27th over: Australia 104-2 (Head 58, Khawaja 22) Carse continues and is back to digging the ball in short too often.A curious tactic when England need wickets to stay in the game – and series.Head picks up a single on the offside as Joe Root spins the arms.As this innings begins to show all the signs of drifting away from England, Edward poses an interesting question from Germany: “5C here in Mannheim and missing the Australian heat.Quick question: is Australia the worst test team in reviewing decisions both in terms of success rate and when deciding to review?”Without having the stats around that to hand, the eye test (and fading memory) certainly suggests there is plenty of room for improvement.

Weatherald failing to review his dismissal earlier in the day seems likely to be down to a lack of confidence from the new kid on the block – perhaps an easier issue to address that processes under pressure in the middle.26th over: Australia 103-2 (Head 57, Khawaja 22) Time for a change as Jacks loses his length and the Australia pair punish anything dropping short.But Head almost presents Root with an improbable chance at first slip as he slices a late cut off a top-edge.The ball races away to the boundary and Australia take 10 from the over.25th over: Australia 93-2 (Head 51, Khawaja 18) Fifty for Travis Head for the sixth time on his home deck at Adelaide Oval.

The local hero swivels on the back foot to crack the ball through mid-on to bring up his milestone with a fifth boundary of the innings.Carse has been better while bowling fuller in this innings, but Head shows how fine the margins are when punishing anything just back of a good length.24th over: Australia 88-2 (Head 47, Khawaja 17) Will Jacks continues as Ben Stokes unusually holds himself back even with the Australia pair looking increasingly comfortable.Three singles from the over without any real risk taken.23rd over: Australia 85-2 (Head 46, Khawaja 15) Brydon Carse replaces Tongue after being the pick of the England bowlers early on.

Jofra Archer understandably started the second Australia innings bowling a bit off his top pace, after a long stint at the crease and a first Test fifty, but he is right in the contest and dives at mid-off to prevent a likely boundary,22nd over: Australia 83-2 (Head 45, Khawaja 14) A better over from Jacks but England need wickets and the off-spinner is barely threatening either batter,A couple of singles from the over,21st over: Australia 81-2 (Head 44, Khawaja 13) Head hammers a drive through cover and his wry grin is almost the exact opposite of Ben Stokes’ anguished face as the ball sits up in the air just long enough to give England a glimmer of hope,But the Australia opener is finding the gaps now and he almost adds another boundary with a straight drive if not for the ball crashing into the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

20th over: Australia 76-2 (Head 40, Khawaja 12) Head goes searching outside his off-stump as Jacks gets a ripper to drift and turn away from the left-hander,That was very nearly something out of nothing! Four singles from the over as both batters ease away anything directed towards their pads,19th over: Australia 72-2 (Head 38, Khawaja 10) Head has been getting into his groove for a while and now controls a slice over slips to the deep third rope,Both batters look comfortable knocking Tongue away for singles as the runs flow for Australia even with a new batter at the crease,18th over: Australia 64-2 (Head 32, Khawaja 9) England persist with Will Jacks even with a new batter at the crease.

The spinner continues to leak runs, just as he did in the first innings, and Khawaja doesn’t let a loose delivery down the leg-side go to waste as he sweeps to the boundary,17th over: Australia 57-2 (Head 30, Khawaja 4) Josh Tongue gets the breakthrough after several close calls for Marnus Labuschagne to bring Usman Khawaja to the crease at the unfamiliar No 4 spot,The now 39-year-old seemed comfortable batting in the position during the first innings, and this time is allowed to get off the mark when punishing a wide delivery with a cut to the rope,Thanks Rob,We actually have a contest on our hands – which, I must admit, is far from what I was expecting this morning, and certainly would not have predicted this time yesterday.

England have had their tails up even after being dismissed for 286 with Brydon Carse in particular finding a nice rhythm with the ball while Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne had to dig in after lunch,This is the sort of scenario that England have too often failed to make the most of throughout this series, but with Labuschagne on his way the momentum might just be about to swing once again,I’ll be guiding us through to stumps,Send us your predictions, thought bubbles and other musings with an email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky or X,Drinks are done, here we go …Drinks With that, I’ll hand you over to Martin Pegan for the rest of the day’s play.

