The Ashes: Australia in England 16th Jun - 31 July

[Durhamfootman]

"I mean you've just got to be sensible"

"give yourself a chance"

good old MPV

[Arthur Crabtree]

200 partnership in 30 overs!

[Durhamfootman]

madness!

but very much on trend

[Arthur Crabtree]

Honest Joe perishes.

Brook->Stokes->Bairstow->Declare.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Last ten overs for 30 runs. What's going on?

[Durhamfootman]

girding their loins for a big assault tomorrow?

it did seem odd that they would suddenly go in protective mode with the Aussie bowlers tiring and the ball 60 overs old......unless it was reversing a bit, of course

by the time they've got their eye in tomorrow, the new ball will be due

[Durhamfootman]

2 things I took from watching the highlights. Root was dead unlucky to get a ball that kept as low as that and I appreciated the reaction of the Australia players immediately after Crawley's dismissal

[bigfluffylemon]

Well that couldn't have gone much better for Engl and today. Well batted.

Still going to be hard to force a result tomorrow without an Aussie collapse, but they've given themselves as good a chance as they can. Blitz for 25 overs and try and get a lead of 200+, declare before lunch and hope Australia can't see out the day?

Also congrats to Moeen for completing the bowling allrounder's double of 3000 runs 200 wickets. Apparently on the 16th player to do so. I got 14 of the 15 previous:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/66139215

[Arthur Crabtree]

Crawley and Mo had plenty of luck, but the Aussies were ragged in the field. Starc was good again though.

Sunday is starting to look like there may be play between the showers.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe that low bounce will make England bat longer.

[bigfluffylemon]

Short of a Stuart Broad special, it seems very unlikely that Australia will fold tomorrow, and there looks zero chance of play on Saturday and very little Sunday, so that might be that. But if you lose 2 whole days, there is very little you can do. Will be a shame if the series is not still there for the taking at the Oval.

This has to be the most prolific bowling attack that's ever lined up? A&B 600+, Moeen 200, Stokes 197, Woakes 136, Wood 97. Can't think of any other line up that could come close to 1900 test wickets. Although I note in the second test Australia played 4 bowlers with over 230 wickets each, with Lyon closing in on 500 - battle of the dads' army bowling attacks

Towards the end of the McGrath/Warne era maybe Australia came close - Warne 700, McGrath 550, McGill 200, Gillespie 230, Kasprowicz 113. Lee obviously took plenty, but he was early in his career when lining up alongside McGrath and Warne. The last test Warne and McGill played together the combined bowling attack must have had over 1600 wickets https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/sou ... -scorecard

[alfie]

In line with what others have said : excellent day for England ; Aussies looked ragged as the day went on (Starc injury concerns could be a major worry too ) though they were able to limit the scoring in the last hour.

On that : the ball definitely started to play some tricks late in the day. The one that bowled Root was a real grubber ; and then Stokes copped one that leapt at him from a length. So strangely , it seemed batting went from being a breeze to looking quite tricky - note Brook hardly able to hit it off the square - rather suddenly. England will hope this means the pitch will play up even more as Friday progresses - though of course they'd like to get a few more runs on the board first ! The fact that Stokes and Brook really did look to be playing for stumps in those late overs suggests the plan is to maximise the lead in the morning and then hope to use scoreboard pressure on the Aussies in their second knock rather than any daring declarations.

Going to be near impossible to force a result before the weekend though so they will have to hope some play is possible on Sunday (I keep seeing reports that Saturday will feature biblical floods so can write it off completely !)

A nice note - as DFM mentioned : the Aussies hastening to congratulate Crawley when he got out. Notably the "villains" : Warner (old villain) and Carey (new villain ) Good sportsmanship - hope the crowd appreciated it .

[alfie]

Must congratulate Crawley for that knock. Demonstrates the reason why McCullum was so keen to keep him on board despite his lowly average : high ceiling trumps consistency , with this particular group of England players. He's actually had a pretty decent series ; but this was something special. OK , he had some fortune with a couple of inside edges and a few shots not totally controlled ; but by and large he dominated an attack that looked rather tamer than its reputation demanded under his onslaught

Word for Moeen too : did his job as stop gap three and a little bit more. Surprised me a bit to be honest ; but going some way to justify his recall , along with occasional handy if not totally reliable bowling. Good to see Root back in runs as well.

[Gingerfinch]

Surely now is the time to slog? We're not going to lose this game...................are we!

[Arthur Crabtree]

I figure England must have some hyper-detailed forecast which suggests there is more play possible than looks likely on BBC weather.