Here’s Pat Cummins “It’s coming out nicely at the moment. It was always the plan to have a few overs at them tonight, and it was good to get a couple of wickets. It feels like there’s enough in the wicket if you get nice and full. We want to hit the stumps as much as we can. None of us expected that innings from Smithy – he was unbelievable.”
Close of play
7th over: England 18-2 (Denly 10, Roy 8) Mitchell Starc gets the last over of the day. Denly digs out a superb yorker before driving three off the penultimate delivery. Roy has one ball to survive, which he does.
Australia will arrive at Old Trafford tomorrow needing eight wickets to retain the Ashes. Spoiler alert: they get them.
Updated
6th over: England 15-2 (Denly 7, Roy 8) Denly cracks a slog-sweep for four off Lyon. He tries it again two balls later, misses completely and is lucky that the ball doesn’t turn enough to hit off stump.
5th over: England 10-2 (Denly 2, Roy 8) Roy, who has started quite confidently in the circumstances, pushes Cummins into the leg side for a couple more. Nathan Lyon is coming on, which means we should have time for two overs before the close.
4th over: England 8-2 (Denly 2, Roy 6) A quiet over from Hazlewood to Denly. England have two more overs to survive tonight.
3rd over: England 6-2 (Denly 0, Roy 6) Roy gets England off the mark, turning Cummins off the pads for two. It was in the air but flew past Wade at short leg. He times a nice boundary off the last ball of the over as well.
2nd over: England 0-2 (Denly 0, Roy 0) That was Root’s third duck of the series, and his second golden duck. It felt like a symbolic dismissal. Denly, meanwhile, is hit on the elbow by a nasty lifter from Hazlewood, who beats the outside edge next ball. Insert your own extra-half-hour joke here.
1st over: England 0-2 (Denly 0, Roy 0) A double-wicket maiden from the truly magnificent Pat Cummins. We can moan all we like about England - and we will - but this attack, particularly Cummins and Hazlewood, is devastatingly good.
Roy defends the hat-trick ball, and the crowd cheer wildly. That it’s come to this.
Jason Roy comes to the crease at No4, after four balls. Cummins is on a hat-trick.
Updated
This is an awesome piece of bowling. It might even have got Steve Smith out. The ball was angled in from wider on the crease before snapping off the seam to beat Root’s defensive stroke and crash into the top of off stump. That’s the ball of the series.
Updated
WICKET! England 0-2 (Root b Cummins 0)
Pat Cummins has bowled Root first ball with a monstrous delivery.
Updated
Rory Burns falls for a duck. He tried to turn Cummins to leg and got a leading edge that looped straight to Travis Head at short mid-off.
Updated
WICKET! England 0-1 (Burns c Head b Cummins 0)
Three balls it took.
Updated
Rory Burns and Joe Denly walk to the crease. The light is not great. The pitch is tricky, the bowlers brilliant, the situation forlorn. Godspeed, lads.
“Rob,” says Romeo. “Is George Davis still guilty?”
He is now!
“Hi Rob,” says John Bowker. “Surely England’s last couple of batting efforts have not been so bad that we can write off the draw (as you seem to be doing). I reckon there’s about a 30% chance.”
I’d give them about 10 per cent. The pitch is offering plenty – spin, uneven bounce with the new ball and a bit of reverse swing. But if they do survive, we’ll have the first Ashes decider since 2009, and all bets will be off. Except the one about Steve Smith making a half-century.
Updated
“The TMS vultures are tearing into England’s post-tea tactics,” says Ian Copestake. “No mention directly of blaming our capt’n but I guess Yorkshire types have a code of honour.”
I don’t think Root is a good captain, but some of this team’s performances would have reduced Mike Brearley to wibble. When they’re good, they’re very, very good...
Updated
42.5 overs: Australia 186-6 declared (Paine 23, Starc 3) Craig Overton returns to the a- oh for the love of God, the utter state of this. Paine misses an attempted hook, but Bairstow is so convinced of a top edge that he persuades Joe Root to go for a review. Replays show Paine’s bat in a different postcode to the ball. England have lost their last review.
Now Australia have declared, which means England have an ugly half an hour to survive tonight. Or score the 383 runs they need to win.
Updated
42nd over: Australia 177-6 (Paine 18, Starc 2) The weather forecast for tomorrow is fine, so there will be no favours from above for England. If they are to save the game, somebody will have to play an innings like Ricky Ponting’s on this ground in 2005. Me neither.
41st over: Australia 172-6 (Paine 14, Starc 1) Paine wallops Leach for consecutive boundaries, down the ground and then through extra cover. This time tomorrow, he should be the first Australian captain in 18 years to retain the Ashes in England. It’s quite a story.
40th over: Australia 159-6 (lead by 355; Paine 2, Starc 1) England’s over-rate, incidentally, has been pathetic since tea. Trinidad 1990 stuff. They bowled six overs in 40 minutes at one stage. Steve Smith wasn’t the only one taking the piss.
WICKET! Australia 158-6 (Wade c Bairstow b Archer 34)
Wade has a flash at Archer, and Bairstow flies to his left to take a brilliant one-handed catch. There were no slips so he had to go for it.
Updated
39th over: Australia 157-5 (Wade 34, Paine 1) England will, give or take, need to survive 98 overs tomorrow to keep the Ashes alive.
Smith was out for 82. It’s his lowest score of the series. How’s this for a statgasm: Smith’s lowest score of this Ashes is greater than everyone else’s highest score, with the exception of Wade, Stokes and Burns. The man’s an animal, barely legal.
Updated
WICKET! Australia 149-5 (Smith c Stokes b Leach 82)
Steve Smith sacrifices himself for the team again. He drove Leach miles in the air towards wide long-off, where Stokes took a calm catch.
Updated
38th over: Australia 149-4 (Smith 82, Wade 27) Nobody, not even Donald, has scored a double hundred and a hundred in the same Ashes Test. Archer tries to keep it that way, sitting Smith on his backside with a legside bouncer. Smith shaped for the uppercut before deciding against it.
I thought play could go on until 7.30pm; turns out it’s 7pm, so Australia might just bat on until the close and grind England’s morale into the earth.
“I’m moving to Brooklyn NY in three weeks and hoping to join a local team,” says Paul Harrison. “As the most metropolitan of readerships, I wonder if you could do a shout out to any OBOers playing there?”
Anyone?
Updated
37th over: Australia 147-4 (Smith 81, Wade 26) Smith makes room, Broad follows him, Smith drags it through midwicket for four anyway. First he broke England’s will, then he crushed their soul, and now he’s taking a urine sample. Broad, in attempting to second-guess Smith, spears a delivery miles down the leg side for five wides, then has the effrontery to complain to the umpire about the decision. Smith ends the over by smearing four more to bring up the hundred partnership. England, so hopeful a couple of hours ago, are being humliated.
