[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

170-2 at tea, Root the man to go, tried a straight drive and gave Siddle a one-handed return catch. Burns going well, but a bit loose outside off-stump at times, and clearly lost his concentration at points in the session. Vital for England that he sticks around as long as possible. Australia beating the bat every now and then, still something in the pitch, but with a set batsman at the crease we can potentially punish them before close.

[Stairs]

Well balanced at the moment. We should kick on and possibly give them 100+ to chase.

But being cricket and England nothing is so simple.

[Stairs]

Am I the only person to be horrified at the numbers on the backs of the players?

Personally I would not have the name either but that I am, just, prepared to accept - but numbers!!

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Difficult not to feel like England have been shafted here.  Just two wickets all day, old ball doing nothing, so the Aussies whinge at the umpires till it gets changed.  And lo and behold, the "new" cherry starts swinging round corners and takes two wickets in four overs

And they've got an *actual* new ball to come in a dozen overs as well

---

RORY! RORY! RORY! Burns made us all sweat through the nervous nineties, but he completes his 100 successfully. By my reckoning, with the exception of Alastair Cook he's the first England opener to score a century on home soil since Adam Lyth against New Zealand in May 2015.

---

Am I the only person to be horrified at the numbers on the backs of the players?

I do think it spoils the aesthetic and tradition of Test cricket, and if it was up to me it would have got the thumbs-down, but I'm not as angry about it as some seem to be. At the end of the day, there are bigger problems in the sport to focus on.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Have to say, though this team has quite rightly had some stick in recent years, they came out today and fought from the first ball with some proper, old-fashioned Test match batting. They earned every single run from start to finish, and by the end of the day the Aussies had visibly had enough. Just need to take that spirit and fight into tomorrow now. A 100+ lead is potentially on the cards, and with the way the pitch is taking spin already, those runs will be gold-dust come the fourth innings.

The atmosphere was amazing in the last hour too; thought the fans were going to blow the roof off the Hollies.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Normal service resumed. All of yesterday's hard work nearly undone in eleven balls. Middle-order collapse with some absolutely shocking shots, and now down to Broad and Woakes to give us a decent lead. 328-8 at lunch, England ahead by 44.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

England all out for a lead of 90 after a decent showing from the tail. Less than we'd have wanted at the start of the day, but better than I dared hope after the collapse. Ideally want the Aussies skittled for less than 200 now; this pitch will be a killer to chase on.

[themaclad]

Anderson made his injury worse with batting may not see a lot of him this series

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

England have spent the better part of the morning bowling absolute dross, and the game's slipping away. Not a single ball from Woakes all session, so we're effectively two bowlers down. Field-placing laughable at times, leaking unnecessary runs everywhere. Wake me up when the declaration comes.

[Lord Snooty]

Gonna lose this.