Badly missing stokes at 6. Such a longer tail without him. Would prefer bairstow at 6 as a better bat than moeen. Just feels a waste at 7 and the was a stat on bt which shows moeen gets more runs at 7. Also would break up having 4 left handers in the top 6.

Harris was class Also didn't seem like a total which is a rarity for an Aussie cricketer these days.

Agreed that Jonny should be at 6. Before the series I'd have actually been arguing for Bairstow to be at 4, with Root 3 and Stokes 5, because I didn't rate our options at 3 and 5, but Vince and Malan have started well. Malan certainly has excellent technique, so if he can be coached into the test mindset (early signs being promising) then he could be a very good player.

I remember seeing a stat about Moeen's averages by batting position, and his average at 7 was STREETS ahead of his scores at all the other positions he's played. It's the right position for him, to be honest. A bit less responsibility so he can play his swashbuckling shots. He's always very capable of throwing his wicket away stupidly so I definitely like him lower down the order.

Australia look to be in a good position to me. Some early wickets tomorrow could change that of course - we'll see. At the moment I'd make the Aussies favourites.

Yeah the Moeen promotion was strange. They keep moving him around when he's proven that he's at his best lower down the order when there's a bit less pressure on him and can swing a game dramatically in our favour in no time.

Bairstow is a quality batsman and should have remained ahead of Moeen in the line up despite their scores in this test.

I think they wanted to keep Bairstow in the same position as he had done well there.

He has done well there but like the selection of Ball, I still think it's the wrong call. In a game which is so close at the moment, the fine margins could decide the fate of this game. Ball getting the wicket of Warner and Moeen getting 38 and Bairstow 9 could well mean that the selectors have got the fine margins right though.

Really annoyed with the way woakes got out. Absolutely no application, no thought process in that shot.

comment by Jezzer (U4205)
posted 16 minutes ago
Really annoyed with the way woakes got out. Absolutely no application, no thought process in that shot.
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After the surprise of having a really good platform set by Stoneman, Vince and Malan applying themselves, it was disappointing to collapse in the way we did. Some covered themselves in less glory than others.

Can't complain about Ali's dismissal, he got a good delivery, Woakes was an eejit, Malan's annoyed me, he fell into the trap they set for him.

comment by Jezzer (U4205)
posted 19 minutes ago
Can't complain about Ali's dismissal, he got a good delivery, Woakes was an eejit, Malan's annoyed me, he fell into the trap they set for him.
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Agreed, Malan shouldn't have been suckered in. The short ball wasn't too dangerous on a slow pitch and it being slow made it trickier to score from anyway. More value in just letting them bowl a few overs of bouncers and tiring themselves out even if it meant the scoreboard not moving.

Another 30 overs or so would have been enough to get us up to 375 and put more overs in their trio of seamers. Sounds like a lot but after the way Malan and Moeen started the day, it was definitely possible to achieve that.

comment by Blue Heaven (U20912)
posted 7 hours, 4 minutes ago
Australia look to be in a good position to me. Some early wickets tomorrow could change that of course - we'll see. At the moment I'd make the Aussies favourites.
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England still have a slight advanatge. Imo.

We need rid of Smith asap, he is their best player even though he has such a strange and ugly technique

Yea if Smith makes a proper score it could be disastrous. It's all pretty much in the balance now.

Smith is on another level. He’s taken his test average above 60 - long gone are the days when any player with an average approaching 50 was considered top drawer. He’s hitting new heights. Kohli may be out and out the best in limited overs Cricket but Smith is just on another level when it comes to the longer format.

England should really have got to 350 from the brilliant position they were in tbf. Malans dismissal kick strted it all and you could say he got suckered into playing that poor pull shot as every ball Starc was bowling was short of a length.

Why did Smith stop bowling leg-spin in tests as he could have become a top all rounder for Australia and even the best all rounder in international cricket?

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

NOW 2 EARLY FOR THE....

them....^^^

Cook has been average for a while now

A match winning innings in all probability that from Smith, England are effectively 7 for 2 going into the 4th day

comment by (Kash) I'm the Mané, I'm the ... (U1108)
posted 40 minutes ago
Cook has been average for a while now
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Cook was a good player and a decent bloke
England fecked him up as they will with root when things go bad

Australia missed a trick by letting Lyons bowl

Should have rotated the quicks, couple of overs each whilst surrounding the bat at full tilt

If they had Mitchell Johnson here England would 4 down

swung in aussies' favour now but this match still has potential for one or two more twists and turns yet. England need to find one BIG innings or partnership - ideally root and stoneman batting through the first session tomorrow.

if we can manage a 250 lead it will be tough for Australia going into the last day. this could be a series defined by the type of innings smith played today - one big score when it counts turning matches on their head and shifting the momentum of that side.

That was a classic innings from Smith - potentially a match winnings one. Root needs to do something similar now and push England’s lead over 200 as a minimum.