“You and Steve Smith,” says Tom Callaghan. ““Calm down old boy, calm down.”
You weren’t there. You don’t know the horrors I’ve seen.
36th over: Australia 132-4 (Smith 72, Wade 25) The scary thing is that, while Steve Smith is averaging 165 this summer, he has generally thrown his wicket away in pursuit of quick runs. If he was more selfish, he’d be averaging 661 in this series. That’s if he had an average at all.
35th over: Australia 131-4 (Smith 71, Wade 25) Younger readers won’t know this. But a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, England won an Ashes Test in which Steve Smith was playing. Eight of them, in fact, from 2010-2015. That was then and this is now. I’ve never seen a cricketer dominate one opponent like this. Never.
Smith launches Broad over mid-on for four more to move into the serene seventies. His speed of scoring - 71 from 79 balls, including 52 from 41 since tea - means Australia should be able to declare tonight. He’s not just a run-machine, he’s a bloody selfless, adaptable run-machine.
“Given that England can’t get Smith out anyway, is it even worth trying?” says Matt Fordham. “Why not just put all six fielders on the boundary and bowl five balls an over at the other 10 batsmen? He’d be slightly less annoying from the non-striker’s end if that’s any consolation.”
Doesn’t matter. They could have 44 fielders and bowl with perfect discipline, miles outside off stump to a tight 43-1 field, and he’d still pick off boundaries through square leg.
Updated
34th over: Australia 123-4 (Smith 66, Wade 22) Jofra Archer returns to the attack, just in time to receive the good news that the horse has arrived at its destination 475 miles away. Smith pulls his first ball for four, a shot of stunning disdain, and steers the next to third man for another boundary. This is staggering batting. The immovable object has become the irresistible force, hurrying Australia towards a declaration with a flurry of boundaries.
Updated
33rd over: Australia 118-4 (Smith 57, Wade 22) It feels like Joe Root, having been criticised for overbowling Jofra Archer, has overcompensated in this match. Not that it makes much difference, because Steve Smith is batting gnittab si htimS evetS gnittab si htimS evetS Steve Smith is batting. Everyone’s favourite fidgety deity moves to 57 with a glorious extra cover drive to the boundary off Broad.
32nd over: Australia 109-4 (Smith 53, Wade 21) England are unhappy because they thought the ball came off Wade’s bat handle. There was a spike, but that was a fraction before the ball went past the bat handle. Who knows. After that Headingley DRS mess, I don’t know how much we should trust technology. Either way, the third umpire couldn’t have given it out.
Wade is not out! He missed a sweep and was hit on the arm. England lose a review.
England review! Has Wade been caught at slip off the glove? England think so; Kumar Dharmasena doesn’t.
31st over: Australia 105-4 (Smith 50, Wade 20) Broad, Smith, single, fifty. That’s his ninth in a row against England. His Ashes series averages are a neat demonstration of his progression from laughing stock to ridiculous genius: 32, 38, 41, 56, 137 and now 160.
Updated
30th over: Australia 104-4 (Smith 49, Wade 20) Leach bowls into the rough outside the leg stump of Smith, who drags a sweep past short fine leg for four. Doesn’t he ever get bored? The man’s an animal.
He almost falls to an extraordinary catch from Stokes later in the over. As Smith shaped to reverse sweep, Stokes charged to his right from slip. He stretched and got both hands on the ball, but he couldn’t hold on. It would have been an outrageous catch because Smith nailed the stroke.
29th over: Australia 97-4 (Smith 43, Wade 19) Stuart Broad comes on for Craig Overton, just in time to see the horse disappear over the horizon. His first ball is a yorker that Smith jams onto his boot, from where it deflects just wide of leg stump. Later in the over he plays a remarkable stroke, whipping Broad through midwicket for four with the kind of wristy flourish last seen in Kill Bill. He is quite astonishing.
Steve Smith's false shot percentage in this series is comfortably the lowest of any batsman on either side. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/ykwqOb9yds
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) September 7, 2019
28th over: Australia 92-4 (Smith 38, Wade 19) In his last 50 Tests – that’s 50 Tests, over a five-year period – Steve Smith averages 76.44. Funny how? I wonder whether, a bit like Shane Warne in 2003, the ban has been a blessing in a very good disguise. He was mentally shattered, which is why he made such a costly mistake in the first place, whereas now he looks completely fresh. Gideon Haigh called Warne’s suspension a year of “performance-enhancing rest”, and Smith’s Ashes performances have been enhanced. He is averaging 156.75 in this series; in 2017-18 he averaged 137.40.
27th over: Australia 91-4 (Smith 37, Wade 19) Wade forces a short ball from Overton through point for four, an excellent stroke. All the English aggression and optimism of the afternoon session has dissipated, and I’m afraid there is blood on Joe Root’s hands.
Updated
26th over: Australia 86-4 (Smith 36, Wade 15) Smith sweeps Leach for four. England are letting the tortoise get away from them, and Nasser in the commentary box is very unimpressed with the field placings, particularly the lack of a short leg for Wade when Leach is bowling.
“I have believed for some time now that the current Brexit horrorshow is in fact the product of us living in some parallel world created by a Pam-type dream,” says Iain Noble. “If this is the case we are well past the time when someone should go and bang on the shower room door and ask Bobby just when the hell he is getting out of there.”
That stupid vote was so long ago that Jofra Archer hadn’t even made his first-class debut when it happened. And Tom Banton wasn’t even born.
25th over: Australia 81-4 (Smith 31, Wade 15) Any declaration will probably be on the cautious side, because Australia only need to draw this series to retain the Ashes. Ideally they would like to have 10 overs at England tonight, but I can’t see that happening unless they flog the bowling everywhere in the next hour and a half.
24th over: Australia 77-4 (Smith 30, Wade 12) Smith is going after Leach, trying to hit him out of the attack before he settles into a rhythm. Four singles from that over, which means Leach has gone for 20 from three.
23rd over: Australia 73-4 (Smith 28, Wade 10) Craig Overton continues, to the surprise of those in the commentary box who expected another burst from Broad or Archer. He beats Wade from a good delivery that pops from a length. This has become a tricky pitch to bat on, at least for those who were not born Steven Peter Devereux Smith.
“Point of order re: Paul Griffin’s email in the 20th over,” says Damian Clarke, the world’s foremost Dallas pedant. “If we are assuming that Root is the Victoria Principal character, then he would be waking up in bed. Cook would be the one in the shower. I know, I know. But these details are important.”
