yes good batting track if we work to get ourselves in. got to pile the runs on and make first innings count.

Vince needs to go on and get a big hundred now. Stoneman got stuck a bit. Need to get the run rate up. Not sure about the bt commentary team. Not a patch on sky. Matt Smith not a cricket man to me. Made up by swann, vaughan, Gilchrist, ponting and borrowed boycott from radio 5.

comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 7 hours, 10 minutes ago
England are gonna get hammered in this series.. I don't see any player counter attacking.. we will bat to slowly.. so wont got anywhere.. It will come down to if England can bowl out Australia cheaply.
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What!? Have you not watched England for the past few years. Root, Stokes (although not here), Bairstow and Ali always look to counter attack.

Interesting that Lyon is getting the ball to talk.

Australia take the new ball for the last two overs of the day.

Well they only got 3 balls due to the bad light and the time taken for the review. I'd say Australia just about shade the day due to getting Cook and Root out cheaply.

However England can be pleased how their less experienced batters played. Well done to Vince and Stoneman, shame neither of them could kick on but if you've said at the start of playing that they would score 53 and 83, you'd have taken that.

This next partnership with Bairstow and Woakes need to get England to around 400 which will be a good score if the ball continues to spin.

Australian bowling is very overrated. I’m surprised they have gone with only 4 bowlers. This is where imo England will hold the upper hand. So far England have scored well, if they get past 300 they have a good chance to win/draw this match

I think anything 350+ will be ok. Above 400 would be fantastic.

A shame we didn't select a second spinner alongside Ali looking at the turn Lyon is getting.

Just watched the last 10 overs or so.

Its probably typically England's two top batsmen get done for few runs and their poorer batsmen have good knocks.

Pretty even at the moment, Malan and Ali need to get through the new ball in the morning though otherwise it could be another collapse.

Australian fast bowlers were going at about 85mph at the end of the day, were they bowling 90+ at the start? If not then all that talk from the Australians was rubbish.

Feels like the sort of match - England with a decent but tentative first innings on a slowish track - where David Warner could knock off a 130-ball ton, at which point the whole match changes.

I really feel he's going to be the key man for the Aussies this series. If he has his eye in early then all the pressure will pile back on our bowlers. Bear in mind if the Aussies can't extract much life out of this surface, then we'll find it even more difficult - there's no argument that the Aussie attack is better than ours in every department, especially with the useless Jake Ball playing.

I definitely get the feeling Australia will fancy their chances playing aggressively on this wicket, and England's first day batting might not look so decent this time tomorrow.

The pitch seemed to be quite slow paced so I was glad to see the likes of Stoneman, Vince and Malan apply themselves, stick around and get some runs.

The pitch is meant to get quicker and lose it's turn so it could be tough going for England when Australia have a bat. Hopefully we'll get a big enough first innings score to secure at least a draw though.

What's everyone doing after the ashes finishes? Figured I'll buy a flying car, after all it'll be 2137, should be around by then?

Just hope Broad turns up, Anderson keeps it tight, Moeen finds some consistency and Ball does... I dunno, something. I'm not really sure what exactly it is he does.

Woakes should be reliable though, assuming his pace is back up again. Think we're going to REALLY miss the extra overs from Stokes. I'll be delighted if he proves me wrong, but I just do not rate Ball at all and think he's a completely wasted spot in the team. Can easily see him sending down 25 wicketless overs for 80-odd.

comment by HaaKsworth (U11574)
posted 58 minutes ago
Just hope Broad turns up, Anderson keeps it tight, Moeen finds some consistency and Ball does... I dunno, something. I'm not really sure what exactly it is he does.

Woakes should be reliable though, assuming his pace is back up again. Think we're going to REALLY miss the extra overs from Stokes. I'll be delighted if he proves me wrong, but I just do not rate Ball at all and think he's a completely wasted spot in the team. Can easily see him sending down 25 wicketless overs for 80-odd.
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I agree mate, Broad creates chances though, a lot of catches went down off his bowling over the summer so hopefully we'll take our chances this series.

Also agree on Ball, would have really preferred to see Overton in the side. He's been excellent for Somerset over the past couple of seasons. He was also very good in the warm ups and couldn't have done a lot more to be considered.

However, like Vince, Stoneman and Malan have impressed when they had their doubters, hopefully Ball can impress too.

Just had a look at the weather forecast until Monday, looks like tomorrow will be the best day for batting, with rain around for the following three days.

if you'd have offered me almost 200/4 before play started i'd have taken it. this is a series that we can't win after one test, but could have almost written off if we had been blown away as we were last time. for all the big, bold talk coming from the aussies in the build up, there team is patchy, lacking confidence and a long way below the levels of previous years. grind them down this test, show their bowling to be manageable and their batting weak beyond warner and smith, and we can strike a major psychological blow.

plus every over we put into their three seam attack's legs will be one more ache and pain to recover from over the coming weeks. it was a gamble by australia to pick just starc, hazlewood and cummins - a gamble driven by their own fear of the middle order batting - and if any of the bowlers break down then it is going to make it really tough to take 20 wickets in a test, especially on slow tracks like today's.

Important first hour against the new ball tonight, come through that without losing a wicket and then rack up the runs

England messed up here. Just over 300 is below par.

little disappointing in our final total - that spell of three quick wickets did for us. but if we manage the same against Australia tomorrow morning and nip out smith and marsh early we could still have a decent first innings lead.

even if we can get Australia out for 300 or less and bat well second time around they are going to face a tricky task on a turning wicket day 5. finely balanced right now.

Didnt believe the pundits yesterday when they said it would be a low scoring match, but starting to change my mind now. Breaking this partnership early tomorrow will be key though.

yep, smith the key man for Australia as so often the case

Pretty even so far. Can England get rid of Smith early tomorrow.

Another really close day. Think England have just got their noses in front at this stage despite the partnership of Marsh and Smith. Wickets can fall in clusters so any lead will be welcome, anything over 40-50 would be fantastic.

Jimmy, Broad and Moeen have done a fantastic job of keeping it tight and I'm pleased for Ball that he got the wicket of Warner. I didn't want him picked but that's a really useful contribution from him. Hopefully we'll see more from Woakes tomorrow.

Really is finely balanced, every bit as much as yesterday. I can see arguments for both sides being in front. It literally hinges on whether Smith gets out early tomorrow, because he could go big.

Very glad to see the back of Warner, and Jake Ball getting the wicket as well!

GB is right that, while the Aussie attack is extraordinary when on song, it'll be a shock if all three make it through all 5 tests, especially Cummins who has barely ever played two consecutive tests, let alone 5. He's got a chronic lower back issue, keeps getting stress fractures, and he has a horrendous injury record. Feel for the guy, but from an England perspective it'll be a positive if Cummins only manages 2 or 3 tests.

That said, Ryan Harris played all 5 tests in 2013-14, which was pretty unheard of, so you never know...

Pressure is on for both sides. One batting collapse for either side, or one session of lacklustre/low-pressure bowling, could prove the difference. Fingers crossed it's tomorrow morning...

harris was my favourite aussie bowler of recent years. absolutely brilliant bowler who was terribly unlucky with injuries.

one advantage for England in this test - a draw for us will be a much better result than it would be for Australia, who traditionally look on this test as 1 in the bank.