Australia wrapped up a 4-0 Ashes victory with a crushing innings-and-123-run victory over England in Sydney.
Fifth Ashes Test scores
Australia win by an innings and 123 runs, and win the series 4-0
England 2nd inns: 180 (88.1 overs. Root 58ret, Bairstow 38, Curran 23*, Vince 18, Ali 13, Cook 10; Cummins 4-39, Lyon 3-54, Hazlewood 1-36, Starc 1-38)
Australia 1st inns: 649-7d (193 overs. Khawaja 171, S Marsh 156, M Marsh 101, Smith 83, Warner 56, Paine 38*, Cummins 24*, Starc 11; Ali 2-170, Anderson 1-56, Curran 1-82, Broad 1-121, Crane 1-193)
England 1st inns: 346 (112.3 overs. Root 83, Malan 62, Curran 39, Cook 39, Broad 31, Ali 30, Vince 25, Stoneman 24; Cummins 4-80, Hazlewood 2-65, Starc 2-80, Lyon 1-86)
0318: WICKET! It's all over, and in gloriously farcical circumstances. Anderson given out caught behind off Hazlewood. He hasn't hit it, but can't review because Mason Crane used up England's second review when he punched one to the keeper earlier. Australia win by an innings and 123 runs.
0312: YES! FIVE PENALTY RUNS! Another one grubs along the ground from Lyon. Goes under Curran's bat, through Paine's legs and thuds into the batting helmet on the ground behind the keeper.
0309: Steve Smith goes back to Lyon. Fair play to Curran and Anderson. Lyon will fancy getting Anderson and adding one last left-hander dismissal to his collection in this series.
0301: Lovely stuff from Curran even if it is in a clearly hopeless cause. Cummins goes for the full one to start the over, and Curran crunches it back down the ground for four. Curran correctly guesses the next one will be short, and backs away to swat it over midwicket for four.
0258: The Barmy Army stop singing about themselves for just long enough to cheer Anderson getting himself off the mark with two for a chip through mid-on. Not many fielders in front of the bat.
0253: Anderson survives another over from Cummins. Roughly 50-50 split between full balls and short ones. Anderson so far just about managing to avoid the short and keep out the full.
0248: Curran drives Starc to the point fence again to reach double figures. Next ball pitches halfway down and grubs into Curran's shins. Smashing the stumps to pieces, but it's pitched miles outside leg.
0244: Another play and miss. Cummins has now gone past Starc on the top series wicket-taker list. Deservedly so for mine. Smith, the Marshes, Lyon and more have been ridiculously good but Cummins very close to player of the series.
0242: James Anderson plays and misses at his first two balls before managing to get a solid defensive bat on the third. Not huge news, I know, but there's no sign of Root on the England balcony so Australia are one wicket away here.
0240: WICKET! Crane goes to another rapid Cummins bumper that flicks the right thumb on its way through to Paine. Crane uses up England's second review, more in hope than expectation.
0236: Starc goes for the full inswinging yorker - always a good option to be fair - but Crane manages to get bat to ball and collects a single. Curran, reasonably enough, is going to play some shots here and flays a drive through point for four before collecting two with a pull down to fine-leg. Made 39 counter-attacking runs in the first innings, so should be feeling confident enough about his batting.
0233: Starc back with the new ball now.
0226: Mason Crane out to the middle. Surely we're not going to see Root again now.
0224: WICKET! Broad edges his first ball from Cummins for four. The next one is fast and short and cannons off the glove through to Paine.
0221: WICKET! Cummins traps Bairstow lbw early in the afternoon session. It's a big moment: effectively that might be the two big wickets in one. Has to be far less likely that Root returns to the middle now Bairstow has gone. New ball should finish things off swiftly now.
0130: Root pulls Hazlewood through midwicket and pretty much walks two.
0126: Uneven bounce here with Mitchell Marsh into the attack, and it gives both wicket-keepers work to do. First Pain, standing up to the stumps, does brilliantly to take one clean at shoulder height as it rears up from a length. Next Bairstow has to dig one out that scuttles along the ground. Pitched in about the same place, but a yard difference in the bounce at least. The sort of day-five action we just didn't see in Melbourne.
0116: More running for Root, but it's his own fault this time. Almost despite himself he drives Lyon through the covers but literally doesn't have the strength to get the ball to the boundary. Gets through for a third run and looks absolutely spent at the end of it.
0113: Bairstow clips through the legside for a couple. Root barely able to lift his feet from the ground in getting back for the second run. Don't think there are going to be many quick singles here between two batsmen who often run fielding sides ragged.