22nd over: Australia 73-4 (Smith 28, Wade 10) Leach starts after tea to Smith, who scorches the second ball down the ground for four. Shot! But he gets away with one later in the over when he mistimes a drive that teases Root, running back from mid off, before landing safely.
“I reckon being bowled out for about 130-40 might be the best thing that could happen to Australia here,” says Phil Harrison. “Realistically, 300 will be far too many for England to chase on this pitch, the way they’re batting at the moment. But Stokes might have spooked the Aussies and it’s not impossible to imagine them wanting to completely bat England out of it. Which might take them into tomorrow and give England a sniff of hanging on. England should hide the ball; get Leach to lob it into the rough. Not pretty but there you go.”
I think Australia will win regardless, but I know what you mean. In fact, Gary Naylor emailed during the afternoon session to point out that their Winviz percentage went up after that top-order collapses.
Tea: Australia lead by 259 runs
21st over: Australia 63-4 (Smith 19, Wade 10) Overton bowls an accurate over, the last of the session. That was a thrilling new-ball spell from Broad and Archer, though it hasn’t really changed much. The best-case scenario for England is probably the apocalypse that they delay an Australian declaration until tomorrow morning, then produce a Cardiff 2009 homage keep the Ashes alive. I’m not sure; I think it will be really hard for them to survive much more than 70-75 overs tomorrow.
See you in 20 minutes for an extended evening session - three hours, light permitting.
20th over: Australia 62-4 (Smith 18, Wade 10) Jack Leach replaces Jofra Archer (9-2-27-2). I’d have been tempted to give Archer one more over, especially with Wade on strike. Mind you, Leach dismissed both these batsmen in the first innings, sort of, and there’s plenty of rough to work with.
Smith runs down the track to clip his second ball from Leach through midwicket for three; that was a majestic stroke. Some skilful nurdling makes it a good over for Australia - eight from it.
“This is like some terrible schlocky TV series,” says Paul Griffin. “Not great quality - with one Special Guest Star exception - but ridiculous, implausible cliffhangers every episode. I’m assuming Root will wake up in the shower tomorrow and discover Cook is still batting, and KP is in the mood.”
19th over: Australia 54-4 (Smith 14, Wade 6) Overton replaces Broad (9-4-19-2). Smith and Wade exchange singles before Smith steals a second run. After a scruffy start, he is starting to look immoveable once more.
#Ashes2019 Steve Smith: 600 runs in four innings and a bit.
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) September 7, 2019
Joe Root and Ben Stokes put together: 600 in 14 innings
18th over: Australia 50-4 (Smith 11, Wade 5) If England are to have any chance of back-to-back miracles, they need to get Smith in the half-hour before tea. He works Archer off the pads for a single, his 600th run of another astonishing series. He missed out on three innings as well.
Wade, who has started very confidently, scrunches Archer through the covers for a couple.
“Stuart Broad was the gent who waved him off after Labuschagne seemed upset about something,” says Ben O’Connell. “Did so with the usual grin on the face of ‘the English fast bowler’.”
17th over: Australia 47-4 (Smith 10, Wade 3) Broad beats Wade outside off stump. He’s another batsman in need of a score. Most of them are, on both sides.
Bit by bit, Australia's long-term top order is coming together.
— Greg Baum (@GregBaum) September 7, 2019
1.
2.
3.
4. Smith.
5.
6.#ashes2019
16th over: Australia 45-4 (Smith 10, Wade 1) Archer rips a bouncer past Wade, walks down the pitch and makes a few observations regarding Wade’s technique. When Wade turns for a second later in the over, Archer stands right in his way, forcing Wade to settle for a single. This is great stuff.
“British television commentary waaaay too jingoistic,” says Kylie. “Considerable difference to the commentary of the Australian matches, where there is always a real appreciation for talent, no matter the cap colour.”
Updated
15th over: Australia 44-4 (Smith 10, Wade 0) And all the while, Steve Smith bats on. Broad is targeting his stumps, knowing that one bit of uneven bounce could do the job. Smith is so good that he probably has a way of controlling consistency of bounce as well. A maiden from Broad, and now it’s Jofra Archer to Matthew Wade, who was particularly vocal when Archer was batting earlier today.
“Rob,” says Kim Thonger, “if David Warner gets concussed in the next Test will his like for like replacement be an actual real live quacking feathered duck? #askingforafriend”
Updated
14th over: Australia 44-4 (Smith 10, Wade 0) This is getting a bit lively. There was a full and frank exchange of views between Labuschagne and the England fielders when he left the field. One of the England team, I’m not sure who, waved him off; Labuschagne kept snapping his head round to have his say. And now the ever popular Matthew Wade is walking to the crease.
There were words between Head and Archer during that over, before Archer settled matters with a sizzling 92mph delivery that nipped back through the gate to send the middle stump flying.
Updated
WICKET! Australia 44-4 (Head b Archer 12)
Jofra Archer has cleaned Travis Head up with a jaffa!
Updated
13th over: Australia 40-3 (Smith 10, Head 8) Head survives an optimistic LBW appeal from Broad. It was easily missing leg. An otherwise good over ends with a rank bad ball - short, wide and belaboured through extra cover for four by Smith.
“Warner has a Test match average of 46, Khawaja 40,” says Jon McKinley. “It’s debatable whether one is ‘vastly superior’ to the other. But it’s not debatable that Warner is having a wretched Ashes, averaging less than 10 in 8 innings. When current form is so awful, is sticking to the line that ‘he’s had a great career’ the best basis for selection?”
Well, a great career buys you more time when you hit a rough patch, and that’s surely correct. Selection is a tricky balance between the short, medium and long-term. You can’t just drop everyone who’s out of form, but equally there comes a point when bad form can no longer be ignored, especially if you look like a walking wicket against a particular bowler.
Updated
12th over: Australia 35-3 (Smith 6, Head 7) Head gets off the mark with a lofted square drive to the boundary off Archer, who moves back over the wicket in response. He is consistently over 90mph now, and an edge from Head falls just short of Stokes in the slips. The resulting single means he has one delivery at Steve Smith, the first in this innings. Smith defends it nicely.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Kim Thonger. “I incorrectly indicated to Geoff Lemon earlier that nobody in Madrid has heard of Steve Smith. We have now encountered two very nice Australians who of course HAVE heard of Steve Smith but we struck a bargain with them. We kept supplying them with red wine and didn’t talk about Brexit and in return they didn’t gloat about his batting average. Storm warning. Brace yourself Barcelona, Jimmy and Donna Dean from Perth, Western Australia are heading your way in mid-season form off their long run up!”
