Ashes 2019: England v Australia fourth Test, day three – live! | Sport

5.16am EDT
05:16

“Hi Jonathan,” hi Peter Bellew. “The stars have finally aligned and I have managed be working from home this Friday. This means I can feign working through the day while enjoying the 3^rd day of the Ashes and England vs. Italy in the evening. This does all however rely on us not giving up all 20 in the two days. Bon Chance England!” Good to have you on board Peter. And an excellent distraction suggestion for when England are three-for-not-very-many in a few hours from now, just focus on the rugby.

5.15am EDT
05:15

While many with a soft spot for the England cricket team might beg to differ, there’s something reassuring and orderly about reading how ineptly they’ve played. Barney Ronay gets into a Madchester vibe with his take on yesterday’s miserableness.

Squint a little and the picture began to dissolve. Baggy-jeaned ghosts shuffled at the edge of the stands. Jangly guitar music seemed to float across the Manchester skyline. And for two and a half hours between lunch and tea on the second day of this fourth Test England went back to the 90s. In Ashes terms that was the decade of sessions from hell, of howlers and shockers, of bursts of defining English ineptitude. Proper Cricket Men will say you can’t win the Ashes in a session – but you can lose them.

Updated
at 5.17am EDT

5.08am EDT
05:08

The weather

The Met Office forecast indicates rain is more likely than not up to 2pm, after which dryness should prevail for the rest of the match. It’s rained overnight and this morning, and with overcast skies and showers drifting along play looks set to be intermittent at best before lunch. It remains to be seen if we’ll start on time but I wouldn’t bank on it.

Updated
at 5.11am EDT

5.02am EDT
05:02

Yesterday, Vic Marks watched Steve Smith bat and bat and bat and bat, and England go through the motions. In return, he brought you this report.

By Thursday afternoon Smith had delivered a double century, the third in his Test career, all of which have been against England. It may not be a match-winning innings, though there is a strong likelihood of it. It certainly ensures that Australia will not lose this contest. It was not a flawless knock. Unusually he needed some assistance from his opponents. On 65 he offered a tough return catch to Jofra Archer from a low full-toss; on 118 he was caught at slip by Ben Stokes off Jack Leach but then came the realisation that the left-armer had overstepped.

4.48am EDT
04:48

Preamble

Jonathan Howcroft

Hello everybody and welcome to live OBO coverage of day three of the fourth Test from Old Trafford.

Not for the first time this summer the day begins with players and staff craning their necks and studying the sky, wondering when play might begin and how many overs might be possible. This is a very Manchester day. The clouds are gunmetal grey and hanging patiently, like an insistent parent holding a damp flannel in the direction of a toddler’s mucky face.

England won’t mind if time is taken out of the Test. Surely they are in no position to contemplate winning, regardless how vivid the memory remains of Ben Stokes’s heroics at Headingley. After two days of sub-optimal bowling and fielding, and ten overs of predictably questionable batting, England will do well to leave Lancashire with the Ashes alive.

If they don’t it will be largely down to Steve Smith. Once again the Australian elevated his craft to levels not seen for 70 years. This is his series, and we are lucky to be around to witness greatness. But cricket being cricket, somehow he may still yet fly home without the urn.

I’m going to be around for the next hour or so to keep Adam Collins’s seat warm. If you would like to keep me company during this time please feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or by email.