Thank God I fell asleep and missed that horror movie Stokes lll. Khawaja looks calm and hopefully Head is a cool one this innings and Mitch can produce a repeat his first innings heroics.
Feels like this test should be day 3 or early day 4 with the current state of the match…definitely not stumps day 2. Cummins is an interesting sort…individually is inspiring with his own performance, in terms of leading from the front with ball and of late with bat. Tactically not a Tubby Taylor or Ricky Ponting…but for now, his win/loss record must be more for then against…some say more luck then anything else…but the fella always gives 100% and leaves it all on the pitch in terms of effort.
mikeh, not sure Warner is going anywhere during this series…in all honesty if JL had no probs with Warner being Broads bunny and averaging under 10 in the last UK ashes and JL is a hard arse…a perceived soft touch in McDonald isn’t going to drop Warner, who probably is averaging double then what he did in the 2019 series. Though considering Labuschagne is coming in early most tests…why not open with Labuschagne and move Smith and Head up the order and bat Green at 5…
Looks like day 3 or most of it, will be a wash out, day 4, half a day of play at best and day 5 another rain fest…Aust may dodge a bullet here…that would be hilarious if it did happen… considering Eng have had majority of the luck so far, in terms of winning the toss, and batting or bowling in the best conditions. Plus making Bairstow and Broad angrier ants then what they are now…and Stokes superman heroics pointless.
It will be a monumental failure on Australia’s part of we lose this Test given England’s injury woes, weather aside.
there is nothing uglier than a batsman who has lost his eye & ability through age - why would any young cricketer in Australia want to bother being an opener when he knows a 60 year old is going to be there ?
TBH DD Aust have handed this match to Eng on a plate…4/240 all out 263. A potential 100+ lead whittled down to 20 odd through stupidity… and then Smith an Labuschagne throwing away their wickets through piss poor neglect. If Eng don’t win this…irrespective of Robinson’s injury…then that will be a monumental failure on their behalf…who knows 150 might be a bridge too far…especially looking at those weather reports for days 3, 4 & 5…more cloud then sun it seems…Aust just need a way to curb Stokes…
Lets face it, Australia are 2-0 up mainly because of the inadequacies of this England team. They had a chance of putting this series completely to bed at lunchtime yesterday but they allowed England to wriggle out of it and now they are behind in the game I reckon. You would think that they would have learnt from Lords that bowling full at the stumps rather than short is the best way of getting the tail out. That hour of madness after lunch cost Australia nearly 100 runs and then England took vital wickets before stumps. They have absolutely no idea how to get Stokes out once he is established.
Given that Warner has now got out to Broad 17 times wouldn’t you think he might have analysed how he is getting out and done some work to try and combat this? Maybe he has and he is just mentally shot against him. Labuschagne is also a shadow of the batsman he was 12 months ago. Australia need to push the lead to at least 250 which given the brittleness of the tail in the first innings, the work will have to be done by Head, Marsh and Carey.
If the England team can get their act together and provide some support for Stokes who has been carrying them so far, they may well be able to get back in this series. They have shown that they are capable of chasing down 300+ and I think that there are weaknesses in the Australian team that they can exploit over the next few weeks. The rain forecast may also favour England because it will give their depleted bowling attack a chance to rest and come back hard when play resumes.
The Poms should win this in a canter even though they’ve given Australia every chance to lock it away which we’ve blown as Freezin says. There’s not a whole lot to come after Carey and you’d think the Poms middle order will get their act together at some point.
Enormous momentum swings both ways.Australia with there noses in front,atm.
The biggest difference is our catching is far better,than the English. And our middle order batting is far stronger.
Mitch Marsh,Trav+Carey.With Stokes being left stranded on his own.
England needs a upper order batsman to occupy the crease.Like Duckett did at Lords.
Great test so far in Yorkshire. Another fantastic English Cricket ground.Great wicket that will be a good,batting deck.If we make it to day4+5.
EPL only breaks for 10 weeks a year.So English Cricket has a small window.To get the attention of the whole nation.