11th over: Australia 28-3 (Smith 6, Head 0) A short ball from Broad follows Smith and hits him on the glove. It deflects towards backward short leg, so Head sets off looking for a run. Smith sends him back, and the throw whistles past Archer, who had backed up at the bowler’s end, to the boundary. Four runs to Smith. But he’s having a really tough time against Broad, who beat him twice outside off stump during another brilliant over. He has quietly had a superb series.
“Joe Burns,” says Pete Salmon. “Sixteen Tests, four 100s, four 50s, average 40.10 (Bancroft 26.23, Harris 29.50), last Test 180 v Sri Lanka. Presumably on his couch in Queensland knocking off a last beer before bedtime... Ridiculous before the first Test, ridiculouser now, don’t you think?”
Perhaps. But if Burns is recalled in the next few months, he might reflect that this was a very good series to miss.
10th over: Australia 24-3 (Smith 2, Head 0) Head plays a vile shot to his first ball, a loose drive that meets only fresh air. Archer, who is really in the mood, rams an excellent bouncer past Head’s, erm, noggin. England could run through Australia here, but I fear all roads lead to defeat.
Marnus Labuschagne fails for the first time in the series. He pushed around a lovely nipbacker from Archer which hit him on the flap of the pad. It was straight enough, but Labuschagne thought it might have been bouncing over the stumps. In fact it was umpire’s call, so the original decision stood. But Australia do keep their last review.
WICKET! Australia 24-3 (Labuschagne LBW b Archer 11)
He’s gone!
Updated
Australia review! Labuschagne has been given out LBW to Archer. It looked good to me, but Labuschagne has gambled the last review.
Updated
9th over: Australia 24-2 (Labuschagne 11, Smith 2) It’s usually a lamentable idea to bowl straight to Smith, but the uneven bounce might tempt England to do so, especially early in his innings. Broad cuts him in half with a lovely nipbacker that has Smith staring, open-mouthed, at the pitch. I suspect that was for the benefit of England’s batsmen; Labuschagne did something similar a few minutes ago. The pitch isn’t that bad. But it is doing a bit, and Smith ends an excellent over from Broad by leaving a ball that just misses the off stump.
8th over: Australia 24-2 (Labuschagne 11, Smith 2) Archer has been much sharper than in the first innings, and he beats Labuschagne with a gorgeous legcutter. Labuschagne nods respectfully down the pitch and then fends the next ball wide of gully for four.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Australia 162 all out. England set 359 to win. What are the chances ...”
500-1, surely.
Thanks Geoff, hello everyone. This is stirring stuff from England, even if it all feels a bit too late. The uneven bounce is particularly ominous for England’s survival prospects.
7th over: Australia 18-2 (Labuschagne 5, Smith 2) Right then. England have to get Smith. They haven’t found a way yet this summer but they need one now. The lead is already 212. They have to get him cheaply, with some pressure in the match and the crowd on his back. Broad has one keep low and almost burrow into the pads, but Smith gets bat to it. Steps across to blunt the next couple. He already looks so much more in control. But the erratic bounce of this pitch could be the thing to do him in. He reaches for a very wide ball to end the over, driving it out through cover for two.
Game on! And plenty to come. That’s it for me, Rob Smyth will take you through the rest of the day.
Updated
Wicket! Harris lbw Broad 6 (Australia 16-2)
The decision is reviewed after a long chat between Harris and Marnus. This is identical to the Warner ball really, wide from around the wicket from a right-armer to a left-hander. Coming in with the angle and beating the shot to take the batsman’s pad. No reason to review that really, it was never likely to be doing too much. And Australia’s openers once again make nothing to speak of between them. It will be Smith and Labuschagne once again...
Updated
6th over: Australia 16-1 (Harris 6, Labuschagne 5) A maiden for Archer...
5th over: Australia 16-1 (Harris 6, Labuschagne 5) Broad has done the early damage, but loses his control in this one. Starts by flinging a ball down the leg side for four byes. Not wides. Then overpitches to Labuschagne, who drives him through cover for four! Off the mark with a belting shot.
Scott Lowe writes in. “How do you think the selectors are going to justify keeping Warner after dropping Khawaja? They have not been the most consistent bunch, but surely on the same criteria Warner cannot play in the fifth Test.” Again, one’s career is vastly superior to the other. Apples and oranges.
4th over: Australia 6-1 (Harris 4, Labuschagne 0) Runs off the bat at last, as Harris drives Archer down the ground for four. Archer is cranking up past 90 miles per hour by now. “All set up for a Broad Special,” writes George Humphreys. “You know he will have been fuming that Stokes and Archer have had all the attention...”
3rd over: Australia 1-1 (Harris 0, Labuschagne 0) Another test for Marnus L, who could match Mike Hussey with 50+ scores in his first five Ashes innings. Almost runs himself out for a duck though, pushing to point and setting off before turning back.
David Warner had never made a pair in a Test match before today. About fifty emails already calling for him to be dropped. People forget 21 Test centuries pretty quickly.
Updated
2nd over: Australia 1-1 (Harris 0, Labuschagne 0) Jofra Archer to bowl, and he’s nudging up towards 88 miles per hour in hsi first over. Bowls a mix of excellence and rubbish, including a no-ball and a bouncer way too high, and a wide ball that Harris carves away but straight at cover and can’t get a run.
“Right England, no more wickets please!” emails Grif. “Best way of getting Smith out is to not let him in!”
Updated
1st over: Australia 0-1 (Harris 0) Well, Warner took the first ball. This is interesting, he usually goes second. Warner chose to confront his problem and take Broad on. Stabs down at a ball and keeps it out of his pads. Gets an absolute snorter that explodes off the pitch and up past the outside edge. Then the last ball sears in from a middling length from around the wicket, keeps a bit low, and has Warner hopping but beaten by the angle and elevation, smashing into his pad in front of middle. Broad doesn’t even turn around to appeal, and Warner walks straight off.
Eight balls for three ducks against Broad in Warner’s last three innings.
Updated
WICKET! Warner lbw Broad 0 (Australia 0-1)
Warner is gone! Six times in the series for Broad, and six balls faced today by Warner. The dominance continues.
Updated
Robbie Chedburn emailed a little while ago. “As we are approaching the Aussie second innings what do you think of setting David Warner back in the order a bit? He’s such an attacking batsman and arguably Australia want to accumulate quickly today if he can be protected from the new ball he could really add runs quickly.”
It’s not crazy, but I think he’s so firmly a career opener that there would have been no consideration of that. It would have looked like hiding, even if it was tactically sound, and it might have thrown off his concentration.
Things to watch in this innings:
- Is Ben Stokes fit? He had a side problem in the first innings. England’s camp said he “will bowl if required,” whatever that means. Of course he’ll be required.
