Looks like a few spots of rain in the air. If they go off now, they might not go back on till it stops. Suspect there'll be a declaration at lunch.
Too harsh to say that Brook might be a bit disappointed with his strike rate in that innings, given the match situation?
He probably will be but it wasn’t for the want of trying. The old ball was properly soft, impossible to time it. Just wasn’t coming on at all. Him and stokes were struggling to even get it off the square. Australia did well to hold back from taking the new ball for ten extra overs.
True. He did struggle with his timing early on. Will be very surprised if there's not a declaration in the lunch break, with that wicket at the end. Don't see much point sending Broad and potentially Anderson out to bat, and lose two overs to an innings changeover.
Drop Bairstow No good on the gloves and his batting is ***** Drop Root Doesn't score enough Drop Stokes. Doesnt score enough and doesnt know how to make the correct decision. Bazball. It's what I want to see. And all 3 fit the bill amicably. New Zealand started it. We take it to the next level.
England come back out after lunch, Bairstow and Broad leather it for a couple of overs til one goes, then declare. It'll discombobulate them too before they start batting.
Just a little flick from Jonny and it flew over the boundary! Strength and timing .. he’s got both in a big way
I quite like this. Playing with the Aussie openers heads as nobody thought they’d still be batting now. Always thought they’d try and make it a three innings game.
They’re still playing in sunshine so perhaps this “ bad weather “ has been made up to screw the Aussie’s minds up. It’s good to watch though and has got to be one of the best Ashes series particularly if we can make it 2-2. Ha.. it’s started raining .. in West Yorks that is
Crazy that we’re still batting. Not going to get a lot of time to bowl the Aussies out again. Forecast tomorrow is shocking and not a lot better on Sunday.
This does feel like a bit of a waste of time now. But the forecast today suggested there wouldn’t be much play before tea, and have only lost 13 minutes play. So maybe will get more play than feared over the weekend.
Keep them out in the field. Weary legs. Forgot who said it. I reckon Stokes is thinking along those lines. He's not daft he knows the forecasts.