Under-pressure England desperately need to land some blows on the fourth morning of the second Ashes Test following a dispiriting third day at Lord’s.
Rain spared Ben Stokes’ side of any further punishment when it arrived at 5.10pm on Friday with Australia on 130 for two, a lead of 221 runs.
England had been skittled for 325 in the morning session after they resumed on 278 for four with Harry Brook and Ben Stokes unable to live with a terrific opening spell from Mitchell Starc, who finished with three for 88.
Usman Khawaja then continued his rich vein of form with 58 not out at the top of the order and will aim to move Australia’s lead into uncharted territory alongside first innings centurion Steve Smith on day four.
View from the dressing roomNo Lyon, no problem!
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When Nathan Lyon arrived at Lord’s on crutches for day three, England’s eyes should have lit up but the absence of Australia’s frontline spinner with a “significant” calf strain only contributed towards the hosts being skittled out in 14 overs.
Australia captain Pat Cummins stuck with the short-pitched plan that worked against England’s aggression in the evening session on day two and played his part in sending Brook and Jonny Bairstow back to the pavilion.
With the tail blow away in quick time thanks to more bumpers, after Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root had got out in similar fashion on day two, England can expect more short-pitched bowling in their second innings.
Broad blow least of his worries
Stuart Broad took a nasty blow to his jaw in the morning session from a Josh Hazlewood bouncer, but after a concussion check was able to carry on. While slightly shaken, Broad was more unhappy after tea when his loud appeal for lbw against Marnus Labuschagne fell on deaf ears.
Broad’s belief that the Australian was out saw him barely appeal and even though he was left flabbergasted by the not out decision, he was even more perplexed at captain Stokes’ decision to not review.
It proved a poor call by Stokes because after the next delivery Broad looked up at the TV screens inside the ground and saw ball tracker show his ball would have hit leg stump. It capped a frustrating day for England even if Labuschagne was out 14 runs later.
Marathon man eyes record
Labuschagne may not be at the crease, but Khawaja is and could have an Ashes record in his sights after a marathon knock at Edgbaston.
After reaching the end of day three on 58 not out from 123 balls, Khawaja has taken the total number of deliveries he has faced in the Ashes onto 711. The record after the opening two matches of the series is Bill Brown’s tally of 999 balls faced back in the 1938 series.
Bettering that looks unlikely, but Khawaja will certainly fancy his chances after he fronted up to 321 in the first innings in Birmingham.
Starc, Stokes, gone!
Stokes looked to have played the perfect captain’s knock on day two, digging in for 57 balls after England’s mini-wobble to ensure he was there for the third morning, but he lasted one ball on Friday and it set the tone.
In fairness, Stokes could do little to a beauty from Starc, who squared up the England captain and found the outside edge with Cameron Green doing the rest in the slip corden.
Stokes would have cursed his luck and England’s day never got any better with a poor batting display followed up by another wicketless new ball period. Josh Tongue did make the much-needed breakthrough and Broad bowled impressively, but with Australia holding a 221-run lead with eight wickets in hand, the odds are stacked against the hosts.
Angeball meet Bazball
New Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou spent his final day before his work officially begins with the Premier League club by taking in some Ashes cricket at Lord’s. It would have been intriguing to know what the one-time Melbourne native made of the day’s play.
Ex-Australia manager Postecoglou has developed a strong reputation in football with a bold and aggressive style of play that has won many trophies, but does not differ much from what England are trying to achieve under Stokes and Brendon McCullum with their famed ‘Bazball’ approach.
Perhaps Postecoglou would feel more at home playing for the hosts than the more pragmatic tourists. Nevertheless, he starts work at Tottenham on Saturday and no doubt the Ashes will be on the training ground TVs.
ECB chief insists no decision made on Mott future
England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould has denied reports a decision has already been made on Matthew Mott's future as white-ball coach.
Mott's future has been called into question in the aftermath of England's failure to defend their T20 World Cup crown in the United States and West Indies, losing to India in the semi-finals.
Mott also oversaw England's calamitous 50-over World Cup campaign last year, as they lost six of their nine matches in India and crashed out in the group stage.
Reports earlier this week suggested the decision had already been made to dispense with Mott's services, with Eoin Morgan a contender to succeed him, though the former limited-overs captain has since said he has no interest in the role.
Asked by BBC Test Match Special if Mott's future had already been decided, Gould said: "That's not true. That's certainly not true.