- Will Jofra Archer get his mojo back? Struggled in the first dig, is needed here.
- Can David Warner make any runs? Or will Stuart Broad keep monstering him?
- Can Steve Smith get another hit and rack up another ton? He has 589 in four innings, meaning it’s not completely impossible that he could chase Bradman’s unchaseable 974 in seven innings in the 1930 Ashes.
England all out for 310, trailing by 196
Given the clatter of wickets in the first session, England did pretty well to get beyond lunch. We’ve got rid of 33 overs today, plus a couple for the change of innings. That still leaves something like 60 more today and another 98 tomorrow, which should still be more than enough for Australia to rack up a lead and bowl England out, but we’ve all seen that cricket isn’t always that simple. What happens next?
Wicket! Buttler b Cummins 41 (England 301-10)
107 overs: England 301-10 (Leach 4) Bowled! It’s all over. Last ball of the over. Pat Cummins returns for Lyon, who hasn’t been able to do any damage in this innings. The field has come back to a regulation setting. Rather than trying to work a single from the last ball he tries to hit it into the media centre, misses some deck off the seam, and loses off stump.
Updated
106th over: England 301-9 (Buttler 41, Leach 4) Buttler decides that it’s time to go. He drags a drive off the inside half past mid-on and gets back for two. Tries to wallop over cover and skews a lobbed shot that plugs in the deep for two more. Then gets a full ball and creams it through cover! England go past the follow-on mark and reach 300, then Buttler takes a single to farm strike. Every run and every over is a little extra help to England.
105th over: England 292-9 (Buttler 32, Leach 4) Buttler takes a single from the fifth ball of Lyon’s over. Keeps strike.
104th over: England 291-9 (Buttler 31, Leach 4) Leach with Starc to deal with. Hops across to block one, ducks a bouncer. Then he drives Mitchell Starc for four! Wasn’t intending to, it was just a straight push, but he times it nicely, beats mid-off, and rolls down the ground. Matthew Wade belts after it, dives, scoops back... but his elbow is touching the rope. The crowd go up! Just as well for Leach, because he’d stopped in the middle of the pitch to chat with Buttler and might have been run out.
Last ball of the over, and... hit on the pad! Appeal! Not out! And that was hitting leg stump, says HawkEye. Starc just laughs in disbelief, he was sure it was plumb. Australia have no reviews left,once again. It had some angle on it, looked halfway like it might be sliding down, but HawkEye says smashing leg stump.
Brace yourself for the response.
103rd over: England 287-9 (Buttler 31, Leach 0) Buttler is in two minds about what to do here. He plays a big swat at Lyon, along the ground to mid-off for none. Then prods and gets an inside edge past his stumps for none. Then tries to cut a single but hits it too well and gets four! With the leg-side field packed and close, he can’t turn a single from the last ball.
102nd over: England 283-9 (Buttler 27, Leach 0) Big cheers as Jack Leach comes to the crease. What can he do with the bat this time, in a summer of big innings for him. He defends Starc’s sixth ball and survives.
Wicket! Broad b Starc 5 (England 283-9)
Bowled him! Straight through, and Starc’s record of hitting timber continues. The over starts with swing and difficulty, Broad somehow getting a bit of bat on it. Then hops across his stumps and tries to glance, but misses. The same again. But eventually a length ball seams back into the left-hander a bit, beats his prod, and takes his off stump out of the ground.
Updated
101st over: England 283-8 (Buttler 27, Broad 5) Lyon again to Broad, who manages to squeeze a single after a few balls. You keep thinking that Buttler will tee off against Lyon, but he plays circumspectly with the ball still spinning big, and only keeps out the last ball rather than trying to work the strike. Broad will have to face Starc for up to a whole over.
100th over: England 282-8 (Buttler 27, Broad 4) Starc to continue after his one over before the break, and Buttler is willing to take the single from the second ball. I’m not sure about that, Starc could run through Broad more easily than most. Not this time though, as Starc bowls too much on leg stump and it thuds away for a leg bye. Buttler aims a big drive but straight to mid-off. Misses the next down leg side. Then hit on the pad from an inside edge. 16 to avoid the follow-on.
99th over: England 280-8 (Buttler 26, Broad 4) Back from the buffet and ready to rumble. Lyon has changed ends, given that Starc changed ends before the break. Lyon is now bowling from the Statham end of the ground, facing the Pavilion. Broad is facing, adding a couple of runs on the sweep before carefully extending his long limbs to block out the rest.
Hi @GeoffLemonSport. Another day another Bairstow bowled. It's a worry. For Roy, is it too soon to start worrying that, in trying to experiment with him as a Test batsman, we're going to have an effect on his white ball technique? He needs this series, but how much longer?
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) September 7, 2019
That’s a definite concern. We saw how it ruined Aaron Finch for a good six months or so. He finally got his mojo back for the World Cup, but playing Test cricket didn’t help him beyond being something he had wanted to achieve. Roy looks pretty miserable out there for the most part, and that’s reflected in the poor fielding too.
Lunch – England 278-8
A tiny victory for England, at least making sure that they’ll take two more overs out of the game for the innings changeover, whenever that may be. Every additional over that they can take out by batting could be vital, and a double whammy: not just the overs that England bat, but each run they score is a run that Australia have to take the time to score back.
England are 20 short of avoiding the follow-on, but after bowling 98 overs there is no chance that Australia will enforce it. They will bat again, add to their lead which is currently 219, then declare when they feel very, very safe.
Or Jos Buttler will make a freakish hundred with the tail and Australia will bat for a draw, or Australia will be rissoled in the third innings and England will have a decent target to chase.
Or it will rain.
Some of those are less likely than others. It’s lunch time! Grab a sandwich, and I’ll be back in a bit.
98th over: England 278-8 (Buttler 26, Broad 2) Bowling change, Starc with the last over before lunch. Buttler’s tactics have changed, as he glides the second ball to third man but doesn’t take a single. No interest in giving Starc a look at Broad. Nearly bowled third ball, left alone near off stump! Nearly bowled fourth ball, by one that shapes into the right-hander, beats his inside edge and misses his off stump. Starc errs too wide with the fifth, and as the field creeps in, the sixth is just wide enough to leave. Buttler survives! England get to lunch!
97th over: England 278-8 (Buttler 26, Broad 2) Half the field is on the fence, half is up. Two slips, cover, mid-on, mid-off. Then in the deep, third man, point, square leg and long leg. Buttler chooses the third ball to work a single square of the wicket. Broad with a short leg, leg gully, and a point quite close. Only long leg is deep. Short balls coming. Ducked. The next hits him, on the shoulder as he turns away. It’s a no-ball. Broad won’t like that because now he has to face another. I wonder if that was deliberate, just to have another couple of balls at him. Broad blocks out the rest of the over though.
