Ian Bell carried on the good work of Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen to get to the cusp of his 18th Test century as England begin the fourth day of the first Ashes Test in a position of great ascendancy over Australia. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 8.00pm AEST.
Bell was unbeaten on 95 when play was called off at the end of the third day by which time England had stretched their lead on to 261 with four second innings wickets standing.
Australia went into the third day on an even keel with their opponents and seemed to have forged ahead after picking up four wickets over the next two sessions.
Despite having taken a long time to grab those four, they had bowled well to restrict England’s scoring, which meant when Matt Prior became the sixth batsman out, the home team was only 153 runs in front.
In came Stuart Broad to join Bell and the pair forged a century-run stand on a track turning more and more difficult by the session.
Broad survived a monumental umpiring blunder while Bell had his catch dropped by the keeper soon after but amid all that they did well to bat on for 40 overs.
Earlier, captain Michael Clarke’s decision to take the second new ball as early as he did came as bit of a surprise given how much the ball was reversing for the speedsters.
With the new ball, Australia managed to get only Prior out and by the time it had started reversing again, the two batsmen were set.
So going into the fourth day, England’s first task will be to see the two get to their respective landmarks – Bell to a century and Broad to 50.
Post that, they would love to bat a session and a half or add at least another 100, giving them the opportunity to further tire the Australians on the field and rough up the pitch even more.
On the other hand, Australia’s teeny-weeny chance of making a game out of this will be to restrict the English lead to less than 300 – in the process, pick up four quick wickets and go into the fourth innings with a bit of a momentum.
One way or the other, the visitors will be needed to put up a strong showing with the bat in the second innings, something they have been averse to doing in recent times.
Follow the live score and blog of the fourth day’s play of the opening Test from 8.00pm AEST.
You can join me for this live blog and post your comments below.
Freddie
Guest
Typical convict who has little clue of history, and even less of a clue when it comes to how offensive the word "Paki" is too. Little wonder you are only 30. Go and live a bit, particularly overseas, and get yourself an education regarding other cultures, not just your anglo-Australian (or should I say, pommy) lifestyle.
Andrew
Guest
Rob, your comments are exactly how drs should be ruled, to exclude the extremely poor umpiring decisions, like Broad's. I'm not sure how it should be governed though. Give to the umpires and they will review every ball, give it to captains and they manipulate drs to gain advantage. I think clarke has captained poorly this game and cook has a smarter keeper in prior to help him.
Rob na Champassak
Roar Guru
All I ask is that we have no more DRS controversy. My credulity has been badly strained by some of the stuff that has occurred this match, particularly Trott and Hughes' absurd LBW decisions. The reason I single out those two events is because I felt that the original call in both cases were reasonable and should not reasonably have been overturned - even if Trott did not actually edge it/it was actually pitching in line.
Varun
Guest
I have been on this train for 2 years
Varun
Guest
Let's hope so Wilson
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
It looked good for Australia for much of the time today. First they picked up the last four wickets pretty quickly. Then they got themselves to 1/111 with Rogers batting reasonably well. Cowan left in the same manner he had in the first innings and it was carnage after that. Clarke ate up a review when he had clearly edged it while Hughes was surprisingly given out after the Hawk-Eye ruled that the ball was pitching in line with the stumps. Australia's problems from India continued, they get reasonable starts but aren't able to build sufficient partnerships on pitches which assist slow bowlers. This one had enough for slow bowlers as well as for those who were able to extract reverse swing from the pitch and the batsmen struggled once the sheen was gone. They need 137 tomorrow for a miracle win but one of the men at crease has a 98 to his name first innings. The other is the vice-captain, is a fair bat and will be expected to do a job. Can we have a repeat of what happened at Trent Bridge in 2005 - a close finish? Back tomorrow then! Have a great day ahead.
ak
Roar Guru
Perfect platform for Agar to create magic. Really want to see him doing that. Gonna cheer for him on the 5th day of the Test. Plus its a Sunday. Wow !!!
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
That's that then...Australia have managed to remain six down but they have an uphill task tomorrow. 6/174 with the current stand of 10 from 9.1 overs.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Oh, I meant India all over again in terms of the team not for Hughes. I thought Hughes did a fine job learning how to play slow bowling from that series, improved with every outing plus he was good in the warm-ups here and the first innings.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
One over to go as Agar plays out a maiden. 6/174 in 70.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
A couple of runs for Haddin through the covers, the only two runs of the over. 6/174 in 69.
Rob na Champassak
Roar Guru
I'm not saying that the Hughes dismissal was dodgy. It was absolutely correct to the letter of the law. What I am saying is that it was not really Hughes' fault. As far as he would have been able to tell, it was pitching outside the line. He played it as reasonably as he could possibly have done. I certainly don't think the manner of his dismissal indicated suspect batting on his part. Just very good bowling, and absurdly good luck with Hawkeye. I mean it landed where it landed, but come on...
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Pat, pat and pat, that's all that they are doing for now, wanting desperately to see off the day's play. Three more overs to go and unless they lose a couple here, they will call it a day. No extension.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Right, so another period of around four overs where the wickets have been averted. Haddin's hit a four too. 6/171 in 66. Anderson comes in to test the former number 11 batsman.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
There were a few dodgy decisions in India too. Happens to all teams. Odd collapse or two is also a given. But there is this trend emerging here - get decent starts, then collapse when the ball becomes soft and it begins to turn and reverse. The other day there was Nasser Hussain - I think - talking about how the grounds around the country had been relaid and the drainage system had improved. This means the pitches will lose moisture quickly and become drier quickly too. It happened in the Champions Trophy too and suddenly India looked the strongest side with their list of slow bowlers and batsmen who love such conditions. Given how Australia have played, England will not mind having such pitches throughout the series.
Tom from Perth
Guest
Woo 4 runs!
Tom from Perth
Guest
How the hell are we going to get 145 runs...
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
Where is the fight? Does Agar have to do it all again and save his much more experienced teammates bacon once again?
expathack
Guest
The problem is these kind of collapses keep feeding off themselves. Once we get known for it, the batsmen can't think of anything else they're nervous and the bowling side immediately smell blood,
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
The problem with this is that in the first innings, when they lost a review, it was because it was the bowler appealing and Haddin accepting the ball could have hit the stumps. Haddin should have been the first to know that the ball was swinging down and might have only clipped. So in that case this strategy did not work. For it to work, the bowlers need to be honest and think team first. And keepers need to have the aptitude around it too.