Nasser in the Sky Sports commentary box as he notes how Warner and Lyon are looking to prevent Stokes from performing a little idiosyncratic sweep of the bat from the crease at the end of the spinner’s overs. So Stokes waits for an age with bat planted in his ground while Lyon and Warner natter or tie their laces right next to him before eventually sweeping his bat around in a little arc once they depart. Mmmm, mind games.
Buttler gets off the mark with a couple and drives the final ball of Hazlewood’s over into the covers for one.
53rd over: England 212-5 (Buttler 0, Stokes 26) Stokes unfurls the reverse sweep off Lyon, catching it beautifully and picking up four runs for his efforts.
“Interesting to see that the only ‘recent’ run chase on the list is 275-2 in 2013. Note: for 2,” notes Phil West. “With the way that cricket is played these days would anyone bet against the Aussies making 350? I’d want a lead of at least 400, 450 if there is time to swing the bat after the 400 is up. Am I being too cautious?” Nope, England will definitely be looking for a lead of well over 400.
52nd over: England 207-5 (Buttler 0, Stokes 21) Another excellent knock from Root comes to an end then – 194 runs in the match for him, which isn’t a bad start to an Ashes summer. Buttler dead-bats or leaves the rest.
WICKET! Root b Hazlewood 60 (England 207-5)
Where are this come from? Hazlewood returns and immediately does for Root. It’s a cracking delivery in fairness, jagging back from outside off and perhaps keeping a touch low. Root cant’ close the gate in time and the ball flicks the bails away.
Updated
51st over: England 207-4 (Root 60, Stokes 21) Stokes misses out as Watson offers him a short, wide one that the batsman can only slap straight to point. He doesn’t miss out from the next, though, crashing Watson through the covers for four. Stokes enjoyed that one – barely moved a muscle after the shot, bat hoiked up over his right shoulder. Watson is all over the shop here – he goes too far the other way, swapping full and leggish for short and wide, and finding himself clipped through wide midwicket for four. If the plan is for Watson to bowl dry it’s not really working – his five overs have gone for 23.
50th over: England 199-4 (Root 60, Stokes 13) Two singles from Lyon’s latest.
49th over: England 197-4 (Root 59, Stokes 12) Stokes, definitely showing signs of Wanting To Get On With Things, splashes Watson though the covers for four but it’s the only scoring shot of an otherwise tight over from the Aussie allrounder.
Anyone wondering about highest run chases at this ground, Sky Sports have just provided a first-class list:
48th over: England 193-4 (Root 59, Stokes 8) The England lead is 313 at the start of the over. It’s 315 at the end of the over, courtesy of a couple of singles. Stokes had one slightly wild-eyed swipe at one but failed to make contact – signs that England are looking to step on the gas a touch here.
47th over: England 191-4 (Root 58, Stokes 7) Clarke asks Shane Watson to turn his arm over and keep things tight. And he does just that – one from the over.
46th over: England 190-4 (Root 57, Stokes 7) Lyon returns. Root shovels him away for a couple and nurdles to mid on for a scampered single.
45th over: England 187-4 (Root 54, Stokes 7) Starc – who had Stokes lbw in his last over but failed to appeal (the replays show not even a flicker on the left-armer’s face) – comes in to the Durham man again. A punch down the ground brings him two more, courtesy of some comedy fielding: Hazlewood dives from mid on but can only succeed in diverting the ball past Rogers, who was running across from mid off.
12 - Joe Root has now reached 50 in 12 of his last 18 Test Match innings. Nick.
— OptaJim (@OptaJim) July 10, 2015
44th over: England 185-4 (Root 54, Stokes 5) Root goes to his half-century with a tippy-toed back-foot push through the covers for four. I think it’s safe to say that he’s in pretty good nick. Johnson pins him down for a couple of balls, but then offers him a wide one so full and juicy it should come served with a choice of sauces: Root goes onto one knee and drills sweetly through the covers for four more.
43rd over: England 177-4 (Root 46, Stokes 5) A play-and-a-miss from Stokes as Starc beats him outside off, but the batsman responds with a meaty punch straight back past the bowler for four. And Starc responds himself with a beauty that shapes away and beats the edge again and another that jags in a knocks Stokes off his feet. There’s no appeal … but Hawkeye shows that it would’ve been given out on review. But there is a huge appeal for one that pings into Root’s toe on the full. It’s going down. All very strange.
Both these sides are throwing haymakers but only England’s are landing. Their lead edges up to 299.
42nd over: England 173-4 (Root 46, Stokes 1) As you’d expect, there’s a bit for venom from Johnson here. Stokes, though, gets off the mark with a whip through the leg side for single. An inside-edge comes to Root’s rescue as the bowler finds a bit of swing.
41st over: England 170-4 (Root 44, Stokes 0) A maiden from Starc, the last ball of which beats the outside edge of a Root drive.
“Aussie wing of the TMS team coming very close to asking ‘Is it cowardly to pray for rain?’” reports Sarah Morriss. “Brightens an already good day, that.”