Buttler needs to find 20 more runs to avoid the follow-on. (Not that Australia will enforce it. But it’s nice to do.)
96th over: England 276-8 (Buttler 25, Broad 2) Lyon to the left-handed Broad, with two slips in place, but Broad eases it wide of the second and gets through for a single. The field spreads for Buttler, so he takes advantage of that by driving another run. Happy for Broad to face up. Lyon shreds a ball away from the bat, but Broad leaves. A straight one from around the wicket could do him. The next beats the edge and Paine takes the bails. Another over done. Eight minutes until the scheduled lunch, but the umpires might extend the session at eight wickets down. The follow-on is 22 away.
“Is every second email complaining about lack of discipline?” asks Andrew Hammet. In short, yes. But go on. “English batsmen like impatient kids, not able to just stick at something for a while – like defending? I am puzzled as to how they just fall regularly for the offer to swing at one. Like everybody else?”
Like everybody else.
95th over: England 274-8 (Buttler 24, Broad 1) Cummins to Stuart Broad then, who is no longer the most confident against fast bowling. He plays a couple of false shots, bouncing the ball near the keeper, then near the bowler. Cummins tries a bouncer but gets too carried away. It flies! Huge bounce, over the stepladder dweller in Broad, over Paine, and deemed five wides. Broad punches the fifth ball to point for a single, then Buttler flays a square drive for four!
England are 24 away from avoiding the follow-on.
Updated
94th over: England 264-8 (Buttler 20, Broad 0) Lyon getting plenty of stick from the crowd, and Buttler drives him firmly through the covers for four! Top shot. Big appeal to follow though, as Buttler steps outside off to play, then decides to pad the ball away, but turns his body and lets it hit him. The Australians appeal, and it’s an arse-before-wicket decision that they’re asking for. Buttler has been hit on the butt(ler) in front of off stump.
Paine reviews! I think they just want this comical moment immortalised in a dismissal. And it’s not a bad shout, but HawkEye says the ball is just creeping over the off bail.
Lyon finishes the over on leg stump, and Buttler glances another four!
93rd over: England 256-8 (Buttler 12) Very little left for Buttler then, with Broad coming down the staircase and Leach to come.
Updated
Wicket! Archer c Paine b Cummins 1 (England 256-8)
Buttler has no interest in protecting Archer. Takes a single off his pads first ball, a no-ball, and leaves his teammate to the bowling. Most of the over is short balls for Archer to duck, but he has a big slash at a wide ball that misses, then a dabble at a ball closer to his body that produces an edge. Short and cramping him for room, and the last ball of the over brings his wicket. A simple take for Paine.
Updated
92nd over: England 254-7 (Buttler 11, Archer 1) Lyon on to bowl to Archer, in the hope that the tailender will play another daft slog like the one he tried at Headingley that could have cost them the run chase. Boundary riders to the leg side. The ball spinning into the pads, short leg interested. Archer restrains himself, keeps the bowler out.
Updated
91st over: England 254-7 (Buttler 11, Archer 1) Mitchell Starc can be so off, and then so on. He’s barely playable at the moment, hooping another ball straight through Buttler that somehow misses his stumps. Then gets one that straightens and takes the outside edge, parried by Smith at slip for two. A third ball is well outside the off stump, bounces in front of the keeper, hits a rough spot of turf, and nearly whacks Paine in the face as it shoots up and over the keeper for four byes. How are batsmen supposed to anticipate anything?
Updated
90th over: England 248-7 (Buttler 9, Archer 1) Hazlewood to Archer, who does the right thing and doesn’t try to swing anything to the fence. A lot of short balls, and he just gets out of the way. A maiden.
Marie Meyer wants to know what the follow-on mark is: 297 is indeed the number. David Seare is arguing that Tim Paine should pop England back in and have Sunday off. That’s great if it works, but if doesn’t you have a cooked set of bowlers with three days until their next outing.
Updated
89th over: England 248-7 (Buttler 9, Archer 1) The new ball has done it for Starc, and Starc has done it for Australia. Both overnight batsmen removed by the left-armer without much scoreboard damage. Jofra Archer is next to the crease, and he strolls a single that should have seen him run out by yards. Buttler has little choice but to get things moving, surely? He gets an overpitched delivery from Starc and drives it gorgeously for four. All power. Before Stokes was out, Buttler had already driven the first ball of the over in the air for another four.
Updated
Wicket! Stokes c Smith b Starc 26 (England 243-7)
That’s the big one! Stokes caught at second slip. Starc is the bowler who has made the left-hander uncomfortable – he did in the World Cup and he has again this morning. And in the end he gets his man. Pace, a decent length, no appreciable swing, and it just had Stokes pushing down the line of his off stump but not quite covering the line of the ball, which takes the outside edge for a comfortable catch. England in real trouble now, still 50-odd runs short of the follow on.
Updated
88th over: England 238-6 (Stokes 26, Buttler 0) Back from the hydration interval, Hazlewood bowls short and he’s hooked for four! Off the top edge, all streak, but it soars high and long! Mitch Marsh is standing in uffish mood in his orange vest outside the boundary behind the keeper and for a minute it looks like the ball will clobber him on the scone, but it bounces in front and he takes it calmly in one hand and lobs it back to Paine.
How’s this: Paine, having chased all the way back towards the rope by this point, takes the throw, throws it up in the air, hops over the rope, hops back in, and takes the rebound. Wicketkeepers don’t get many chances for the boundary-line glory catch, so he practises when he can.
Next ball Paine is in action again, diving and trying to stop a short ball that diverts from Stokes’ hip, but it goes wide for four leg byes!
“Did anyone else spot a peculiar moment yesterday?” asks David Brown. “Lyon removed and then swapped the bails at his bowling end. I believe this is a superstition of his. As soon as Lyon returned to walk back to his mark, Root,the non facing batsman, cheekily reversed the process.”
87th over: England 230-6 (Stokes 22, Buttler 0) Starc looks a decent show against Stokes, who has taken Australia’s right-armers apart with such composure in his last two Tests. A few hopping shots before the batsman gets one full enough to drive, though Cummins keeps the scoring to one from mid-on. Drinks.
Updated
86th over: England 229-6 (Stokes 21, Buttler 0) Just to the crease and Hazlewod is already giving Jos Buttler a working over. Past the outside edge. Into the body.
“Can you here the ridiculous noise from the microlites?” asks Stephen Morley about the camera drones over the ground. “Are the commentators not hearing this?Why is no one saying anything about it. It must surely be distracting for the players.”
