England 220/2 at stumps.
Deficit down to 58. Unbeaten 3rd wicket partnership of 159. Malan 80 not out. Root 86 not out.
Only 5 wickets fell all day, two of those Australian tail enders. Itâs a very good batting track now.
England to collapse tomorrow, and aus to win at their leisure
Looks like the fifth test will be in Hobart.
if one wicket falls a clutter of them will follow.
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australia by 9 wickets before close id say
Hazelwood didnât bowl after tea. Must have picked up an injury. Starc is very dangerous for 5 or 6 overs with the new ball but after that initial burst doesnât offer much. The fourth seamer Cameron Green has been fairly tame so far.
Yeah. Set them about 120 to get.
Gritty fightback by Rootâs charges. All three results still in play. Series will be decided by which seamers are left standing by the 4th/5th test.
England most likely need to get to 500-550 to avoid defeat here. Thatâs a very tall order. Theyâve just left themselves with too much to do with the first innings batting failure. Iâd agree with @balbec. Theyâll get to around 400 or even a bit over leaving Australia a modest target of 120-150 to chase down.
There have been encouraging signs for England on Day 2 and Day 3 though. Series might be more competitive yet than most people expect.
Is Joe Root the best batsman in the world?
Iâve lost touch with cricket to a large degree, certainly compared to my knowledge of test cricket from around 1997 to 2014. But Root seems to be sheer class. His captaincy, however, appears to be fairly useless.
On current form he probably is. Smith has been largely inactive and not as imperious as he was in 2019. Kane Williamson is a better captain and also in the conversation while Kohli has dropped off.
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Root is the best batsman in the world. Heâs an outstanding technician. Technically heâs possibly the best batsman Iâve ever seen. Steven Smith scored a lot of runs over the past few years but heâs a horrible technique and is a bit of a gimp.
If you havenât really been following cricket since 2014, you possibly also missed a scandal involving Smith and ball tampering in South Africa. He should really have been banned for life for that.
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Old dirty pockets Athers led the way on that carry-on.
Different rubbing a bit of dirt, and carrying a sheet of sandpaper out onto the pitch.
Apparently the Aussie bowlers were struggling as they couldnât get the old ball to reverse swing.
I wonder why not 
rumours that one of the english players was at it during the first innings too
Woukdnt have much interest in the cricket aside from the ashes⌠Are the ozzies that were banned for fiddling with the ball still out of the game?
No. Back as vice captain the ringleader.
The time they got caught on camera was the only ever time they ever did it though, so it was clearly a one off.
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Seems fair enough so!
The six senior players lining out for Australia at the Gabba currently were on the field in Cape Town when they were caught ball tampering - Steven Smith, David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins. They were all fairly senior players at that time as well and most in the âLeadership Groupâ.
There was all kinds of chat about the most culpable captain Steven Smith and David Warner not playing again for Australia. That didnât last long and Smith was recently elevated to vice captain.
The kid on the team that day in Newlands, Cameron Bancroft was a convenient enough scapegoat for it and a lot of the flak got dumped on him even though he wasnât part of the âLeadership Groupâ.
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