Joe Root and Dawid Malan put on a partnership of 159, unbroken at the close, as England edge back towards parity on day three at the Gabba
England ended the day on 220 for 2, with Joe Root and Dawid Malan settling in at the Gabba.
Here's how the day played out...
9.30am local (11.30pm GMT): Here we go again, then. Australia lead by 196 and are so far in front that England have disappeared, puffing and panting, below the brow of the hill behind them. How long will they bat on for? Well, you’d think for as long as they possibly can. Travis Head and Mitchell Starc return to the crease.
10.07am: (92.1 overs, Australia 367-7) Um, nothing is happening for England. Head and Starc are carrying on quite serenely, and have not for a single second looked in any sort of trouble.
10.17am: (94.2 overs, Australia 385-7) Ben Stokes is okay to bowl but he’s not at full pelt and has been greeted with a stand-and-deliver stroke from Head, straight back over his head for six. Hmmmm. Not the finest start for the tourists.
10.24am: WICKET (95.6 overs, Australia 391-8) England finally have a breakthrough this morning. Starc, who had looked in better nick than any of the English batsmen, tries to hoik Chris Woakes over midwicket for six but only picks out Rory Burns at deep square leg. It’s something.
Wicket!
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) December 10, 2021
Chris Woakes gets the first wicket of the day as Mitchell Starc goes for 35.🏏#Ashes pic.twitter.com/87yBpOc6QZ
10.34am: (97.5overs, Australia 395-8) Chance. Lyon has a go at a Woakes slower ball and gives the England allrounder a sight of a return catch. It’s tough, coming quickly to his outstretched left hand, and Woakes cannot hold on.
10.50am: (100.6 overs, Australia 413-8) The ball before drinks, and Head flicks Wood over fine leg for six. He moves to 145, and the nightmare just does not look like ending for England.
10.59am: (102.2 overs, Australia 420-8) A quarter of a chance for England. Nathan Lyon hooks at a short ball from Wood and gets an edge, which is parried by Jos Buttler way above his head. It would have been quite the take.
Travis Head made 152 as Australia opened up a massive lead over England (Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)
11am: WICKET (102.3 overs, Australia 420-9) Finally Wood has reward for an excellent effort. It’s aggressive and into the body and Lyon can only lob a catch into the offside, where Ollie Robinson claims the chance.
11.05am: (103.1 overs, Australia 424-9) Head sweeps hard against Leach, picks out the midwicket boundary and goes to 150. Quite the knock, this.
11.11am (104.2 overs, Australia 425-9) Another chance goes begging for England. Head steps across and chips the ball long into the legside but Hameed cannot hold on after sprinting from the deep and launching himself at the ball.
11.11am (104.3 overs, Australia 425) And that’ll be that. Wood goes full and straight, Head goes back and across, and it is the Englishman who wins this particular battle as the ball smashes into middle stump. Time for England to bat. They trail by 278.
11.26am: (0.5 overs, England 3-0) Burns is given lbw to Starc, stepping across his stumps in much the same way he did when he was bowled first ball of the match. Luckily for the England opener, the ball has lifted just enough off the surface for DRS to show it jumping over the stumps and he gets a stay of execution, and avoids a pair.
Good review from Burns.
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 10, 2021
No pair for the England opener. At least, not yet #Ashes pic.twitter.com/CQyDB0OSHw
Midday: (8 overs, England 23-0) And that's lunch. England's openers have done well here against fierce bowling from the Australians.
12.02pm: Worth noting while we’re at lunch that David Warner is off the field today with what Cricket Australia are describing as bruised ribs.
Warner was struck a handful of times while making 94 on Thursday, including one particular blow from Ben Stokes which appears to have done the damage. Jhye Richardson is on as sub.
Mitchell Starc celebrates dismissing Rory Burns... but the decision was overturned (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
12.45pm: WICKET (8.6 overs, England 23-1) That’s the first one for Australia.
Burns, who has not looked comfortable at all in this Test match, gets a beast of a delivery from Pat Cummins. The ball leaps up and touches the left-hander’s glove as he is cramped for room trying to cut. Alex Carey claims the chance. It has been three days to forget for Burns.
1.54pm: WICKET (20.6 overs, England 61-2) Hameed’s vigil is over. Well, if you can call it a vigil. Hameed has lasted 58 balls but he goes after Starc catches his outside edge as he gets a glove down the legside off the back foot. Alex Carey takes the catch.
2.05pm: (22.5 overs, England 62-2) Australia think they have their man when Hazlewood beats Malan’s bat and Carey and the slip cordon go up in unison.
Umpire Paul Reiffel does not blink. Malan does not move. Cummins reviews but with only HotSpot to go on (the RTS/Snicko technology also broke down earlier in this match and officials at the Gabba have been unable to get it functioning again) there is not enough for TV ump Paul Wilson to justify overturning the onfield decision.
There does look to be a bit of a shadow, though. Is that a let-off for Malan?
2.30pm: (33.1 overs, England 102-2) The hundred is up for England and the runs are starting to slow more freely as Joe Root tucks into Nathan Lyon’s off-spin.
The captain takes his team to three figures by pulling a delivery which is marginally short through midwicket for four. Lyon, meanwhile, continues his long wait to get to 400 Test scalps. It’s been more than 20 overs, now, since he claimed his 399th victim.
2.40pm: (35.6 overs, England 107-2) That’ll be tea.
That is one of England’s best sessions of the Test. Despite losing both openers, they have found a way to mix it with Australia and at the break skipper Root and Malan are both well set.
They remain 171 runs behind, and an innings defeat is still very possible, but they have not folded and that is something.
3.07pm (37.4 overs, England 109-2) Root swivels to pull Lyon down to fine leg for a single. It might seem innocuous but it takes the skipper to a pretty phenomenal landmark.
He now holds the record for the most runs in a calendar year by an English batsman in Tests, surpassing the previous best of 1,481, made by Michael Vaughan in 2002. It’s been quite the year for Root, who has made six tons in the year. He is working his way towards another score of substance right here.
3.40pm: FIFTY FOR ROOT (45.4 overs, England 146-2) Root carts Lyon through midwicket for four to go to his 51st Test half-century. He has been typically excellent against spin throughout today and, along with Malan, has given English cricket a confidence boost after the difficulties of the previous two days.
Joe Root raises the bat, England's first fifty of the #Ashes series pic.twitter.com/yBj8s6gUaB
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 10, 2021
3.54pm: FIFTY FOR MALAN (48.6 overs, England 153-2) A three off Cameron Green takes Malan to his eighth Test half-century. It’s been resilient, timely and pretty much chanceless, and an excellent foil for his captain.
4.04pm: (51.2 overs, England 161-2) That’s the hundred partnership between Root and Malan. Australia captain Cummins, in search of a wicket, has turned to Marnus Labuschagne’s part-time leg-spin.
4.31pm: (56.6 overs, England 184-2) Half a chance for Australia on a day where they have been at a premium.
Cummins chucks in a short ball and Malan goes hooking but can only get a slice of the ball, it skews up towards Marcus Harris at square leg but the batsman appears to lose track of it briefly and cannot scramble quickly enough to meet it in the air.
His forlorn dive forward sums up Australia’s day.
5.32pm: (69.6 overs, England 220-2) Jeez. After all the hard work, England nearly slip up at the last. Green gets as close to Root's bat as he possibly could without grazing it, and the England captain survives.
That's stumps, and Root and Malan have put on 159 to take England to the cusp of parity.
There's still so much work to do but, for English cricket fans and the players they support, that was a very satisfying day's work.
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