I’ve seen some suggestions that certain commentators may be the ones creating the drone. I can’t hear it because I’m inside, but I’ll duck out later and investigate.
85th over: England 228-6 (Stokes 20, Buttler 0) Well. No mattter how loose Starc can be, there’s always that chance of threat. A couple of balls after a short wide plonk that Bairstow clobbered through cover for four, there’s the ball that Bairstow is expecting just outside off stump but that hits middle instead. It still was nowhere near the length to drive. A real mistake from Bairstow to be thinking anything but getting through the first few overs of the new ball.
Wicket! Bairstow b Starc (England 228-6)
Here comes Mitchell Starc at last! Gets him this time, with another fast and swinging delivery. There was that sense of threat immediately with him bending the ball. But where Bairstow played the first over of that sensibly, this time he decides to play a big drive at the ball on his pads. Bad idea, as it curves in the air to beat his straight whack and take middle stump.
Updated
84th over: England 224-5 (Stokes 20, Bairstow 13) Hazlewood torches Stokes! Beaten all over. The ball cuts back into the left-hander off the seam, beats his inside edge and somehow creeps over middle stump! More close shaves than intake day for the Marines. Maiden.
Alex emails from Whittington Hospital. “Long time reader, first time emailer here. I’m currently at A&E after a fall this morning out running. Really enjoying focusing on the precarious nature of England’s position to detract from my ailments. Keep up the great work!”
I was in St Vincent’s when they brought Joe Root to emergency in 2018. Exclusive access. You might seem him come in to get his tackle repacked after that crotch shot he took yesterday from Starc. Get better soon Alex. I’ve often said that running takes more lives than it saves.
83rd over: England 224-5 (Stokes 20, Bairstow 13) Stokes is looking ominous again. Gets a short ball from Starc that’s an in-between length, so he plays a whip-wristed swat shot, like a tennis cross-court volley, out in front of square towards the boundary for two runs. Deep square leg is back for the bouncer. Starc combs back beautifully with a curling ball that takes the inside edge and... beats leg stump! For four runs! No control there, it should have bowled him but he’s got away with it. Next ball, Stokes drives and he’s dropped! Dropped by Starc in his follow-through! That went back fairly fast, a bit to Starc’s right but he got both hands to it. We’ve seen him take some unbelievable catches off his own bowling, one-handed and all. That was relatively simple in comparison, but it’s gone down, and Stokes gets another run.
You don’t give Steve Smith chances, and you don’t give Ben Stokes them either...
(Well, obviously that’s a meaningless statement because people do, and have, which is why I’m saying it, and the fact that you shouldn’t is an inherent precondition of the idea of a contest itself. But you know. There are things we have to say in reporting on sport, or the Guild writes a stern letter.)
82nd over: England 217-5 (Stokes 13, Bairstow 13) Hazlewood has the shiny new toy from the Anderson End, and immediately has the ball cutting back in as he did yesterday, up in an appeal but it was hitting Bairstow high on the thigh pad and slightly too close to leg stump. He overpitches next ball though, and Bairstow drives back past the bowler’s dive and too straight for mid-off! Wade ends up on the turf as well. Four runs. Hazlewood comes back with another corker, decking back to miss the off stump by a fraction as Bairstow leaves.
81st over: England 213-5 (Stokes 13, Bairstow 9) New ball. New bowler. Mitchell Starc had a fairly dirty day yesterday, as you can read about in my piece below. He is of course the sort of bowler who can suddenly have a great day in the space of five or six balls. His first is on target, just outside Bairstow’s off stump. His next two are beauties! Swing, from a fuller length, on the line of the off stump. One Bairstow allows to go just over his bails, the next he manages to get bat behind, just. He’s teased by the fourth, leaving as it bends back towards him. Serious movement. Another, into the pads, but Bairstow is playing this tough over really well, hanging back and anticipating the swing and this time even scrambling a single as he deflects to leg. Starc with one ball at the lefty bowls a good fuller ball that starts on middle and swings to off, but Stokes reads it. Great start for the bowler.
80th over: England 212-5 (Stokes 13, Bairstow 8) The last over before the new ball becomes available. Bairstow drives a full ball back underneath Lyon for a single. Stokes clips cleanly square but straight to Warner at square leg. Steve Smith is back at first slip for the spinner, and there’s a second slip in the form of Marnus Labuschagne. Stokes sees out the over.
Kim Thonger emails from Madrid to say that nobody has heard of Steve Smith there. I’d also guess that The Bull might have met a nastier end than he did in South Africa.
79th over: England 211-5 (Stokes 13, Bairstow 7) Lovely ball from Cummins! Across Stokes, then it decks off the seam away from the bat and just beats the edge. He was nowhere against that from over the wicket. Cummins too full the next ball though, and flicked fine for a run. Three slips for YJB who leaves the ball alone so as not to give any of them any work. Backward point for a big shot, no gully in the conventional sense. Short-ish cover, mid-off, mid-on, midwicket, but he splits the last two off his pads and Hazlewood fumbles as he dives to give away two extra runs, having to track back towards the boundary. Then nearly adds an overthrow but Wade at mid-off backs him up.
78th over: England 207-5 (Stokes 12, Bairstow 4) Big appeal against Bairstow who doesn’t offer a shot! He was hit miles outside off stump but the ball is spinning miles. It could easily have turned enough, but there’s no way an umpire can be sure of that, it would be guessing. HawkEye reckons it was missing off stump by a sliver. In the old days batsmen could pad up to those all day. Now you have to be careful. If the computer says yes...
Updated
77th over: England 206-5 (Stokes 11, Bairstow 4) Young Jonny Bairstow has a job to do, and so far he’s being a good boy. Not trying anything expansive as he blocks and leaves a Cummins over. There’s still a bit of conventional swing with the old ball, even at this stage of decrepitude. It’s sprightly.
76th over: England 206-5 (Stokes 11, Bairstow 4) Nathan Lyon will start from the Jimmy Anderson End. Old mates, those two. Starc and Hazlewood to take the new ball in a few overs, presumably. Lyon gives it good flight and drop immediately, he doesn’t need to warm up. The right-handed Bairstow has a look at him. There’s big turn immediately for Lyon, one ball going all the way across Bairstow and past his legs from well outside off. He plays a similar ball off his pads but the backward square is in the right spot. Finally there’s a single to end the over, tapped to midwicket.
75th over: England 205-5 (Stokes 11, Bairstow 3) Cummins may be feeling a bit stiff and sore after yesterday. He bowls a relatively gentle couple of first balls, then on the pads of Bairstow for a single. Drops too short to Stokes, who swivels and pulls in a contained fashion along the ground to deep backward for four. Cummins is on the money by the end of the over, just outside the left-hander’s off stump at 87 miles per hour.