Thanks for your company, see you soon.Josh Tongue strikes with a ripper! Labuschagne was surprised by some extra bounce and fenced the ball to slip, where Brook got both hands under the ball to take a lovely catch.The umpires checked the catch, a wise course of action in this game, but it was clear from the first replay that Brook took it cleanly.Australia lead by 138 and England are still fighting.16th over: Australia 53-1 (Head 30, Labuschagne 13) Another mixed over from Jacks – but when he gets it right, he is a real threat.

Head pushes nervously at a lovely offbreak and edges fractionally short of the diving Brook at slip,That was close,15th over: Australia 50-1 (Head 29, Labuschagne 11) Head is beaten by a ball from Tongue that keeps a bit low,The follow-up bounces too much and is called wide on height; that brings up the Australia fifty,“There’s a lot of (rather polite) chat on TMS about how close (or, indeed, not close) Jamie Smith is standing, particularly with reference to that edge from Labuschagne right after lunch,” writes Tom Hopkins.

“They seem to be slightly dancing around the point that a better keeper would have turned that half volley into a regulation catch.“This is 100% old-man-shout-at-cloud, but it strikes me that those intangibles that a really good keeper gives you (pressure on the batter from standing up, confidence spreading through the slip cordon…) don’t get captured in a stat so they get overlooked.Right here, right now, however they feel like kind of a big deal.”Especially when Smith isn’t getting any runs himself.I still prefer a No 7 who can make Test hundreds at game-changing speed, but it’s a very difficult thing to evaluate because, as you say, you can’t quantify certain aspects of keeping – or of seizing the initiative from No 7.

Australia seem to have found a pretty good solution,14th over: Australia 47-1 (Head 27, Labuschagne 11) Will Jacks replaces Brydon Carse, who bowled a threatening spell of 6-1-19-1,His first ball turns extravagantly, if slowly, and is pushed for a single by Labuschagne,The next delivery is filthy, down the leg side and spinning through the legs of Jamie Smith,Brook saves four byes with a good bit of anticipation.

If Jacks was more accurate he’d be a serious proposition because he gets appreciable turn and bounce.“The Kiwis have had a wee collapse,” writes Ruth Purdue.“It can even happen to proper batters!”13th over: Australia 45-1 (Head 26, Labuschagne 10) There’s no real movement for Tongue though his pace is up around 90mph.Australia are busily stockpiling ones and twos, with Head biffing the occasional boundary, and their lead is now 130.You never quite know against England but Australia will be extremely confident of victory if they set anything over 300.

12th over: Australia 41-1 (Head 23, Labuschagne 9) Carse is mixing things up to Head: round the wicket, then over, then back round.Head just watches the ball and hits it, in this case with a wristy clip to the midwicket boundary.He’s starting to look dangerous.“Reading with morbid fascination in British Columbia (Vancouver Island),” writes David Marriott.British Columbia? Don’t suppose you need a cat-sitter for, say, the next 30 years?In case you missed it, this is well worth a read.

11th over: Australia 33-1 (Head 16, Labuschagne 9) Josh Tongue comes on for Jofra Archer, who strained unsuccessfully for rhythm in an opening spell of 5-1-10-0.Head slashes a back cut for four, with Jacks in the deep almost losing his balance as he tries to run round the boundary.Head could take this game away from England very quickly, just as David Warner often did in the third innings when Australia had a lead.In fact, a few weeks ago Stuart Broad called Warner “the best third-innings batter I faced”, mainly because of his foot-on-the-throat batting in the 2013-14 Ashes.10th over: Australia 26-1 (Head 10, Labuschagne 8) Labuschagne is almost turned round by a good delivery from Carse, who is bowling probably his best spell since the first innings at Perth.