Everyone made fun of Moin Ali coming back to the England team after being retired for 2 years. Well guess what, he has just induced Australias two best batsmen into silly shots which led to their downfall and could well have struck a crucial blow in their bid to win this test.
Ali often gets wickets when batsmen don’t rate him and try and belt him out of the attack and I just can’t understand why on earth Labuschagne and Smith of all people gave their innings away meekly when all they needed to do was to milk him and rotate the strike. Even though Smith scored a century at Lords, there is not the aura about him of 2019 and the Poms seem to have a method to dry him up and don’t seem to fear him any more unlike the Aussies who seem to be scared of Stokes shadow.
Credit to young Murphy who showed he has the stomach for the fight by keeping his head up during the onslaught and eventually dismissed the England Captain.
Eng match to lose…tall ask by Aust to bowl Eng out…weather will play its part…a few disruptions might alter the batting concentration …but then the bowlers too. Can see Eng trying to get this done n dusted by tea on day 4…may help Aust…but seems like attack is the way to go on this pitch.
Once again Australia have given England every opportunity to win a Test in this series with either piss poor batting and or clueless bowling and fielding, tactics, field placements etc.
We may have luckily got away with the first 2 Tests but it wont be a 3rd as I can see the Poms smashing us around the park tonight.
Back to 2-1 and with Warner completely and utterly clueless against Broad, Labuschagne & Smith continually having brain fades when set, Head well you never know what you are going to get, Green sadly looking monumentally flustered with both bat and ball, no Lyon available and our complete cluelessness against Stokes when batting…
Game’s not over till the fat lady sings.
Its definitely Englands match to lose now. Australias only real hope is early wickets to put some nerves into the English changeroom but the pitch doesnt seem to have deteriorated much and the conditions should be a bit better today so if they get away to a good start it could be all over before tea. It will require a concerted effort by every bowler. Murphy will have to play a part too. I have the feeling that the key wicket today will be Root not Stokes. Root has the ability to anchor the chase while the others knock off the runs.
Australia really lost control of this game on day 2 between lunch and stumps. They had one hand on the urn with England 7-142 at lunch on day 2 then proceeded to bowl complete garbage to Stokes and the tail. Then the soft dismissals of Smith and Labuschagne completed the cave in.
It was unfortunate that Head and Marsh had to go out and face the English bowlers in the gloom yesterday but it may not have mattered much but for the stuff ups on day 2.
The top order batting has not worked for Australia in this game, Smith and Marsh have nearly scored half of the 587 runs that the team have got in this match which is an indictment on the top 4.
If Australia lose this game, surely they cannot select Warner for the 4th test. Australia are literally batting one man short whenever he is in the team such is the hold that Broad has over him and Harris or Renshaw could not possibly do any worse than he has.
Yes, it will take a monumental bowling effort.
But contrary to some views the urn is not quite England’s yet.
I’m just hoping that England’s over confidence may get in the way today.
Alex Carey Haircut /Haircut Gate
Been reported by the reputable BBC.That Alex Carey had a Haircut and ran out of the Barbers shop.And did not pay for his Haircut. The British media is having a field day with this.Its been denied by Carey +CA.lol
Late Edit
It was someone impersonating Alex Carey at the Barbers shop.I find this absolutely hillarious.
Hopefully he will give Marsh a decent bowl while the ball is still relatively new. He gets good swing in England.
Poms odds on now.
Its done…gee Boland has been the disappointment of the Ashes so far for mine he just cant seem to adapt to the length required in England.
We continue to leak far too many easy runs allowing the batsmen to swap the strike over constantly and not getting a sustained bowl at a particular batsman.
But no doubt the usual lot will continue to pump up Pattys Captaincy credentials!!! 
BH: did you hear MA Taylo’r’s reasoning to keep Warner in the side. ’ He is good at slip’?
Captain Clueless strikes again!
Seriously Smith needs to take the reins for the rest of this series otherwise it will be 3-2 to England, the bloke has no idea with a ridiculous one plan of bombing the tail who are smashing that crap all over the park and dont get me started on the field placings where with even only 2 runs needed and 3 wickets for Australia he had virtually everyone on the rope!
Unbelievably stupid!