40th over: England 170-4 (Root 44, Stokes 0) Quite an odd dismissal that. Bell had looked completely at ease out there, and then seemed to just relax a little too much. Johnson’s delivery moved away a touch, but not the distance by which Bell missed it.
WICKET! Bell b Johnson 60 (England 170-4)
Bell wears one on the upper thigh as Johnson finds a bit of extra zip from this zombie of a pitch. Root then angles a push through backward point for three and Bell inside-edges past Haddin for a couple more. Everything is going England’s way at the moment. And to emphasise the point Bell clubs Johnson is dismissive fashion over the man at extra cover for four more. There’s an element of poking-the-bear here … and Johnson has responded by crashing one into Bell’s stumps. He played all around a straight one there.
Updated
39th over: England 160-3 (Root 41, Bell 53) Root drives slightly uppishly through the covers for a couple as Starc strays too full. Then the bowler gets it right, though, with a lovely yorker that Root does well to dig out.
@Simon_Burnton The Fear? Not any more - https://t.co/HuGSOQgMvS
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 10, 2015
38th over: England 158-3 (Root 39, Bell 53) Mitchell Johnson – current match figures: 34-4-145-0 – continues too, and again finds himself dispatched to the boundary, on this occasion courtesy of a Root glance-off-the-hip. A single, then Bell makes like a tree.
37th over: England 153-3 (Root 34, Bell 53) Starc continues after the break and sends down his third ball in the direction of first slip. He was superb in his Ballance-baiting spell after lunch, but the rhythm hasn’t been there otherwise. Root leans into a cover drive to pick up three. The last, though, does beat Bell’s bat by an inch or so. Starc shakes his head sadly.
Hello again. Well, everything in England’s garden is looking pretty rosy. There’s always a chance of a seven-wickets-for-60-runs collapse and Australia chasing down 330-odd to win, but there’s no doubt who is in the ascendancy at this point. England have their foot on the Aussie throat … will they press down?
And if anyone does have the Fear, remember it’s OK to admit to it …
TEA
England lead by 271 runs at the break, the ball – occasionally unpredictable bounce apart – isn’t doing much and won’t be replaced for ages, and they have two batsmen looking pretty well set. Back to Tony Greig’s Desert Island Discs for them:
That’s all from me for today – John Ashdown will be back in a few moments to guide you through to the close.
Updated
36th over: England 149-3 (Root 31, Bell 53)
Johnson’s back, and Bell welcomes him by deflecting his first delivery to backward point for four, taking him beyond 50. His last eight innings brought a combined 45 runs, and a return to form would probably be as ominous for Australia as Starc’s ankleknack.
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35th over: England 145-3 (Root 31, Bell 49)
Now Starc, author of a brilliant pre-lunch spell, is back. Two-thirds of the way through an up-til-then maiden over he switches to going round the wicket, and Root immediately flicks the ball to the square leg boundary. “Funny how bullish optimism can regress into hopeless depression with a couple of changes in the status quo, isn’t it?” notes Ben Heywood. “One of your best players hopelessly out of nick, one pushed into retirement despite being inked in as an attacking spearhead and a bunch of newbies with a handful of caps between them - sounds a lot like England 2013-14, doesn’t it? All we need now is for Chris Rogers to fly home after realising he can’t cope with Moeen’s beard and the boat starts to look even more similar …”
34th over: England 141-3 (Root 27, Bell 49)
Bell smashes Hazlewood’s first delivery for four, but when he raises his bat to leave the next the ball decides to follow it, bouncing unexpectedly into the handle and thence back into the ground, when it might have gone pretty much anywhere. The next, though, is pushed just past a diving fielder at point, and also goes for four.
33rd over: England 133-3 (Root 27, Bell 41)
Watson bowls, and again two runs from the final delivery is the sum of England’s scoring.
@Simon_Burnton If we're talking The Fear: as is so often the case, Jarvis Cocker said it better than Obi-Wan Kenobi. https://t.co/xqa1szpeC3
— Mike Morris (@MD_Morris) July 10, 2015
32nd over: England 131-3 (Root 25, Bell 41)
Hazlewood returns after an end-swap, and it’s not exactly action-packed. Bell, though, works the last ball to point for a couple.
31st over: England 129-3 (Root 25, Bell 39)
Shane Watson comes on, and Root gets a thick edge for four, and then another one for another one, the ball flying over grasping hands at slip. England’s lead is now above 250 (251, to be precise). “To summarise the match position, England bowled excellently, have two batsmen well set, rapidly adding to a very healthy lead on a pitch offering increasingly uneven bounce, with seven wickets in hand. Yet still, I have The Fear,” writes Ant Pease. “It would seem that the emotional scars of watching the Ashes throughout the 1990s still haven’t faded.” As Alec Guinness nearly said, the Fear will be with you … always.
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30th over: England 121-3 (Root 17, Bell 39)
Nine runs off the last over, 10 off this one. Root whips the ball through midwicket for three, and then Lyon gets one to spin back, fly past Bell’s thigh pad, disappear past an unsighted Haddin and rumble away for four byes. Then, a single later, an inexplicable misfield at cover hands Root a bonus run.
