Ashes 2021-22.

[Gingerfinch]

No real point batting now imo unless the sun is out tomorrow?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe mental disintegration purposes.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Leach paints over his rather ugly figures at the end there.

388 to win? Butcher did it at Headingley to avert a whitewash, long ago.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Lyon has hardly been a wrecker - as you say , BFL , he hasn't needed to. But until this innings he has kept a lid on the scoring enabling Cummins to rotate his pace men in a way Root hasn't been allowed to do with Leach leaking runs too easily.

Lyon has 14 wickets at 25, which is the second most in the series (either side), one fewer than Starc. Admittedly, only he and Mitch2 have payed in all the games.

[bigfluffylemon]

Miracle, no wicket before close. Highest opening partnership of the series?

108 overs to survive tomorrow. Can England repeat India's last year heroics at the SCG? (spoiler: no).

[Durhamfootman]

Still... well done to the three players who finally showed a bit of fight... thank the Lord for small mercies, but I still don't think they'll score 300

still haven't done it

300 is a basic, isn't it?

Australia have batted 7 times and one of those was knocking off the odd 20 runs to win. Of the other 6 they'e passed 400 three times in their 4 first innings and in the one where they didn't they still completed an innings victory. They've also declared in 4 of their 6 innings, so England can't even claim that it was just the batting that let them down. They've let themselves down in every department

[mikesiva]

Khawaja with another century!

[bigfluffylemon]

And so it begins

[alfie]

Nice innings from Crawley this morning for 77. Looked very good , and it took a beauty from Green to remove him. Not so good from Hameed (very much out of his depth again - couldn't profit from being dropped again by Carey , who has had a messy game). Or Malan who badly misjudged one from lyon.

Stokes also had some luck when Harris couldn't hold on to one at short leg. But he's hung in with Root to lunch at 122/3. Long way to go .

Rain has delayed resumption after the break . Looks a bit murky at present but who knows how much more weather is coming and when ? They will be back on at some point no doubt so I'd imagine there would still be plenty of time for Australia to wrap this up. The other issue might be that there are supposed to be thunderstorms around later in the day - you never know with Sydney weather (even though they often mock us in Melbourne for having four seasons in day)

[bigfluffylemon]

50 overs down, 50 to go...

Only 7 lost for the rain delay.

Doing better than I expected, but my expectations were very low. Still confident the collapse is just around the corner.

[bigfluffylemon]

Only one wicket between lunch and tea. 36 to survive. Good to see a bit of fight. It's the hope that kills you.

England haven't batted over 100 overs to save a test since 2013 (although to be fair, they batted 125 to win in the 4th innings Headingley 2019, and 120+ and only just lost in UAE in 2015). Still, big task left, especially as it's only Buttler and a long tail to come. One wicket and Australia will be confident of a procession still.

[bigfluffylemon]

Plus three injuries and a new ball still to come soon...

[The Professor]

If CA have genuine aspirations of Marnus bring Test captain he needs some training on reviews.

Reactionary doesn't quite do it justice.

[bigfluffylemon]

Buttler out displaying no footwork whatsoever.

17 overs to go. 100 deliveries. Australia need 4. It's been a decent fight, but I can't see the England tail holding out that long.

[bigfluffylemon]

New ball does the damage.

Something about the hope killing you?