Cricket

Isn't going to change with the ecb's obsession with the white ball. The way the county championship has been marginilsed is scandalous

And now they're about to embark on some vacuous 'hundred' bollocks. I hope it's a wet Autumn for them.

Smith not without his worried moments this morning but to get another 100 is incredible really.

The clear difference between these teams.

England need Archer to show up this afternoon and skittle through the other end before Australia get 350.

Anything above 300 though and England are in trouble. Aussies arent far away.

Weather still has a part to play in this, tomorrow supposed to be quite wet.

Come off it Roy. Drops pain on 9 to a shoking shot. England are in for a shocker afternoon here, can just tell.

Spinner gets Smith out but hes bowling no balls  hes probabl

F**k off with that amateur bollocks.

Root just gave the lot of them a bollocking and quite right too. Just cant play like this in an Ashes game. So little passion and some awful discipline.

7 maidens all innings.

Smith will smash us all over Old Trafford from here on in, and even that joker Payne who was out for 9 will get runs.

Spinner bowling no balls - inexcusable really.

Spinner bowling no balls.

F**k off with that amateur bollocks.

No balls aren't watched closely enough by umpires.Can see on some replays that they are clearly no balls not called by the umpire. That's still no excuse for a spinner to be bowling them. Smith could easily take Aussie to 375+..poor.

120 runs too late to he having a pop at Smith now from our wicket keeper. They're not exactly short of ammunition on him!

When we bat all you can hear down stump mic is the bloke averaging 12 and pretending to be their captain chirping our batsman.

It's the ashes. Hes a cheat. Call him out and get under his skin. Sick of all the smiles.

The friendliest Ashes from our P.O.V I've ever seen. Probably because hes captain of an IPL team and they want to be in with a chance of going for millions in the draft.

No balls aren't watched closely enough by umpires.Can see on some replays that they are clearly no balls not called by the umpire. That's still no excuse for a spinner to be bowling them. Smith could easily take Aussie to 375+..poor.

Yeah it helps nobody when the umpires dont call it until a wickets taken. Hes probably been bowling them all game.

Full tosses, dropped catches, no balls, lack of energy in the field, Archer bowling at 85 mph.

Got to go down fighting if that's how it's going to be, but this is poor. England have bowled and fielded themselves out of the game, and now the part time leggy is coming on.

Yeah it helps nobody when the umpires dont call it until a wickets taken. Hes probably been bowling them all game.

Full tosses, dropped catches, no balls, lack of energy in the field, Archer bowling at 85 mph.

Got to go down fighting if that's how it's going to be, but this is poor.

Yeah and sometimes a barnstorming brilliant win sometimes doesn't produce a great reaction.Denly on now.Bad pick by Root.Could possibly induce Smith to a loose shot.Leach & denly on when the ball is swinging. Would've gone Overton & Leach for a bit.Suppose with the new ball due it's understandable.

The drop and the no ball could be significant here. Basic stuff often lets England down.

England are bowling for the rest of the day here unless the Aussies want half an hour at us. 400, 500, 550 who knows but the game has already gone as far as to win is concerned.

We need to bat well twice and on days 4 and 5 this pitch will spin so it will be hard. A great toss for the Aussies to win, and once they did, a horror pitch for Old Trafford to  have prepared.

Dry, slow pitches were the call when we had Swann. They are not for us any more.

Overton into the attack.Good bowler, can swing it and get a bit of extra bounce.Good option,isn't lightening fast and leans away to the left a bit negating his height a bit.Broad getting wide away swing.England, as Mikey says not being consistent with their line.To many steategy's rather than keeping to that line just outside off and get that bit of swing both ways. Way to bowl at OT.

England are bowling for the rest of the day here unless the Aussies want half an hour at us. 400, 500, 550 who knows but the game has already gone as far as to win is concerned.

We need to bat well twice and on days 4 and 5 this pitch will spin so it will be hard. A great toss for the Aussies to win, and once they did, a horror pitch for Old Trafford to  have prepared.

Dry, slow pitches were the call when we had Swann. They are not for us any more.

Yes Aussies looking to comfortable.England scratching around for some spark.Archer looks a bit to casual for me.Like to see a bit of anger, bit of serious aggression.He just looks a bit laid back.Coming out after lunch getting a piggy back ride.Needs to get himself up for the fight. Root should take him to oneside and poke him in the eye..

Stokes injured.Coming off,

Another drop for fucks sake.

Nightmare session for England this, with the Stokes injury as well.

Root trying to get some reaction from Archer, switching him around in the middle of his over..then has a chance dropped.

But Archer should not need his captain to fire him up. Get serious England.Dogsbody stuff.

Another drop for fucks sake.

Nightmare session for England this, with the Stokes injury as well.

Was on the cards early on.

If Tim Paine is lifting the bat then it's been a bad session. Hes given 2 easy chances and we've dropped them. Hes in the nervous 40s at the moment

Add to that the no ball of Smith and it's been an awful session with worse to come after tea.

England will be about 500 runs down going in to day 3.

Punishment for us all after Stokes' heroics last match. Huge fight on now to keep the Ashes alive.

Also not sure Overton is better than Woakes. 80mph bowlers arent going to cut it at this level unless they can land it on a length 9/10 times and get movement off the seam both ways.

It's not the most exciting of inclusions and I cant see him getting many more caps.

Also not sure Overton is better than Woakes. 80mph bowlers arent going to cut it at this level unless they can land it on a length 9/10 times and get movement off the seam both ways.

It's not the most exciting of inclusions and I cant see him getting many more caps.

Woakes bowled poorly at headingley but would have played him if fully fit. Has to be managef because of his knee.

Crucial we avoid the follow on when we bat to ensure there are 4 innings in the match.

With that in mind England could really do with keeping this score down.

If we can get ourselves to a score of 300 that would leave a day and a half left in the game.

Just pure garbage now. Absolute shambles. Lyon is a very average batsman but england just obsessed with bouncing him

Just pure garbage now. Absolute shambles. Lyon is a very average batsman but england just obsessed with bouncing him

They lost it in the afternoon session and the bowlers were fu**ed mentally and physically from there on in. Easy pickings once bowlers get into 4th and 5th spells after 2 days bowling.

England need to bat well tomorrow. They also need to find an opener to partner Burns fairly soon. Roy is at 4 and Denly was the man to be pushed under the bus.

Not sure in our batting line up we need as  many aggressive players as we have in the middle order. We will need a few heroes to dig in tomorrow that's for sure. I dont back us to avoid the follow on so its 3 days to withhold them. Need to be at worst 6 down tomorrow.

They lost it in the afternoon session and the bowlers were fu**ed mentally and physically from there on in. Easy pickings once bowlers get into 4th and 5th spells after 2 days bowling.

England need to bat well tomorrow. They also need to find an opener to partner Burns fairly soon. Roy is at 4 and Denly was the man to be pushed under the bus.

Not sure in our batting line up we need as  many aggressive players as we have in the middle order. We will need a few heroes to dig in tomorrow that's for sure. I dont back us to avoid the follow on so its 3 days to withhold them. Need to be at worst 6 down tomorrow.

Talk of bad weather tomorrow but can't take that into account

Burns and Root fighting here. Cant ask for more than that. Dig in! Can't see the light lasting all evening session.