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29th over: England 111-3 (Root 13, Bell 37)
Bosh! Bell hits through the covers and runs three. Whoosh! Root cuts late and fine well wide of the only slip for four. And dribble! There are also a couple of singles. “As an Australian, it feels like this series is over,” sniffs Martin Gillam. “Harris retired, Starc injured, Johnson toothless. So much for the fearsome three-pronged attack. Great time to be an English batsman.” That is a remarkably English approach to a couple of disappointing days’ cricket, but if Starc’s injury turns serious it would clearly be a significant blow.
Updated
28th over: England 102-3 (Root 8, Bell 33)
Bell doesn’t exactly attack Lyon’s first delivery, but he certainly acts as if he might intend to score a run from it. Anyway, it doesn’t come to much, and Bell takes a much more passive approach to the remainder of the over, but he does run a bye when the last spins all the way to short fine leg.
27th over: England 101-3 (Root 8, Bell 33)
Hazlewood returns, and starts with a bit of a loosener that Root sends rocketing past point for four, and tickling England’s second-innings score into three figures. He sorts out his line after that, and there’s no more scoring.
26th over: England 97-3 (Root 4, Bell 33)
If England have set out to attack Lyon, nobody told Ian Bell about it. He could not have been less interested in scoring runs there. It is, then, a maiden, and even as maidens go it was a particularly maideny one.
25th over: England 97-3 (Root 4, Bell 33)
Another Bell single, and then another grubber flashes past Root about six inches off the ground. There’s been a few of those, starting in the first over of the match, but none yet have grubbed their way towards the stumps.
24th over: England 96-3 (Root 4, Bell 32)
Lyon goes round the wicket to Bell, who eventually works the final delivery to long leg for a single.
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23rd over: England 95-3 (Root 4, Bell 31)
Hello again! Johnson continues, refreshed, and Root waves his bat at a ball that zips past with a bit of extra bounce, but gets off the mark next ball, which is angled into his pads and then flicked off them, past square leg for four. It’s a lovely shot, but then he’s back to waving his bat at things – a wide delivery and a bouncer, specifically. Three poor shots in the over, any of which could have been the end of him, but Root continues.
22nd over: England 91-3 (Root 0, Bell 31) A slip, leg slip and short leg are in place as Lyon runs in to bowl to Bell. He really does run in too – it’s one of the longest spinner’s approaches you’re likely to see. Bell looks to use his feet and play aggressively but he’s a little lucky to see one uppish blast through midwicket fly just a yard wide of the diving Chris Rogers. Nothing lucky about the next, though – a thumping slog-sweep that flashes to the rope.
Reminder that Nathan Lyon will probably end up with more Test wickets than Dennis Lillee. #Ashes
— Russell Jackson (@rustyjacko) July 10, 2015
That’s drinks. After the refreshments Simon Burnton will be back with you to take you through to tea.
21st over: England 83-3 (Root 0, Bell 23) Five wides! Johnson bangs in a half-tracker that leaps up like something on the Centre Court at Wimbledon. Bell aborts a hook, Haddin can’t reach it, five runs. And four more from the next, Bell thunking a drive uppishly wide of extra cover (who was interested for a moment) and away to the rope.
20th over: England 73-3 (Root 0, Bell 18) A wicket maiden from Lyon. This game is rattling along at a fair old pace. The dodgy weather forecast for Sunday might not come into play after all.
WICKET! Lyth c Clarke b Lyon 37 (England 73-3)
What a catch this is from Michael Clarke. What. A. Catch. Lyon finds the edge, as he has been threatening to do for a while, but it’s a thick one and it’s flying to the gap wide of second slip. Clarke, at first, leaps full length to his left and plucks it from the air perhaps four inches from the turf. Sensational.
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19th over: England 73-2 (Lyth 37, Bell 18) Bell is tempted into a hook as Johnson bangs one in short – he gets underneath it a touch but it drops well short of Hazlewood down at backward square leg. The single brings up the 50 partnership and it’s taken them only 49 deliveries. A block down the ground from Lyth adds another single.
18th over: England 71-2 (Lyth 36, Bell 17) Lyth looks to chop Lyon away again but this time the ball misses the outside edge by a whisker. Haddin wheels away, agonised. A couple of balls later we get a huge appeal as the bowler lands one on middle and rips it away past the outside of off. Another testing over and another maiden.
17th over: England 71-2 (Lyth 36, Bell 17) Mitchell Johnson returns and zips one past Bell’s outside edge before going for the inswinger. Bell just about digs it out. A maiden.
16th over: England 71-2 (Lyth 36, Bell 17) A bowling change: Nathan Lyon enters the fray and immediately spins one past Lyth’s groping outside edge. There’s certainly a bit of turn out there for him but he drops a little short and finds himself cut for a couple. And from the final ball of the over, Lyth plants his foot and slog-sweeps him into the stands at cow corner for six! What a shot, and what a remarkable shift in momentum we’ve had in the last 20 minutes.
“Has to be Hayden and Symonds!” reckons Dan Smith.
