Fourth test

213/3, this is progressing nicely!

I know I'm in the minority here but the middle order need a grafter and the second best opener in the country is currently batting at 4. Root is a much better player than he was when he last opened and he's grown up doing it and we have players in county cricket like Ballance and Taylor who would be a good fit at 4 or 5.

On the other hand there is a case for sticking with Lyth. He's still catching well and playing with a smile on his face which suggests he hasn't lost his head. In the absence of other options maybe we should just work with him. The UAE may be easier than batting in England against some decent bowlers anyway.

What a great day though. I hope we get 450 and grind them into the dust.

Are you for real? That would have been an absolutely bonkers decision.

England a bit off the boil in this innings. Two drops, a catch off a no-ball and Australia are 129/1.

Two wickets from no-balls and I have an element of sympathy for the bowlers as the umpires aren't watching the front line. It's obvious they are bowling no balls and the umpires are not calling them. Not just this match but throughout the last few years. I said it would cost us when I watched the first half hour after lunch.

They owe it to the bowler to call it real time rather than wait until a wicket falls. The bowler needs to know they are over the line so they can try and sort their run-up out before it costs them a wicket.

3 wickets left after Stokes 'bit of magic late on, feel sorry for the 4.th and 5th day ticket holders should be packed out in the morning and a total lock out hours before play begins

OK, what I mean is they must know they're right at the edge of the limit and that some of them are going to be over. It happens far too often for it to be unlucky or fortuitous. There surely can't be any real advantage in being two inches closer to the batsman than you need to be?

well that was just a bout the biggest shambles of an Australian team as one could ever imagine............and don't ya just love it!!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_xkT-T-KF0

Yeah, I don't think it's really about that though - I think it's about rhythm.  It's not that they're desperate to ike out every last inch like a long jumper might be.  It's just that you mark out a run up to the line and if you're rhythm is out or there's a small kink in the run up then it can go wrong.  Same reason a fast bowler can wang the ball down at 90 Mph one day and struggle to go high than the high 70s another.  Bowling actions are very complex and it only takes 1 thing to be out of balance for things to go wrong.  Fast bowlers are famously lackadaisical about this in practice though.  My sympathy is limited.

Also, I'm not buying the umpires refusing to call no balls.  Their argument is that if they call close No Ball calls and a wicket falls, and the replay then subsequently shows that it wasn't a no-ball then that has a major impact on the game because you can't possibly reverse a no ball call and give a batsmen out because the whole point of calling No Ball in the first place is that the batsmen knows he can't get out of that ball and adjust his shot accordingly.  Whereas if you don't call a No Ball and the replay shows that it was that doesn't really impact the game as much.  If bowlers are naffed off because the replay overturns a wicket that's nothing compared to how naffed off they would be if the replayed showed a phantom No Ball call by an umpire which couldn't be overturned.  But Umpires are paid an awful lot of money for what amounts to a pretty sweet deal so I don't think it's asking too much for them to demand a sensible approach to No Balls.  I get if they want to be a bit conservative but there's no excuse not to keep an eye on the front foot and if someone is persistantly going over they need to be called.  Possibly the future is in some sort of line call technology as they use in Tennis.