These grounds have intl lights for night cricket. How can it ever be too dark?

yep players are off due to bad light

surprised. I'd want to stay out there if I was australia against the part timers

First hour tomorrow will be key. If we survive then we have a huge chance to go big

australia 3-124 at stumps with a lead of 34

whats a par score do you think?

If Australia is 200 ahead they probably have batted to tea and England have to get the bulk of runs on day 5 which should be enough

its a game of fine margins. Every run means England have to score the winning runs when the game is around 3-4 minutes older. So the difference between 150 and 200 lead might as well be 150 runs

150 or less and Australia is in huge trouble. 200+ and England are practically out of the game for mine

a tactical mistake for England was not declaring when it was 9 down. They got something like 5 runs off 8 overs or something rediculous

It means the pitch is just that little bit older when they bat 4th

Whoever wins the next session probably wins the match

England take 4 for 80 and its advantage England

Australia lose 1 or less for 90 and its Australia's match to lose

Every time I go to bed, we seem to do well! 

For a while, apart from number 10 Broad sweeping Lyon effectively from wide of off stump, GOAT was all over England. 

Again they had had extraordinary luck keeping him out. GOAT was getting drift, loop, dip, bounce and turn, with consistent accuracy and nagging length. 

Wow! 

Have to admit I love Ashes cricket in England. 

It seems to be the only overseas Test cricket we now see on FTA TV. 

I’m missing Fox with barely any ads, a lot more analysis, their hour highlights package and additional supplementary cricket shows though. 

At the same same time I despise Murdoch and his pernicious global influence. 

Difficult to say what a par score is, Grazor. 

My feeling is the pitch is deteriorating and 180 lead is a 50 50 shot
200 is only 20 runs more but means England are getting g the final runs an hour later, so it may as well be worth an extra 50

240 means we probably get 2 new balls so anything over 250 is probably unchasable. Long way away though

Agree.

It surprising they went off for bad light.

I live close to Bellerive Oval. During the day the lights are often on for red ball cricket if it is a bit gloomy.

The last sentence is too funny, Paddles!

Looking at the scorecard Warner and Bancroft failed again.

Bancroft had technical issues identified before ball tampering. 

Warner has always struggled in England, or has a much lower average than on Aus wickets.

Long term I still believe Renshaw is the answer. He had an impregnable defence. Surely someone as good as he was in Test cricket at age 20 can recapture that form? Someone  wrote  on here Renshaw is so out of form he has been dropped from county cricket! 

indeed he is in terrible form

Warners average in England is near 40 which is good enough in away conditions. We definitely need Wade/bancroft to come good or be replaced with someone who comes good!

Thanks for the commentary grazor.
Morning all. We are hanging in there. Smithy leading the way as per usual. We need to be relatively unscathed at lunch tomorrow. I give us a good chance then as their bowlers will be tiring. The ball is turning big tho.. even Ali looks dangerous. That 90 deficit  has hurt us. Feel Starc 'd have done his usual removal job quicker than was the case. 

That was me DC. Yes Renshaw was unable to buy a run for Kent and was dropped half way thru season.

I do agree that he will be back and better than ever. You dont just lose that talent overnite. It will depend on his state of mind too. Hope CA has a counselling component. Feel Renners needs it.

If Lyon bowls us to victory I will never bag him again DC. He has looked good but has had plenty of assistance from the ruff. 

I’m missing Fox with barely any ads, a lot more analysis, their hour highlights package and additional supplementary cricket shows though. 

So am I.. specially the hilites package. Shows you Neins chase of the dollar and complete disregard for the Australian cricket lover.

We desperately need an in form Renshaw again.

He was a good slipper too.

Good point, Baggers.

Starc bowls well at the tail.

yeah its tricky we miss starc but I don't know who he replaces. Tempted to replace a batsmen

On Warner, he'll probably average 35-40 this series. 
If we can find another opener and a number 6 to average 35-40 we probably win the ashes. Hope we have a couple of players capable of that.

We can only hope, Grazor!

Lets just  sneak him off the bench when we have the opposition 7 down. ha. 

Warner worries me all the same. With little foot movement he is a walking wicket against the Dukes. Take last nites dismissal. He was never behind that ball.

Can we play 5 specialist bowlers?
They beat well enough that the team wouldn't feel that unbalanced

I'm wondering if we should have stuck with Marcus Harris over Bancroft.
How is his form?

Marcus Harris has trouble converting. In fact he has trouble reaching 50.

As for playing 5 quicks .. other than Hazlewood they can all hold the bat. But I fear their techniques will not stand up to the Dukes. 
We have to start producing the next gen of batsmen now. Starting with Pucovski.  I know of several promising batsmen in my state New South.  There are one or two from the other states also worth investing in. Josh Philippe is one. Do you know of any others DC or grazor or Jim?

Firstly, we have to change the nature of our home pitches. We also have to use a ball with similar Dukes qualities that test a player's technique. The more they play on those types of decks the better they will be against the moving ball. It is not rocket science CA.

Gday all,
jaszyjim - Did not follow local cricket at all last season, but will pay more attention this one.
I'm still in favour of bringing in our best all rounder at 6, whoever that may be.
With the openers, Wade & Paine not scoring in the first innings, any all rounder who can put a few runs on the
board would be an improvement - Loosing openers again in 2nd innings for little runs, what do we do?
Khawaja has done enough to remain at 3, as noted Warner has not got his feet moving at all,
but will probably stay & Bancroft has to be replaced, probably by Harris
As mentioned, is Labuschagne playing well enough to come in as an all rounder at 6
and if he is then bring in, if not bring back M. Marsh,
replacing Wade. Siddle dropped & replaced by Starc to give some potency.
With that in mind, next test team = 
Warner, Harris, Khawaja, Smith, Head, Labuschagne or M. Marsh, Paine (c), Cummins, Pattinson, Starc & Lyon.
This to me looks a far more balanced team than what we are playing with now, bearing in mind
England will have another quick replacing Anderson we will have to cope with.
I would also like to see Smith bowled more, the few overs he bowled, troubled the English batsmen.
 

Harsh to be mooting changes after a solitary Test. Am holding onto Bancroft as I see him better value than Harris. Banners at least knows how to bat time whereas Harris has  a problem reaching 50. Is Wade worth persevering with tho. Tuff choice between Labu and Mitch. Mitch for mine as we are a paceman down in this game. On the other hand  Labu has been in top red ball form for his county. His leggies can add a bowling option too. Pommies traditionally do not like facing legspin. I agree about Smithy's bowling. He has improved and has always given it a big tweak.

Dunno about that. Look what happened to Haseeb Hameed of Lancs & England

Yeah, never met anybody who didn’t ‘hate’ Murdoch.

In this game England need to concentrate on holding up an end when “captain’ Smith is at bat and attack the other batters who can’t survive long enough, surely to stop this being another home victory.

Pity I don’t have FTA tv access. Time zones knacker me too as I have to get up for work Monday morning