15th over: England 63-2 (Lyth 28, Bell 17) Lyth gets all Twenty20 on Mitchell Starc, banging a straight pull back past the bowler for four, and he makes it back-to-back boundaries with a guide through backward point. That’s four fours, a three, and a dot in the past six balls. The next is guided to square leg for a couple more, then we get another pull, this time down to cow corner, for three. England have gone from 27-2 to 63-2 in the space of three overs.
“Further to Michael Laycock’s interesting question, I’d have to throw Dermot Reeve’s name into the hat for his impressions alone,” writes Adam Horridge. “At the same time I’d look to ensure Jack Russell wasn’t part of the tribe as I imagine he’d have a high chance of going all Lord of the Flies quite early on.”
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14th over: England 50-2 (Lyth 15, Bell 17) A tickle off the thigh pad adds four more to the tally, Hazlewood straying to leg just a touch. And four more from the next, this time Lyth pouncing on a length ball outside off and driving sweetly through the covers. This has been a great contest since lunch – two overs with the bowlers swarming all over England, two overs with the batsmen on top. From the last ball of the over Bell is again on the drive for four more! He rattles on to 17 from 13 balls and England to 50. Fifteen from the over.
13th over: England 35-2 (Lyth 8, Bell 13) Better Belly! Starc overpitches and Bell unfurls a 2013-vintage cover drive, timing it with the precision of a Swiss watch. And he repeats the trick from the final ball of the over, this time a little squarer and on-the-up. Starc is clearly struggling with that ankle injury and this over is the first time we’ve seen a hint of it in his bowling.
12th over: England 27-2 (Lyth 8, Bell 5) Bell leaves and leaves again outside off before being squared up by a straighter one from Hazlewood. And he gets off the mark in slightly streaky fashion, a thick outside edge rolling low through gully and away for four. An inside edge skitters to backward square leg for a single. Bell hasn’t middled one yet, but he’s already surpassed his first innings effort.
“List of cricketers to be with on an isolated island with in alphabetical not quantitative order : Beer, Butcher, Cook, Gunn, Lamb, Nurse, Spearman, Wood,” suggests Raymond Reardon.
“Mike Gatting and David Boon, either braised or BBQ’d. No point going hungry,” salivates Neil McLean.
11th over: England 22-2 (Lyth 8, Bell 0) Another huge appeal as Starc shapes one past the outside edge of Lyth’s bat. There was a definite noise, but it might have been bat on pad or ball on pad. This time Clarke opts against the review. A maiden from Starc. Australia have begun this session with their collective dander very much up.
“Re: deserti island cricketers. Merv Hughes if you need to capture any animals bare-handed,” suggests Ben Collier.
I’d quite like to be on Paddy Blewer’s island: “The point is to have a good time. I therefore suggest Robin Smith, Alan Lamb, Sylvester Clark, Monte Lynch, Malcolm Marshall and David Gower. Selve likes beer so he should be in as well. I think that party would go on and on and whilst there are egos and one historic great we’d all have a good time.”
10th over: England 22-2 (Lyth 8, Bell 0) Not a great shot from Ballance. But that was an over of real hostility from young Hazlewood. In the end the wicket came of the glove of the England No3.
WICKET! Ballance c Haddin b Hazlewood 0 (England 22-2)
Josh Hazlewood continues after the lunch break. And from the first ball we have a huge appeal from the bowler as Lyth is whupped on the pad. Dharmasena shakes his head, but Hazlewood is convinced and they opt for a review. It pitched on middle-and-leg and swung to leg … but the impact both with pad and stumps is umpire’s call. Lyth is being troubled by Hazlewood though and he’s grateful to escape to the non-striker’s end with a single. But Ballance has gone! It was short, throat high, but Ballance fended at it and feathered an edge through to the keeper.
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Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance re-emerge. Play imminent.
A few castaway candidates:
“Hi, I’d have to think a while on all eight but the one to keep has to be Michael Holding - the voice alone would soothe the long lonely days” – Paul Ward.
“Surely Matthew Hayden is a must for a castaway. I believe he published a book on barbecuing so he would be head chef on the island” – Dave Brown.
“Surely if you were going to be trapped on an island with some cricketers (and I use the term advisedly), you could do a lot worse than the OBO’s own stout fellows the OBOccasionals. The team composed entirely from the readership of your commentaries are having their traditional summer trot out twice this year, with the first match on 19 July at Godalming and the second on 2 August in Brighton. So if anyone wants to have a go at appealing like Stuart Broad or batting like the Feather Duster of Eternal Meh, and gaining a story to regale everyone on their desert island with interminably, then they are most welcome” – Robin Hazlehurst.
“Stuck on an island with fellow cricketers, trying desperately to survive against hideous forces of nature - wasn’t that the 2008 Stanford Super Series?” – Chris Boylan.
Hello all. First of all, an email:
“All your talk of cricketing castaways got me thinking, if you were stuck on a desert island, which 8 cricketers would you want to be trapped with?” wonders Michael Laycock. “And then, if a wave hit and washed away 7 of them, which would you most want to keep. Obviously your book in this scenario is the Wisdon Almanac and your luxury items would be bat, ball, stumps and bails (heavy ones in case of blustery conditions).”
Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Graeme Smith and Brian Close would all be candidates I reckon. And perhaps Chris Gayle to enliven the long evenings …
LUNCH
That is lunch. England lead by 143, after an excellent morning’s cricket. Really enjoyable stuff, and that last over was a beautiful way to end it. Forget about his ankle – you’d push him on in a wheelbarrow if he’s going to bowl like that. John Ashdown will be here for the first hour or so of post-prandial action – all emails to john.ashdown@theguardian.com for the time being. Thanks for keeping me company this morning, it’s been lovely.
9th over: England 21-1 (Lyth 7, Ballance 0)
Starc’s opening delivery to Ballance – the batsman’s first of the day – is an absolute stonker, angled into his legs and then moving away, just beating the bat. That’s a gorgeous bit of bowling. Phwoar. And then he does it again! Only sexier! An over illuminated by two deliveries of the absolute highest order, and a maiden. “Afternoon Simon, afternoon everyone,” writes Sarah Morriss. “I’ve been busy this morning – new job, still keen and trying to impress. Just thought I’d check the score. Involuntary whoop, turns out the boss is a cricket fan and is going to the local Ashes bout later in the summer. Great to have an understanding boss, gutted to know he’s more organised than I am and managed to snag tickets. Still, TMS in the office looks like a go-er.” Happy days.
8th over: England 21-1 (Lyth 7, Ballance 0)
An edge from Lyth, but it doesn’t carry to the slips, and flies wide of them anyway for four. A couple of balls later Hazlewood hits the same batsman in the top of the pads and launches a loud but lonely appeal. The umpire shakes his head, and Hawk-Eye shows the ball bouncing over leg stumps by perhaps a millimetre or two. Time for one more over before lunch.
7th over: England 17-1 (Lyth 3, Ballance 0)
Starc bowls, in the manner of someone pretending to be fit and not quite pulling it off. His run-up looks fluent enough, but his follow-through suddenly includes a hop and a limp. With the second Test starting at Lord’s on Thursday, there’s not a lot of recovery time for anyone carrying niggles. Bowling him at all is a risk, but Cook’s wicket is a handsome reward.
WICKET! Cook c Lyon b Starc 12 (England 17-1)
A breakthrough! Cook drives straight to point, where Lyon takes a low catch at his ankles!
Updated
6th over: England 15-0 (Lyth 3, Cook 12)
A maiden from Hazlewood to Lyth. Australia are yet to get anything like the swing that England managed with their new ball this morning. “Damian Walsh, stranded in Paris with nowhere to watch the Ashes, should proceed at once to the British Embassy in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th Arrondisement,” writes George Davidson. “They are set up to deal with exactly this sort of emergency and will be delighted to help.” That’s very helpful advice. Other suggestions, from Richard Bates: Corcoran’s Irish pub, rue st andré des arts, or the Cork and Cavan by the Canal St Martin, while Simon Blackwell proposes The Cricketer on 41 Rue des Mathurins, and Jonathan Laidler The Bowler on Rue d’Artois in the 8th.
5th over: England 15-0 (Lyth 3, Cook 12)
Lyth, trying to cut and mistiming the shot, scoops the ball into the air, not too far from Rogers, the fielder at cover. Fortunately he doesn’t see it, and it loops over his head and drops to safety. This, meanwhile, is what the end of Australia’s innings sounded like. For those without audio: some cheering, and then lots of clapping.
4th over: England 14-0 (Lyth 2, Cook 12)
Lyth, presumably rather desperate for a half-decent score, deals rather uncomfortably with Hazlewood’s second over, before getting a single off the last. “Feeling very hot here in the stands, and regretting the clothing choice of jeans,” writes Rob Wright, who is actually in Cardiff. “I can’t mess up my next important decision: when is the optimum time to start drinking to maximise daytime enjoyment without sacrificing one’s evening stamina? Or am I just over-thinking the whole thing?” Well that all depends on what you’re drinking, and how quickly you’re going to drink it, but I think in the circumstances you’ve done well to last until 12.40 and should probably reward yourself with a beverage.
3rd over: England 13-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 12)
Cook, having got two to mid-off, hits a very hitable delivery through midwicket for four. “I think we’re all being a bit rude about Freddie’s music and reading choices, especially the comment about his book choice,” writes Sumit Rahman. “After all he was probably rather different as a teenager – wasn’t he a talented, county standard chess player when he was at school? [yes – played for Lancashire – ed] Maybe his music tastes are MOR because he didn’t have time to fit gigs and radio inbetween nets and studying the Nimzo-Indian opening.” They’re also not necessarily his favourite songs ever, but songs that remind him of particular events or periods in his life that would be interesting to talk about on the radio. He comes across very well – readers in the UK can listen to it here, and there’s a podcast out there somewhere.
Ashes Tests since WW1, first-innings deficit of 100+: Won 4; Drawn 37; Lost 107.
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) July 10, 2015
Updated
2nd over: England 5-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 4)
Hazlewood bowls the second over, with Starc now on the field, and Cook takes a single from the last. Here’s a suggestion for Parisian cricketophiles:
@Simon_Burnton Damian Walsh [12:21] could try the Auld Alliance in St Paul or Patricks on Rue de Montreuil in the 11th. Not guaranteed mind
— Alistair Leadbetter (@IndolentFop) July 10, 2015
And another:
@Simon_Burnton For Damian Walsh: next Eurostar leaves Gare du Nord at 1313; should get back to London in time for English batting collapse.
