Wait till we see England bat Dex - the excitement now will be forgotten if England get bowled out for 38
Looks like the Aussies will want it to rain for four days... it is not looking so bad a toss to lose now is it? On TMS they are speculating about whether Chris Rogers can remain unbeaten throughout the innings without getting a ton. The last Aussie to do it was Bill Lawry in Sydney in 1971 (60 not out from 116). Of course we all knew that the last Englishman was Geoffrey Boycott’s famous 99 in Perth in 1979.
9 down. Skybet still offering 4/11 on England for those who like shorties. Australia a not very tempting 3/1. 12's the draw.
Rogers has ended the speculation about him batting through the innings. Stuart Broad now just three wickets short of three hundred career scalps. Starc has gone while I was typing this, so Broad is only two short of 300! We only lasted 37 overs at Lord’s in the last Test. The Aussies have got three overs to go before they get past that statistic...
Good effort by Nathan Lyon there at No. 11. His eleven runs make him joint third top scorer for the Aussies. They came up short of the 37 overs... With all the rain delays, there are plenty of overs left in the day’s play. Mitchell Johnson must be rubbing his hands. It will be somebody else sending Adam Lyth back to the pavilion after a couple of overs of the England first innings as Starc and Hazlewood open.
The skipper is developing a bit of a habit of weathering the pace storm and then getting out to the spinner. This isn't over by a long stretch. It will be if we're still batting this time tomorrow though. Bollox to this positive cricket mallarkey, 2.5 per over will do me.
This game is over..was by tea. Australia are toast. 2-1 England and another couple of greeners to bowl on after this. Easy series win.
Ashes in danger of becoming boring. They haven't won here since the turn of the century and we got battered 5-0 down there twice recently. Perhaps play somewhere in the middle with a pitch that encompasses both traditions. Qatar?
genius Dex If only they could knock up a quick stadium in double-quick time? Ah hang on ........................
There will be long faces on the Exec at Edgbaston - I'll be amazed if this match lasts until Saturday, never mind Sunday
Boring being on top of the Aussies? Never. Remember the 90s and early noughties, now that was boring. Almost a perfect day for this England cricket fan today. As a former club mate of Rogers I don't even begrudge him a score - a good egg. But what was Bell thinking of. A run a ball 50 and charges Lyon at the end of the day. Lyon has two single over 'spells' and has 2 of the top 3 in the hutch, although Cook was rather unfortunate - rubbish ball and deserved the treatment. Big day for Bairstow tomorrow and I feel to a lesser degree Buttler. After the last Ashes down under I thought Bairstow was gone as far as Test matches were concerned. But fair play to him he's got loads of runs for his County and deserves another crack. 2 big(ish) fifties from either Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Moeen or Buttler should see us well in credit and the Aussies under the pump. Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow, it won't swing or seam and we'll be 350 ahead by the end of day 2. And another poor night's sleep for Cyc
After Lords Marsh and Nevill must have wondered what all the fuss was about with this test match cricket mallarkey. They found out today.
I went to bed dreading 140 all out. Feckin' hell ... 136. Where is this misery leading to? Flogged in the first test, thumping win in the second, balls cut off in the first innings of the third test, and we're not even half way through the bloody series. I can tell ya', I'll be on the laudanum tonight.
Cyc, smoke a bit of the good old ganja, man, and be happy! I honestly haven't the foggiest where this series will end up.
