4th. Ashes Test. Manchester.

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Just before play was called off for the day, Hazlewood bowled Roy. England then were 5/196 (72.4).
Obviously if you keep getting bowled on flat tracks, even when you're pushed down the order to 5, it shows you have no Test technique.

England 5/200 (74) at stumps. A neat score.
Only 64 overs were possible on day 3, after the first session was lost to the weather.
If Oz hope to enforce the follow on, they'll need to take the remaining wickets for under a hundred runs now.
When the next wicket falls, Buttler, playing as a specialist batsman, will come in at 8.


Earlier, just after tea (52.4), Oz missed a chance when Root nicked Cummins between keeper and slip for 4. Root was on 54 at the time.

Then, in Cummins's next over (54.1), Oz burnt yet another review. They are clueless about this. It's already cost them an Ashes Test and possibly the series.

When Hazlewood got Burns nicking to second slip, England were 3/166 (64.2).
When Hazlewood got Root LBW, England were 4/175 (67).

And Starc was wicketless and expensive. Good thing he scored that half-century, but this shows why he wasn't picked in the previous Tests.

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There was also sad non-Ashes news:

Abdul Qadir has died at just 63.

O. Samiuddin, cricinfo: "Some of Qadir's best days came in Pakistan's epic battles with West Indies through the mid-80s. In the two drawn series, in Pakistan in 1986-87 and then 1987-88, Qadir was decisive; his 6-16 in Faisalabad saw West Indies bowled out for just 53 and this, a line-up that included Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson and Larry Gomes."

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Odds:

Oz 50%
Draw 48%
England 2%.

The punters don't think Oz's winning chances have changed in the last day.

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Brettig, cricinfo:

"Not unlike England, much of Australia's selection and approach for Manchester had been informed by the expectation that this would be a faster, more lively surface than the slow seamers offered up thus far. So it was that Mitchell Starc came into the team, having done plenty of remedial work on his lines and lengths in the Worcester and Derby tour matches, with the hope that his speed would be impactful on what is reputed to be the most slippery pitch in England.

Instead, Starc struggled to get things right, failing to make the batsmen play enough on the second evening then giving away too many runs on the third afternoon. His trial with a red ball in his hand, familiar to those those who watch Australia regularly, duly left far more responsibility in the hands of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, alongside Lyon, who was conscripted into a long holding spell at the opposite end to the quicks even though he was not exactly bowling at his best or tightest."

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Miller, cricinfo:

"The cocksure dominance with which Roy had carried England's World Cup campaign was nowhere to be seen in another skittish display. Having been spared the new ball on the first evening following Joe Denly's sacrificial promotion, Roy ought in theory to have been more at home with the shine long gone in the 64th over. But instead he began with ten agonisingly blotted dot-balls, followed by a spring-loaded cover drive for four that begged more questions than it answered.

And sure enough, it wasn't long before his stay was executed, Hazlewood scorching an inducker through another hard-handed, aggressive block-drive that plucked out his middle stump with his feet and hands in different postcodes."

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Ponting to cricket.com.au:

"As far as I'm concerned, Lyon 100 per cent holds the key to Australia winning the Test.

"The quicks have been outstanding and got all the wickets so far, but I have just got the feeling if Nathan gets it right, he's going to be a real handful late in the game.

"He is getting a lot of turn and bounce and it's not going to be an easy wicket for any batsman to start on because of that bounce and spin he is getting.

Jack Leach will get it in the second innings too if Australia happen to bat again.

"There's just been enough there to keep the bowlers in the game.
...

"If you think of Nathan through his career, it's been his consistency and how often he hits the same spot.

“And today and particularly to the left-hander Burns, he was really short, he played off the back foot almost every ball.

"A bit the same with Root. You could see the way Root wants to play him, off the back foot when the ball is pitching just outside off stump and he looks to sweep him if it's fuller and wider outside the off stump.

"So Lyon was just a little bit inconsistent..."

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Taylor says if Oz is to "land the killer blow", they'll need Lyon to take some wickets. He thinks Lyon is bowling a bit quick. Healy thinks he needs consistency.

Healy: "He's doing it tough."

Oz fluffed three chances yesterday, two catches and a run out. They can't afford that on this sort of pitch.

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Cummins to start.

Ponting thinks Lyon from the other end. He says Lyon didn't get his length right yesterday, especially to Burns.

The commentators obviously listen to each other (i.e. not just their on-air partners, but other pairs). I'm not sure whether that's a good thing.

Ponting likes having two men on the hook to Stokes.

But Stokes pulls for 4. Ponting says it wasn't an intentional bouncer. It didn't get up very high.
Ponting: "It needs to be shoulder height."

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Lyon to Bairstow.

Ponting suggests an off-side bat pad.

Paine: "Oohh."

Ponting: "A nice start." He says Lyon bowled really well to Root. Athers says he bowled badly to Burns.

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Ponting says when Cummins has been at his best in the last few years with old or new ball he's been able to take the ball away from the right-hander.

He says when there's movement away, you want to leave the cover region open.

Athers: "Very good over from Cummins. Probing. Fast."

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They show Flintoff. He's been here every day.

Athers says he's "lost some" (weight). Ponting laughs about players retiring and then deciding it's a good idea to get fit.

Smith is back at first slip for Lyon.

Ponting thinks as the game goes on, it'll become difficult to start on.

Big appeal for LBW. No shot played by Bairstow. Not out. No review.

Ball tracking shows it going well over the top.

Ponting says the off-field umpire should be communicating that to Erasmus, so he has feedback and can make better decisions going forward.

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Hazlewood misfields at mid on.

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Lyon bowls the last over before the second new ball is available.

England 5/212 (80).

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Starc takes the new ball. Can he get it right this time?

Bairstow on strike. Three slips. Catching cover. Two men out on the hook.

There's a bit of movement back.

Ponting says Starc's been working on his length. He's had a tendency to bowl two lengths, he says.

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Athers on Hazlewood bowling Roy: "I couldn't say he squeezed it through... because there was a gaping gap."

Athers and Ponting say it's hard to get forward to Hazlewood. The batsmen are trapped on the crease.

Ponting: "His length has been the key, as well as a little bit of natural variation."

But Bairstow off drives Hazlewood for 4.

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Nasser: "It still looks a good surface, doesn't it?"

Stokes inside edges Starc past the stumps for 4.

Naser: "Mitchell Starc has been much better with the second new ball."

Then Stokes hits it in the air near Starc.

England 5/224 (83).

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Now Hazlewood splits Stokes in half. The ball passes over the stumps.

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Short and wide ball from Starc is put away for 4 by Bairstow.