— Oliver Burrows (@OliverBurrows) July 10, 2015
1st over: England 4-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 3)
Starc, who has been bothered by some form of ankle-knack, is not on the field. He opened the bowling in England’s first innings, so Johnson does the honours this time round, and Lyth gets off the mark first ball, which is fumbled at point, and Cook follows suit off the last, which he pushes to third man. “Mike Brearley once came to a Purcell Room concert in which some colleagues and I were performing Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale Suite as well as some contemporary British music,” recalls Leo Phillips. “He came backstage after and said how much he’d enjoyed it – pretty good music cred, by my reckoning!”
If Starc's injury is serious, then Australia really do have problems
— John Etheridge (@JohnSunCricket) July 10, 2015
Updated
Out come England’s openers. This morning has been pretty depressing for Australians – unless they’re bowlers. Now it’s their turn …
First time in 10 Ashes series that England claim first-innings lead in the opening Test (Brum 1997) http://t.co/0JDhc4tHQC @AWSStats @bbctms
— Wisden Almanack (@WisdenAlmanack) July 10, 2015
Damian Walsh is in Paris and would like to watch the cricket. Does anyone know where he should go?
Innings break
“Pretty much the perfect morning for England,” surmises Gower. “Could not have gone any better.” That just about covers it. Excellent bowling this morning from Broad, Anderson and Wood, and fielding to match.
WICKET! Starc c Root b Anderson 0 (Australia 308 all out)
A thick edge from Starc, an excellent catch from Root at second slip, diving to his left, and Australia’s innings is over!
Updated
84th over: Australia 308-9 (Starc 2, Hazlewood 0)
Starc outside-edges his first delivery, which squirms away for a couple. Australia trail by 122 runs. “As an Ozman in Englishland, I find it much the same as Tony [80th over] - I mentioned yesterday Boycott’s undignified crowing over Haddin’s drop,” writes Eamonn Maloney. “Depends what your ears want to hear, dunnit?”
WICKET! Johnson picks out Ballance at mid-wicket and Australia are nine down: http://t.co/7fNSGbrcwI #MyAshesSummer pic.twitter.com/oJ9Mnu8BNp
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 10, 2015
WICKET! Johnson c Ballance b Broad 14 (Australia 306-9)
Johnson clips the ball off the middle of his bat to cover and sets off on his first run. Lovely stroke. Then he spots the fielder standing directly in its path, and stops running.
Updated
83rd over: Australia 304-8 (Johnson 12, Starc 0)
Another single from Johnson brings up Australia’s 300, and earns a surprisingly fulsome round of applause from the Cardiff crowd. Then Haddin edges two Anderson outswingers – the first zips along the ground, past the three slips and to a deserted third man boundary; the second proves to be his last. The players take drinks, after as good an hour’s bowling as England have produced for a while. “Mike Brearley hasn’t been mentioned yet,” writes Tom Walker of cricketing Desert Island Discs castaways. “His suitably cerebral list from the 70s includes Bach’s Art of Fugue and one of the Late Beethoven String quartets, which apparently he hummed to himself whilst fielding in the slips and batting.”
WICKET! Haddin c Buttler b Anderson 22 (Australia 304-8)
Anderson’s excellent new-ball onslaught gets its reward – Haddin nibbles at an outswinger, and Buttler takes a good low catch!
Updated
82nd over: Australia 299-7 (Haddin 18, Johnson 11)
Good stuff from Broad as well, with Johnson’s single off his first ball the only scoring. The penultimate ball is another beauty, straightening and just beating Haddin’s bat. Clearly Haddin didn’t like it, because he’s now changing his bat. “It was not so much Flintoff’s MOR musical choices, but his book choice – To Kill a Mockingbird,” writes Toby Alderson-Smith. “You sort of felt it might have been the only novel he’s read.” He did say he’d read it six or seven times though – if you’re only going to read one book, at least read it frequently.
81st over: Australia 298-7 (Haddin 18, Johnson 10)
Movement! Lots of it! And wildly unpredictable bounce! Oof, it looks a horrible time to be a batsman. One delivery hardly bounces at all, the next swings into and past Haddin, disappears past Buttler and rolls away for four byes, and after that comes the outswinger, totally squaring him up. Beautiful, horrible bowling, that.
The new ball is taken, and handed straight to Anderson …
80th over: Australia 292-7 (Haddin 16, Johnson 10)
Stokes continues, and Haddin edges the first ball of the over wide of the slips and safely away for four. There’s also a wild swing at a ball, that totally spurious review, and a vicious final delivery that jags back into Johnson. “As an Englishman in Oz, I was looking forward to the usual less-than-entirety-objective approach of the Australian commentary team this year, only to discover that they’ve recruited Vaughany and Bumble, and it’s all a little bit lovey,” writes Tony Brennan. “Still some good moments, though, such as Mark Taylor calling ‘great take by Haddin’ on the ball he dropped Root, and this morning when Ian Healy said that ‘if Watson is still batting at tea Australia will have a first innings lead’ two minutes before he was out. Can’t leave the screen for a minute.”