"Matthew Mott is a really good guy and coach. He's got a great track record and it is the same with [captain] Jos [Buttler].
"We are always assessing options - that is what happens in high-performance sport, you are always assessing your options.
"You never want to be drawn into being given the dreaded vote of confidence or anything like that. Competitive sport always brings scrutiny and decisions.
"We'll constantly want to assess our options but we'll always want to do the right thing by the sport, the team and individuals."
West Indies grab three late wickets on day one as third Test against England in the balance
England lost three wickets in a dramatic end to day one of the third Test against West Indies, leaving them in a precarious position after restricting the tourists for 282.
Gus Atkinson finished with figures of 4-67, while Chris Woakes took 3-69 for England, as only a fine sixth-wicket stand from Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva saved West Indies from being bowled out for a much lower total.
But England, chasing a 3-0 series whitewash, let their dominant position slip when taking up the bat for the final 35 minutes, Zak Crawley (18), Ben Duckett (3) and Mark Wood (0) being dispatched as bowler Jayden Seales dropped them to 38-3.
Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat, leading his side to a solid start before a spell of three wickets in five overs before lunch put England on top.
Atkinson accounted for Mikyle Louis (26) and Alick Athanaze (2) on either side of Wood sending stumps flying with a full delivery to dismiss Kirk McKenize for 12.
Brathwaite's knock of 61 was brought to a halt shortly after the action resumed, the captain gloving Wood's leg-side ball to Jamie Smith as the tourists slid from 76-0 to 115-5 in 45 balls.
Holder (59) and Da Silva (49) then shared 108 to drag the Windies towards a respectable total, but things looked bleak for them when the latter feathered Woakes' ball through to Smith.
Having gone 30 overs without a wicket, England needed just 14 more to polish off the tail, the highlight being a terrific diving catch from Joe Root to send Gudakesh Motie (8) packing.
England were given just over half an hour with the bat to cap Friday's action, but any hopes of a serene finish were soon dashed.
Holder made two terrific catches off Seales' bowling, the first from Crawley's thick outside edge and the second to dismiss Wood for a duck, either side of Alzarri Joseph's cracking delivery accounting for Duckett.
That spell ensured what had been a good day for the hosts ended on a sour note, with the Windies sure to target quick wickets when the action resumes on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Atkinson and Seales dominate
This series began with all the focus on James Anderson as England's greatest-ever bowler bowed out at Lord's, but Atkinson has taken centre-stage since making his Test debut in the opening match and now has 20 wickets through five innings.
That is eight more than West Indies' Jayden Seales, the next-most prolific bowler in this series, has managed.
Seales was determined to have an impact on day one, though, and his two wickets at the death have set the stage for a far more competitive match than those England won at Lord's and Trent Bridge.
McAllister cannot see Klopp or Guardiola succeeding Southgate
Gary McAllister finds it hard to believe that either Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola will succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.
Southgate, who led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, ended his eight-year tenure following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece.
The 53-year-old was often accused of a cautious approach despite only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) overseeing more England goals than his 213, with supporters wanting to see a more attack-minded manager take over.
And two of the names linked with the vacant position have been pioneers of Premier League football in recent years.
Klopp ended his nine-year stay at Liverpool in May to take a break from management, while some expect Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of his current deal, which expires next year.
The pair have won 653 games between them and shared 25 major honours during their time in England and could be seen as the ideal candidates to end the Three Lions' 58-year wait for silverware.
However, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder McAllister believes Klopp and Guardiola are unlikely to become England's next manager.
McAllister, who played 57 times for his nation, believes supporters would prefer an English manager at the helm.
"I think people are linking Jurgen with the England job purely because he has experience working in the English Premier League," McAllister told Stats Perform.
"He's worked with elite players for many years now at Dortmund and at Liverpool. So people are putting two and two together.
"Personally, I don't see it happening and I think I also see that there were links to Pep Guardiola and I don't see Pep managing England either.
"It's hard for me to comment on this because I'm obviously not English, I'm Scottish.
"The people I speak to within the game, there is a feeling that the manager of England should come from St George's Park, which is the headquarters of English football, the FA and all the coaching programmes that they have there.
"Why would you have all this and then put a manager not from England in? I think most of the people in England are looking for an English manager."
The Three Lions' next game is a Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in September, with Finland their next opponents three days later.
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