Good to see Bancroft gone early but he was never the danger man, Khawaja looks unsettled and leaving the bulk of the scoring to Warner.

But… apart from the half hearted LBW shouts and the edge that didn’t carry it’s not doing enough to challenge them – as warner nearly clips one to Bairstow

Yup, good to get Warner out. Him or Smith on their own are a handful enough, having the pair of them at the crease makes it very hard work.

Do the Aussies have anyone else other than Usi at three? He only ever seems to score big when they’re not under pressure.

Smith batted 3 in India earlier this year with both Marsh’s and Handscombe in the team. Smith at 3 seems a lot more daunting than Usi there but it does leave him open to being in too early if something like this happens.

What do you suppose it is about the ECB set up / expectancy of our test captaincy? Okay, so Cook managed to hold on to most of his form when he became skipper, but we can go back to Botham, Flintoff and now Root, whereby all their natural talent is stripped away from them as soon as they become captain of the test team.

Do other countries have this issue? Certainly not with the likes of Smith and Kholi, even MS Dhoni continued in his rich vein whilst captaining India. Alright, it’s not an absolute, but when Root was selected to be captain, my heart droid sink a bit as the tendency to score next to **** all looked on.

Happy to be proved incorrect with stats, but sometimes, it’s not about the best player, who makes the best captain, S Waugh being a prime example. I’m sure there are many examples of fine English cricketers who became the test captain and continued to either score big or take wickets, but, unless we go back to the mid C20th, none are springing to my mind.

Well, KP’s average during his short captaincy was 52.5 (whilst we won 1, drew one, and lost one away to SA and India), vs 50.8 for the rest of 2008. Not sure that really counts though!

I’m sure there are many examples of fine English cricketers who became the test captain and continued to either score big or take wickets

Without checking the stats, Gooch, Atherton, Hussein and Strauss held up pretty well didn’t they?

Not the slightest hint of a wicket this morning. Aussies to finish the day on 475 with Eng losing cheap wickets before the end of play.

Doesn’t seem to be heading any other way. Smith managing to somehow still hit it well whilst being knocked off his feet by a Broad delivery.

Do we not train debutants where the line of the popping crease is?!?

On the plus side, Mason Crane appears to have quite excited the Aussie commentators, they seem to be pleasantly surprised by both his bowling and his ticker.

and the faint hope of a wicket overturned on review…
Going to be a long day, forecast 42c tomorrow going to be grim out there

And usi has gone, not seen it but assumed he just got bored and wanted to go back inside for a bit

Nice ball actually – dragged him out wider than he thought he was going then ball through the gate for a stumping. Crane is quite good fun to watch bowl, I just wish Root would set a more aggressive field for him. There have been a couple that would have been caught had we had more close in fielders.

The locals do seem to rate him fairly well there, he seems to at least be a bit of a handful which is promising.

So the real question isn’t will S Marsh get his 100 tonight but will Mitch…

Well as the day draws to a close here there is a hint of delirious in the Tms box, Australia will March on and as somebody quipped winning the toss won’t help England avoid batting last. Lyon will rip them apart.

But it’s been an awesome day for charity with $800,000 raised so far this test so please all dig deep and donate
https://www.pinktest.com.au
Glen has been on TMN and the TV talking about the cause and the fund raising so a bit more will help them.

I’ve figured out who Tom Curran is impersonating with his bowling.

The run up is Dominic Cork, elbows jutting, looking like someone running through deep mud. The action is Andre Nel, but without the pace.

I can’t see him being an integral part of the Test side for long, unfortunately.

No, sadly he seems to be just a bit too slow at this level. Might be good as an injury replacement on a pitch that suits, but definitely seems to be lacking penetration here.

But then that latter point nearly applies to all of them.

This no pace in the English bowler lineup business……because apparently we don’t breed them. Not sure I understand the logic – West indies scarey quicks didn’t seem to struggle to be effective in English conditions in the 1980s. Just because English conditions also favour swing does not mean we can’t grow our own proper fasts too surely. And with central contracts and all surely you could see potential in youthful very fast fast medium and pay them to spend their time getting even faster rather than pounding themselves to death on the county circuit..

Just turned the telly on. Now 517/4. FFS.

Convert – mark wood is the obvious example to disprove your comment but I accept that his fitness has a big ? over it.
Australian climate and weather conditions, in general, favour speed over swing/seam. English conditions favour swing/seam over outright speed; I accept that Windies, Lillee, Thommo had great success in england but since their days there has been an increased tendency for groundsmen/keepers to produce wickets which reward the national team skillset so….Australia – flat, dry; England – slightly green.
Spinners, on the other hand, if they’re good enough will pick up wickets irrespective of the surface.
It almost suggests two different teams – one for home and some significant changes for away.

All out for less than 100?

One reason the WI quicks didn’t struggle was that there was no punishment for bowling 12 overs an hour in the 80s. Don’t get me wrong, they were amazing bowlers, but if you’d increased their workload by around 15-20% per hour…….

Then maybe they’d have bowled us out quicker. Or maybe they’d have struggled more.

What we wouldn’t give for a raw young bowler like Harmison now……..

We have a 90mph 25yo bowler. The trouble is he’s not up to bowling more than 24 balls a day.

Slight advantage Aus

Hopefully not; score seems par.

Winning here at that score sets a record, Roy is doing well

Anyone watching?

Nope, listening though. First time this winter I’ve considered paying for BT Sport.

Worth it I think, this series could be close, it’s a different style and confidence there. Good that it’s not just the test team with a few extras

Not able to watch but have been listening and feeling slightly aggrieved that international cricket on TV here in the U.K. resides behind a paywall that I find morally and ethically wrong.

Live and free (I do get it online with my phone contract) or you can pay for a year pass. There is bbl live nearly every night here too

The main thing getting it going is Englands running is very aggressive worth watching

Certainly not the same mind-set as the test team! It’s been very entertaining to listen to.

Plenty of space in the MCG tonight now

Looking at the scorecard, Moeen must have bowled really well? I was obviously sleeping during the con’s innings 🙂

Can definitely hear the barmy army though!

The aussies all seem to have coordinated their fancy dress costumes and have come as empty plastic seats 😆

I think Roy got bored…

Or his finger hurt, Morgan on for the winning runs or a collapse for 30

zokes – Still not a customer
The aussies all seem to have coordinated their fancy dress costumes and have come as empty plastic seats

😆

Well, Root’s there and has now made his requisite 50, so I’m betting on the latter

Hmmmm