Updated
Not out!
There wasn’t much in it, but Hawk-Eye shows that the ball would have missed leg stump. To nobody’s surprise whatsoever.
REVIEW! Is Haddin out here?
Nobody really thinks so, but England are about to get their review-slate wiped clean, so might as well use one up here as lose it in a few minutes’ time.
79th over: Australia 287-7 (Haddin 12, Johnson 10)
The new ball is just around a corner, so the old one is thrown to Moeen Ali, who bowls five dots at Johnson before the batsman hits high over mid-on for four, a nice shot. “Very harsh from Ross Parker (over 74),” agrees Stephen Connor. “Surely Freddie is merely extending the tradition of professional sportspeople with, at best, inoffensive music tastes. Presumably explained by a childhood spent developing as a cricketer rather than developing deliberately obscure music tastes. Are there many examples of sports people with impeccable muso credentials? Pat Nevin springs to mind, not much else.” Nevin once demanded that he be substituted during a pre-season friendly at Chelsea so he could go and see the Cocteau Twins in concert.
Updated
78th over: Australia 283-7 (Haddin 12, Johnson 6)
Stokes bowls, and Haddin inside-edges just past his stumps for four. Haddin turns round to give the bowler a massive grin, and then pushes the next wide of extra cover for four more, and gets a thick edge on the one after that, which flies to the backward point boundary. “While agreeing with Ross Parker’s point about Freddie’s anodyne choices, he always struck me as someone not too bothered about the contemporary music scene,” writes John Starbuck. “Not everyone is, you know, though it’s hard to believe when one is surrounded by Guardian readers.”
77th over: Australia 271-7 (Haddin 0, Johnson 6)
A run! An actual run! TWO RUNS! TWO! FOUR RUNS! Johnson goes totally run-crazy here, working Wood’s fourth delivery to square leg for a couple, and then pushing the next past mid-off and to the boundary. It’s a runvalanche. “It is a reassuring truth that every Australian side to feature Brad Haddin has also had Brad in,” quips Tom Bowtell.
76th over: Australia 265-7 (Haddin 0, Johnson 0)
This really is a remarkable spell of disciplined, aggressive bowling from Broad and Wood. Another maiden – the last 29 deliveries have been dots or wickets. “I seem to remember Roy Plomley, the sainted originator of Desert Island Discs, in his autobiography says something like how he hated having cricketers on because they always chose songs such as Waltzing Matilda and had no musical taste,” writes Steve Bates. “I didn’t read the book after seeing that and certainly don’t have a copy (Plomley’s long dead) but that clearly didn’t apply to Freddie Flintoff’s excellent choices this morning. Dunno what Plomley had against cricket.”
A little search online fails to find that quote, but does find details of some more cricketing castaways: Len Hutton, Jack Fingleton, Frank Worrell and Alec Bedser all chose Waltzing Matilda.
Updated
75th over: Australia 265-7 (Lyon 6, Haddin 0)
And that’s the last ball of the over. Another maiden. So far this morning: five overs, one run, two wickets, and lots of smiling Englishmen.
Updated
WICKET! Lyon lbw b Wood 6 (Australia 265-7)
Lyon’s gone, and there’s no reviewing that one! A full delivery, a low bounce, a bat swishing across the line that fails to make contact, and that is as plumb as they come!
Updated
74th over: Australia 265-6 (Lyon 6, Haddin 0)
Another maiden, with a strangled lbw cry curtailed by the realisation that Haddin had inside-edged it into his pads. “Everyone’s a critic, but those are very ‘vanilla’ picks from Freddie,” criticises Ross Parker. “Did he just look at the back of a compilation album on the morning of the show? ‘Best MOR records to not alienate you from potential future endorsements’?” I think that’s an unusually cynical reading of what is a perhaps unexciting but undoubtedly personally meaningful selection of songs. Stat alert:
This is the first time in Test history that numbers 3 to 6 have all been dismissed in the 30’s http://t.co/KvUmw9Gvym pic.twitter.com/Ojwqjo3R4Z
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) July 10, 2015
Updated
73rd over: Australia 265-6 (Lyon 6, Haddin 0)
Wood continues, and Lyon looks pretty uncomfortable about it. Another maiden: so far this morning we’ve had three overs, one wicket and one run. “I’m disappointed to have missed Flintoff’s appearance this morning,” writes Adam Horridge. “Quite brave of him really given I imagine talk of desert islands could trigger pedalo based flashbacks. Unless he signed up for it thinking it was dessert based, of course.”
Updated
72nd over: Australia 265-6 (Lyon 6, Haddin 0)
Broad’s first delivery flies into Watson’s leg, and the entire England team rises in an act of communal ludicrous optimism – the ball missed the pad entirely, hitting him in the upper leg somewhere, and would have gone above the stumps if only it wasn’t going wide of them. His fourth is pretty much a repeat, only a bit lower. And then the last trickles off Haddin’s bat, drops straight down and rolls just past the stumps. Wicket maiden.
