Australia are looking to demoralise England. Clarke has come out looking positive and has already carted Moeen Ali for a couple of boundaries. But Ali isn't their main man. It is Stuart Broad and Australia's is Smith.
Australia are looking to demoralise England. Clarke has come out looking positive and has already carted Moeen Ali for a couple of boundaries. But Ali isn't their main man. It is Stuart Broad and Australia's is Smith.
The battle between the two has been quite dramatic. Broad tried to restrict the run flow by bowling wide outside off. Smith played and missed a few times and then walked across to smash the daylights out of one delivery and got it to the long off boundary. That was the end of that ploy. Broad then switched to round the wicket and still kept it wide outside off. Smith responded with a nochalant swipe over mid wicket. While the blow must have been disheartening, it was the way in which Smith did it that would hurt England. He exposed his stumps, almost went on a fully open stance, sending out a message to Broad and showed just who's the boss at the moment.
The script is already written for this game or at least it appears so. Australia have racked up a huge lead already. They will want more and quickly. Rogers and Warner have started well and the duo will be expected to get the scoring rate up rather quickly. England are playing catching up at the moment. They will probably try to restrict the run flow but it won't be easy. Expect a declaration sometime before tea. Australia will also be wary of the fact that there is rain predicted on day five.
That's not good at all. Chris Rogers, on 49, experienced dizziness and was forced off the field. Remember he missed the Tests in West Indies due to concussion after being hit during practice. He was hit on the helmet once again by Anderson in the first innings but carried on to score a splendid 173. Let's hope that it is nothing serious.
Warner is put down by Joe Root at short mid wicket. Tough chance as the ball was travelling. Wood cramped Warner for room and the pull evaded Root's clasp even as he leaped up and got a finger to it.
England meanwhile are not too happy with the shape of the ball at the moment. Happens when things aren't going your way
Out fir 83 looking to be aggressive. Ali gets him again but there's a huge difference to the two dismissals. Australia needed him to be aggressive today. Misses out on a ton but a good knock nevertheless
England's restrictive tactics are clearly not working. Smith races past fifty with three consecutive boundaries. The last two were almost yorkers wide outside off that were flicked to the fine leg fence. Read that again. Yes, he did that. Twice! Broad had nothing but a smile later.
The first ball after the drinks break and Mitchell Marsh's first ball of the innings got Gary Ballance. The bowler got one to kick up as it angled across and Ballance was guilty of poking out.
No shift in momentum then. England seem clueless in their approach this innings. Bell gets an inside edge onto the pads and to short leg as Lyon strikes. Failure again for three of England's top four. Its only a matter of time now for Australia. Getting these last six might take longer though. England's best batting has come from their lower middle order.
Lazy, overcautious or simply silly? Ben Stokes failed to ground his bat even though he could have easily and has to depart because of a Johnson direct hit. Stokes was probably trying to avoid getting hit but he wasn't doing even that fully well.
Australia well in control at Tea.
Three out of the first four balls could have yielded wickets for Johnson. He got two - Buttler and Ali. The former fell first ball after the break playing a poor poke outside off and nicking to the 'keeper. Ali was done in by a well thought out short-ball attack. He's had problems before against the short-pitched stuff and Johnson opened up those wounds again. He was trying to pull but it was simply too quick on him and he ended up fending to short leg. Johnson's well and truly back to haunt England.
Stuart Broad had a nervous time out in the middle. He did try to hit out but with no degree of control especially with Johnson roughing him up. Lyon was the easier option to go after. He did connect a couple but his luck ran out soon and he holed out to cover.
The bigger blow came later as a delivery from Hazlewood kept a little low on Root and rearranged the stumps. Australia are now just one wicket shy of leveling the series.
Hazlewood gets past Anderson's defence and that was the end. A massive victory for the joyous Australians. They are back level at 1-1 now. MitchJo has shown enough signs of regaining his Mojo. Steven Smith leads the team out deservedly. Lehmann is all smiles as well. Cook remains despondent. England have a lot of thinking to do now. The manner in which they collapsed in the second innings will be worrying the think tank. The series is very nicely set up.