This was published 4 years ago
Thanks for joining again folks.
Make sure log on to our mastheads for all the latest news and analysis from the SCG.
Hope you bought your virtual seats after another successful Jane McGrath Day in Sydney that was well attended by 28,415 fans.
I’ll be back in the blogging chair tomorrow taking you through all the day four action.
See you then, cheers.
It was an up and down day for Australia’s men with the ball.
Pat Cummins sucked Jos Buttler into hitting one to short cover before finally getting Mark Wood out after being plundered for three sixes by the England quick. Cummins’ radar was slightly off on Friday. Starc got the day rolling with the wicket of Hameed and was steady without being amazing from his 14 overs. Scott Boland had 2-0 and England could barely score a run off him. He went off for scans and then came back but couldn’t find a third wicket. Green was excellent again and was unlucky to have a ball his the stumps without dislodging the bail, while Lyon got smacked around more than normal before claiming the big wicket of Stokes.
Some series, in which one opponent completely dominates another, have a signal sequence in which the underlying reason for the gap between the sides is brought into high-definition focus.
In 2010-11, England’s razing of Australia for 98 on Boxing Day brooked no argument as to the space between the teams of Andrew Strauss and Ricky Ponting; in 2013-14, Mitchell Johnson’s destruction of Jonathan Trott on the second morning of the series set the tone for all that followed it.
This time around, there are a few moments that will vie for position. Perhaps it was the first of them all, when Mitchell Starc swung his opening delivery behind the jerky pre-delivery trigger moves of Rory Burns to hit the leg stump. Or maybe it was Scott Boland’s blink-or-you’ll-miss-it destruction of England’s second innings at the MCG.
In Sydney, Pat Cummins’ relentless Australians provided another interlude that illustrated how ready they were for the rigours of a difficult Test series, only to be confronted by an England combination that has never looked close to that sort of level.
On the third morning, after rain delayed the start of Jane McGrath Day and all its pink commemorations, Cummins, Starc, Cameron Green and Boland combined to keep England scoreless for 70 consecutive balls, during which time they claimed three top order wickets.
After a disastrous start this morning, thanks to some incredibly disciplined bowling from Australia, England recovered from 4-36 to give themselves a chance - albeit an outside one - to save this match.
With three wickets in the sheds, the tourists trail by 158 runs. There are still two days left, so plenty of cricket. However, the weather forecast doesn’t look too favourable for the weekend.
Hats off to Bairstow and Ben Stokes too, who had a bit of luck but played his best innings of the series, with 66 from 91 balls.
England’s No.6 has become the first visiting batsman to make a century this series.
He brings up triple figures with a slash over the slips that races away for four.
Coming in at 4-36, Bairstow battled on from a nasty knock to the thumb and has taken it to Australia’s bowlers, finishing unbeaten on 103.
You have to admire his audacious strokeplay when it would have been easy to go into his shell.
His only other century against Australia in 2017 was a knock of 119 in Perth.
The Sydney Test has been marred by crowd abuse for the second year in a row, with England stars Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow reacting angrily after being sledged on Friday.
Videos sent to The Age and the Herald by a witness show the pair being vilified for their body shape by at least one fan as they headed up the steps to the dressing room in the Members Pavilion.
While most fans were showing their appreciation for the duo’s effort to bat through the second session, at least one punter in the neighbouring Noble Stand could be heard taunting Stokes then Bairstow.
“Stokes, you’re fat,” a fan said.
Labuschagne’s leggies are coming out well. He’s bowling around the wicket and trying to give it a big rip to the left-handed Jack Leach, into a few footmarks.
Bairstow is on 95 and has just over 10 minutes to get another five runs for his hundred.
England 7-250
Cummins bowls a bouncer to Wood and the ball whacks him in the helmet as he tries to play another hook shot.
However, Australia appeal, thinking the ball has got some bat or glove on the way through as Wood plays a horizontal shot. It’s given not out.
Australia are spot on. Snicko shows a spike as it goes through. Looks like glove.
That’s a fine knock from Wood, who makes his way back to the pavilion for 39.
England 7-245
We are witnesses some seriously crisp ball-striking.
Wood, not known for his batting, clips two hook shots over the rope from consecutive Cummins deliveries.
The first six is 87 metres. Wallop.
Cummins now sends down a wide, well down the leg side. Wood has quickly made his way to 37 from 36 balls.
It’s a little slow going at the moment as Starc makes England’s men at the crease work for all their runs. He is coming around the wicket to Bairstow and Wood, trying to spear one into the stumps and draw a false shot.
At the other end, Lyon is into his 12th over and finally has that economy rate under six an over (1-71 from 12).
Bairstow moves into the nineties and with it, now has England’s highest score of the series, going past Joe Root’s knock of 89 in the first Test in Brisbane.
Can he make a hundred? I’ll make a bold call and say he doesn’t.
England 6-218 (Bairstow 90, Wood 19)