It was close, but England get the early wicket on day three. Haddin to the crease. http://t.co/38hkfy9Ljk #Ashes pic.twitter.com/dOj11qGAbm
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) July 10, 2015
Updated
WICKET! Watson lbw b Broad 30 (Australia 265-6)
Hawk-Eye shows that the ball would have clipped the very top of the very outside edge of leg stump. Just. Off he goes!
Watson utterly stunned, as he is every time, to be given out. It's as though nobody ever told him such a thing was possible
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 10, 2015
Updated
Marais Erasmus took a long time to raise his finger, which always encourages an appeal.
REVIEW! Is Watson out lbw here?
England think so, the umpire thinks so, the batsman wants them to check, if they’d be so kind.
71st over: Australia 265-5 (Watson 30, Lyon 6)
Mark Wood gets day three under way, under glorious powder-blue skies, and Watson scores a single. “Of course The Sun Has Got His Hat on was the name of Randall’s autobiography,” points out James Crawford. “My favourite Randall story is that on a tour of Sri Lanka he spent most of his time waiting to bat reading a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When he was asked why it was taking him so long to get through the book he replied ‘I’m not really reading it, just looking at the words.’”
Updated
Anyway, out come the players! I wonder which dressing room might be echoing to the sound of this classic Tony Greig Desert Island Discs selection this evening?
“Rather unfair on Aggers as he was a cricketer of some skill winning 3 caps for England, which is 3 more than any of the other broadcasters including you and now me in my minute way,” writes Saffron Rainey. Fair point, Saffron, but it wasn’t his three mid-80s Test caps that earned him a Desert Island Discs invite in 2013.
Thanks for this, Bob. “I think it’s a lovely record,” says Trueman. I want to hear the rest of it, dammit.
@Simon_Burnton Small bit of Tables & Chairs here: http://t.co/bjlFV5bpL5 (about 6:50 in). @Yorkshireccc at their, um, finest?
— Bob O'Hara (@BobOHara) July 10, 2015
“Wasn’t Dickie Bird on it once?” asks Chris Boylan. “Seem to remember he also liked his Romance-era composers.” He was! He doesn’t make the BBC’s list of cricketing castaways, though. His show was a game of two halves, what with him picking Strauss, Elgar and Puccini, and then Nat King Cole, Julio Iglesias, Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand.
I have to say, I wouldn’t want to be on Derek Randall’s desert island. That Australian 1972 song would entertain me for a while, it’s true, but though I can see why he chose it, Demis Roussos would be a deal-breaker (and then there’s Rod Stewart, Perry Como and The Sun Has Got His Hat On by the BBC Dance Orchestra).
Fred Trueman’s selections include a song called “Tables and Chairs” by Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Can anyone shed any light on this lost classic?
“Do you have a full list of what Flintoff chose? Was it just classic Rat Pack crooners – Sinatra, Martin, Westlife?” asks Kevin Wilson. Not at all, Kevin. In addition to Elvis, there was Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow, Elton John’s Rocket Man, Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, Better Together by Jack Johnson, Roll With It by Oasis, Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon and New Kid in Town by the Eagles, a beautifully literal choice to remember the birth of his first child.
Correction: I’ve found a proper list of Desert Island cricketers, and Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Fred Trueman, Derek Randall, Tony Greig and Jim Laker are all on it. This, from Randall’s selection in 1977, is a highlight:
2015 Ashes series link: that Trini Lopez classic, a No4 smash in 1963, includes, of course, mention of “the hammer of justice”.
Interesting, incidentally, that if you go back through the Desert Island Discs archive, the cricket-related castaways have almost all been commentators rather than actual sportsmen: Jonathan Agnew, Henry Blofeld, John Arlott and Brian Johnston have all had a go, but of all cricketers in history before Flintoff only Geoff Boycott had got the call, back in 1971. This was on his list (as well as, improbably, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky):
Hello world!
So, England very much a nose in front at this stage, though the bookies make the draw the most likely result. I’ve been listening to Andrew Flintoff on popular UK radio show Desert Island Discs on the way to work – I think that having chosen an Elvis track as his most very important record in the whole world he’d approve of this comedy-fans-arriving-at-the-ground-picture-of-the-day:
And this, since you ask, is the song Flintoff picked:
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s what Moeen Ali had to say about the state of the match after Thursday’s play:
Moeen Ali believes England are now in pole position in the first Ashes Test after a late strike by Ben Stokes three overs from the close helped reduce Australia to 264 for five on the second day in Cardiff.
The all-rounder’s removal of Adam Voges for 31 means the tourists head into day three still trailing by 166 runs. Moeen had been the best bowler, claiming the key wickets of the world No1 batsman, Steve Smith, for 33 and the Australia captain, Michael Clarke, on 31 for figures of two for 67, but was keen to credit his team-mate.
“That last wicket put us into the pole position,” said Moeen, whose impressive return with the ball followed an earlier 77 with the bat from No8 as England reached 430 all out. “A couple of wickets early and with the new ball [in 10 overs], hopefully we can get these guys out cheaply.”
