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A fighting England middle-order pushed the WACA Test into the final day but it should be a matter of time before Australia wrap up the series and win back the urn in this third Test match. Join us for live scores and commentary 1.30pm AEDT.
That is not to say that England do not have a very outside chance and it’s probably more than what they did at the start of the fourth day.
Chasing down an inevitable target of more than 500 runs is a lot more difficult than starting a day needing 250 runs, even if there are only four – possibly five – wickets in hand.
The probability still remains minuscule though, given Matt Prior’s poor form and the lower-order ineptitude against the Australian quick bowlers.
It would have been heartening for some to watch the manner in Ben Stokes fought on the fourth day. To a lesser extent, so did Michael Carberry and Ian Bell, but the old problems of getting starts and getting out remained for the visitors.
Stokes batted quite beautifully on a track that hasn’t been the most beautiful to look on, or to bat.
The cracks widened on day four and that process is going to be no different on the final day of the Test either, making his task of survival even more difficult.
And yet, the number six all-rounder helped himself to an unbeaten 72, which puts him on the cusp of becoming the first Englishman to score a century in this series.
Not too many would have anticipated that at the start of the series.
The Australian bowlers did look a tad exhausted towards the end of the day’s play, which was also the period of play where England scored at their best rate.
But with a night’s rest under their belt and a new ball around an hour away, they will be fairly confident of running through the rest of the batting.
I did speak of the outside chance that England have but to really put the jitters in the opposition camp they need their overnight pair to add at least a 100 more runs.
Rest assured Prior will go for his shots – like he did in Adelaide – and if some of those come off and the bowlers begin to lose their directions and the marginal decisions and half-chances start going England’s way, they may be able to get close.
Or else it could get all over very quickly. And the odds of that happening are way shorter.
England had lasted all of 11.4 overs on the final day of the Adelaide Test match, having begun the day six wickets down.
Broad’s injury puts them in a very similar scenario here and I trust the Australian bowlers to take not too much longer than that to win the Test.
And with it, their first Ashes series in six years!
Join us for the fifth day on Monday and you can follow the live score of this third Ashes between Australia and England from 1.30pm AEDT and post your comments below.
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