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Nice move from Clarke, although it could backfire as Lyth will be feeling on top of the world at lunch if he can actually survive 10 minutes at the crease.

To bat out 150 overs you need a combination of form and tenacity. Only Cook, Root, Stokes and Ali tick those boxes. 4 batsmen won't be enough.

It's going to come down to whether England can bat out 5 sessions on a slow and low pitch. Ultimately I think it will come down to the second new ball of England's second innings.

I don't think the Aussies will enforce the follow-on. We just need to bat on for as long as possible in these benign conditions. I'm interested to see how Moeen does against the new ball.

I don't think you're giving England enough credit here. Sure, we have top order problems, but there's no doubt this side still has plenty about them. Broad has upped his game, Root has gone to another level, Stokes and Ali are now now chipping in regularly with either bat or ball, Cook seems...

Re the debate about who should open for England, if the selectors don't believe there IS anyone else out there then they should consider one of Buttler, Ali or Stokes for the job. This would facilitate the inclusion of Rashid as spinner. In an ideal world Moeen Ali would develop into that...

Meanwhile Cook looks on - 5 not out, two scoring strokes and we're in the twelfth over. Vital we don't lose another wicket tonight.

Australia still have to get Root out twice - believe!

Let's be honest, Joe Root and his middle order cohorts having been carrying this team for some time. Sooner or later it's going to go tits up.

I agree with you, although because there's no one else I think you stick with him for now. What he does have in his favour is that he's used to batting with the England No. 3 and No. 5, so there's familiarity. In this series it's about finding a guy who can do a job, i.e. average 30, get a...

Can't we just fast forward to the bit where we're 40-3 and Joe Root comes out? Oh, and as regards the debut keeper Nevill and byes I'll go for 26.

I agree. If you have 3 wickets available you could crash 40 runs in 15-20 mins, go past 600 and dishearten the opposition. As things are, England had a decent session there, took the wicket straight away and are feeling a lot better than they might have been.

Their tactics must have been simply get to tea batting as normal. I suspect they'll each have 3 or 4 sighters before half an hour of crash, bang wallop.

The thinking is that you can afford to trade runs for wickets by putting a lot more men around the bat and less in the field. I think this is a good strategy when your opponents' top order is fragile, not so good when it is solid.

I'd keep batting until I'd got at least 600 on the board, throw the bat once you get to 550 to reach 600 in a short space of time. The extra runs can afford Clark to set some aggressive field placings for England's top order.

So there are times in the match when having a top spinner can keep you in a match. We'd reached that point in the match. Ali - even though he got 5 wickets in the previous test - isn't of that ilk. Personally, I'd like Rashid to have a go because I think if we're going to be a dominant side...

I'm not saying Ali is a bad bowler - he'll have his day. The point is that Swann was more consistently dangerous and this is the sort of situation when matches can begin to get away from us.

I think it's times like this that having Graeme Swann in the side made all the difference. Not having a top class spinner is a weakness - the Aussies certainly don't fear Moeen Ali.

England 4/1 for the win now. I think this is a good price.

*cough* Babestation *cough*