A cracking over ends with a menacing lifter that bursts past Labuschagne’s defensive poke,This is the Carse we saw in New Zealand a year ago,I was starting to think I’d imagined it,9th over: Australia 25-1 (Head 9, Labuschagne 8) Head has a superb record on home ground: he averages 72 from eight Tests and has made hundreds in the last three games, including a mighty 140 against India a year ago,Archer’s fifth over is okay, no more or less.

He’s still bowling a bit too short,I’d be tempted to give him a break because he has no rhythm and is grimacing a bit as he walks back to his mark,8th over: Australia 24-1 (Head 8, Labuschagne 8) Stokes was annoyed with somebody, possibly Smith or Carse, for dithering when he asked for their opinion on whether to review,In the end it would have been better for England if they had run out of time,Labuschagne is not out!There was a murmur on Snicko but it looked like there was clear daylight between bat and ball so Labuschagne survives.

England review for caught behind agianst Labuschagne!Stokes almost ran out of time but eventually made the signal with one second remaining,Labuschagne pushed at a length outswinger from Carse, then snapped his head round to follow the ball into the gloves of Jamie Smith,That’s often a tell-tale sign,7th over: Australia 23-1 (Head 7, Labuschagne 8) It can take Archer a little while to rev up, and at the moment his pace is around 84mph,Labuschagne and Head milk four runs without much difficulty.

6th over: Australia 19-1 (Head 6, Labuschagne 5) Brydon Carse comes this close to a wicket in the first over after lunch,Labuschagne thin-edges a beautiful delivery that reaches the keeper Smith almost on the half-volley,He signals that it may have bounced short; the umpires go upstairs and the first replay confirms as much,A good over from Carse, bowling a much fuller length than he has for most of this series,Ben Stokes leads England onto the field, followed by the Australian batters Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne.

Let’s crack on.“I was in the middle of emailing you about Weatherald before he got out,” writes Chris Paraskevas.“I think he brings something a little different to an opening pairing: he’s compact, reasonably well organised (especially on the offside) and has a punchy, no-frills style of attack.“He reminds me of Chris Rogers in his temperament, the way he builds an innings, and I think they should persist with him for the rest of the series: he might be well suited to English conditions if he can refine his ability to play the ball late.“Perhaps he’s missing a bit of aggro and dog in his batting.

There’s the foundations of a solid Test player in there,,,”I like his tempo as well, though I guess that’s less important when he bats with Travis Head,At the very least I’d give him this series.

Lunchtime reading5th over: Australia 16-1 (Head 5, Labuschagne 4) Head and Labuschagne see off Archer’s third over to take Australia to lunch only one down.They are still in contrrol, leading by 102, but the batting of Ben Stokes (83) and Archer (51) has given England hope of another crazy fourth-innings chase.4th over: Australia 16-1 (Head 4, Labuschagne 4) Labuschagne gets off the mark with a fine delivery, flicking an overpitched delivery from Carse to the midwicket boundary.There will be time for one more over before lunch.3rd over: Australia 9-1 (Head 1, Labuschagne 0) Australia won’t want to lose another wicket before lunch.

The third innings can do funny things to a batting line-up, especially when they are or were in control of the game,A maiden from Archer to Labuschagne,His line was much better but the length was far too short,“Such a rookie error from Weatherald,” says Andy Roberts,“Has he not seen Carse bowl this series? The guy puts the ball all over the place; there was always every chance it would have pitched outside leg.

Frustrated on his behalf that he wasn’t confident enough to review it.”Quite, and it’ll add to the growing* pressure on him, especially if Khawaja gets runs in this innings.* Unfairly IMO2nd over: Australia 9-1 (Head 1, Labuschagne 0) Weatherald did discuss a review with his opening partner Travis Head before walking off.It’s done now.England plead for another LBW when Labuschagne plays across a very full delivery from Carse.

That time it was missing leg stump.Brydon Carse strikes third ball! Jake Weatherald, falling over to the off side, plays around a sharp nipbacker and is given out LBW.It’s a lovely delivery – but replays show it pitched just outside leg stump and would have been overturned on review.Well well.1st over: Australia 8-0 (Head 1, Weatherald 1) Jofra Archer’s first over isn’t the best