Hello all, thanks JP. Pat Cummins will start the day after his marathon spell yesterday. Bairstow to face, Stokes at the far end, England 297 behind. Great mood in the ground already, it’s still grey but not nearly as cold or windy today. Should be an excellent day of cricket ahead (here’s hoping, anyway).
Here’s the TMS overseas link. Listen and watch, folks.
There’s a Geoff Lemon heading your way shortly to take you through the opening session of play. If you want to let him know your thoughts you can find him on Twitter or send him an email.
I’ll see you again tomorrow (presuming England don’t do something utterly horrendous over the next few hours).
Updated
“What’s all this ‘only Australia can win’ stuff?” emails Andrew Cosgrove. “I seem to remember England once played in a match where they were bowled out for 67, conceding a first innings deficit of plenty. I’m pretty sure people were saying then, only one team could win that.” That first-innings deficit was only 112, and time was not a factor. England are still 300 from a lead before they even have to contend with taking ten Australian wickets. So, yeah, I’m comfortable tempting fate.
Scott Blair wants to nominate another sunshine song to brighten your morning. “If we’re looking for songs that contain encouraging thoughts about today’s weather, the legendary Nazareth have it nailed. May the Sun Shine...” Worth it for the braces alone.
I like this image. Something a bit LS Lowry Going To The Match (2019) about it. All those people milling about on the oval, the grey sky, and the Manchester cityscape in the distance.
Come on England!! 🏴🏴 #ENGvsAUS #ashes @lancscricket @englandcricket pic.twitter.com/jrC2gcgqw1
— Rob Wallace (@RobWallace12) September 7, 2019
Mitchell Starc seemed to be blossoming into the most feared bowler in cricket a couple of years ago but now he finds himself on the fringes of Australia’s attack. Geoff Lemon put his considerable intellect towards figuring out why.
Starc is the best white-ball bowler in the world. He can be unstoppable in a format where batsmen have to attack him and where the approach for his 10 overs is known ahead of time. One-day bowling is a sonnet, Test matches are a verse novel. The tyranny of the white page applies to the white clothes.
Simon McMahon is joining in with the Brexit bantz. “I think I might have heard this somewhere else this week, but let’s just get this done, eh? If Stokes goes first ball we can all then get on with the rest of our day. It’d be nice if the series went to the Oval, but that’s just more delay. Get it done now. I’d rather be ... well, you get the point.”
Rory Burns has been one of England’s few bright spots this series so far and he showed again yesterday he has the temperament to open the batting for his countries for many years to come. Barney Ronay sings his praises here.
Burns has been a little frantic against the short ball. Understandably so. County cricket does not provide regular 90mph pace trios to help groove your method. But something has changed here. Burns is a problem-solver, a man constantly refining his technique, an example what the tracksuited gurus on the A team tours he was never asked to attend would probably call a Growth Mindset.
And after his heroics with the bat Burns did his best with the chat, speaking to an assembled press gallery containing Ali Martin.
We’re in a fight and it’s very obvious what we need to do. A couple of good partnerships and then we are up close to them, and we’re asking them to make a play. We have got to look at from a positive aspect. The way Headingley went, anything is possible.
The pitch: Still looks full of runs to me. Those footmarks will encourage Nathan Lyon bowling to England’s left-handers, but apart from that no obvious demons.
Day four pitch #Ashes pic.twitter.com/khohczBY35
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 7, 2019
“Good morning,” howdy John Starbuck. “How does this Fourth Day compare with other Fourth Days in the Ashes (apart from Headingley)?” Presuming this is a literal question and I’m not missing some subtext, Steve Smith was batting at the start of the fourth day in the opening two Tests. Although, there’s a good chance if you picked any slice of time during this series the answer would be the same.
Updated
The weather
Slap on the factor 50, knot your hankie, and make sure that portable hand-held plastic fan thingy has a brand new battery in it, today is going to be a belter. Well, comparatively. In the way that The Wiggles occupying the front bench of the House of Commons would be an upgrade on the current state of parliament.
For the first time this Test the Met Office reckons there is practically no chance of rain falling on Old Trafford, and we may even see prolonged spells of sunshine. The scheduled 98 overs will be bowled with a gentle northerly, as opposed to the biting westerley that has turned a few fielders into Michelin men. The top, wait for it, could get as high as 17 (seventeen) degrees! Unfurl the bunting and pre-pour the pints, for today is a day to celebrate.
Day three was nip and tuck Test cricket of the old fashioned variety and Vic Marks has written all about it right here.
Three late-evening wickets from Josh Hazlewood have left England with a mighty struggle to save this game and keep the pursuit of the Ashes alive. In a six-over spell just before the intervention of bad light Hazlewood dispatched two of England’s most adhesive batsmen, Rory Burns and Joe Root, who had assembled a dutiful partnership of 141. Then he clean bowled Jason Roy, who attracts many adjectives which do not, however, include “adhesive”, whether batting or fielding.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of the fourth day of the fourth Test of the Ashes from Old Trafford.
And what a day we have in store. After three rain-interrupted days the match is delicately poised. Australia are the only combatant with a chance of winning but to do so they must engineer 15 English wickets on a surface containing few demons; not to mention find enough time to plunder enough second-innings runs of their own to bolt the backdoor behind them.
It’s a well-worn cliche this series but the opening hour, and opening session, will be crucial. Should England survive the remaining six overs with the old ball and progress through the early stages of the second new Dukes without much alarm, Australia’s task will grow in difficulty by the minute. A rapid collapse and England will be staring at an almighty rearguard action this evening and throughout tomorrow.
Once again England turn to Ben Stokes for protection. He has the complexion of a Wildling and the glacial melt eyes of a White Walker but with Stokes on night’s watch his teammates could sleep soundly knowing the best-equipped batsman in the team will be at the crease for potentially the most significant passage of play in the Test. Around him Jonny Bairstow, and in particular Jos Buttler - when he strides out as a specialist No.8 - must prove their worth. The latter is a luxury England can ill-afford in recent form, unless he switches codes and transforms into Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard; but not both, never both, we don’t want to open that can of worms again.
Australia’s day will be determined in two phases. In the morning session with the new ball the relentlessly impressive Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will hope to recapture the venom that threatened to rip the match decisively their way late yesterday. After lunch all eyes turn to Nathan Lyon to exploit a surface that is increasingly receptive to spin.
It all amounts to what should be an engrossing day of Test match cricket.
If you want to be a part of it you can drop me a line on Twitter or you can send me an email.