0112: Root works Hazlewood into the legside for a single and is on his haunches at the non-striker's end. He's really, really struggling. To be honest, I don't think Root should be batting here. This is far, far sillier than Bairstow not using a nightwatchman.
0105: Root absolutely creams a pull shot off Starc and it thuds into the fearless Cameron Bancroft at short-leg. Root more worried about his opponent, who seems fine, than whether the ball has looped up to a fielder. Used to be a dead ball if the ball struck a fielder's helmet but no longer.
2334: Nathan Lyon to twirl away at the other end. Probably a change of plan from Australia there given the unexpected presence of a left-hander at the crease this morning.
2333: Bairstow carefully plays out a maiden over to begin the day.
2330: Joe Root is in the building. Hospitcal tag still on his left wrist.
0531: Root through his shot early as he attempts to take on a Starc bouncer. Takes a painful blow up near the right shoulder for his troubles.
0517: Root beaten by Cummins trying unwisely to force the ball away off the back foot. Much better shot next ball, leaning into a full one and driving through extra-cover for three.
0503: WICKET! Vince caught in the slips again. Surely it's the final time that will happen in Test cricket. Just a back-of-a-length ball outside off stump from Cummins, and Vince obligingly plays with an angled bat and helps the ball to Smith at slip. Slight juggle from the Aussie skipper, but he holds on.
0501: This one from Cummins does find Vince's outside edge, but it lands short of Smith who can't field it cleanly on the half-volley. Two more for Vince.
0457: Successful review from Vince, given out caught behind off Lyon but instantly sending the decision out upstairs. He's hit the pitch, not the ball.
0441: Close! Root plays for spin that doesn't come from Lyon and edges just short of Smith at slip.
0437: Vince with a lovely cover-drive off Hazlewood for three. I've seen this movie before.
0429: Vince starts the evening session nicely with a push back past Hazlewood for a couple.
0410: TEA: England, 25-2, trail Australia by 278 runs
Another brilliant session for Australia. The extra runs they scored after lunch neither here nor there really, but knocking over both openers in the first five overs was very significant indeed. England managed two wickets in a whole day yesterday. Game gone for England now, surely, with personal milestones all that's left. Vince possibly playing for his Test career, while Root will be desperate for a three-figure score. Unless you took the 2/11, it looks like we've missed the boat on backing the Australian win here. . Root is a to top-score, while it's . There are 40 overs to go, with the possibility of an extra eight overs if it's seven or eight down. Every chance if a couple go quickly after tea.
0357: Three more for Root, clipping Hazlewood through square-leg.
0350: Root off the mark with a quick single first ball, and then picks up a couple of twos on the legside off Starc.
0347: Joe Root strides to the middle. Hopeless situation for the team now, but he'd dearly love to finally get that elusive three-figure score.
0345: WICKET! Cook gone! Lyon bowls him in his first over with a beauty. Cook tries to defend off the back foot but the ball spins past the outside edge and flicks the outside of the off stump.
0308: END OF INNINGS: Australia, 649-7d, lead England by 303 runs
Smith has seen enough. There are 142 overs left in the match and England are going to have to bat pretty much all of them.
0306: Cummins swipes Crane into the legside. Stoneman comes off the rope looking for a catch but in the end stuffs himself and can't even prevent the boundary. Picks up a single from the last ball of the over. That'll be that I reckon.
0304: Nathan Lyon has taken his pads off. Steve Smith is in his whites.
0302: Cummins has a hack at Broad and gets a thick inside edge past his stumps and down to the fine-leg boundary.
0301: Paine and Cummins just picking Broad off for ones and twos. Looks like the 300-run lead is the target for the declaration...
0257: Hot.
0121: Marsh dealing in boundaries now. Very shrewd in these conditions. Slaps a short ball from Ali through the covers.
0115: And another Marsh drive, square this time, off Curran.
0110: Lovely cover-drive from Marsh off Crane brings up another boundary.
0058: England have had more individual wicket-takers in this innings than Australia have had in the whole series. There's your stat.
0050: Tim Paine drives Crane for four and then works a single to bring up the 550.
0041: WICKET! Gone next ball! Keeps a bit low and nips back to knock back off stump and give Curran his second Test wicket.
0039: HUNDRED FOR MMARSH! This has been quite a good day for the Marsh Brothers. That's a fine innings - it was so, so hard for him against Crane first up, and then against Anderson with the second new ball. Cashed in on all the dross in between. Not as good as his magnificent innings in Perth, but that's down to the quality of the bowling he's faced more than anything else.
0030: MMarsh to 99 with another pair of boundaries off Broad. Pulled and then pinged down the ground. That will be drinks.
0022: Even with Broad, wonderful bowler that he is, the drop-off from Anderson is now so, so marked. MMarsh cuts and pulls for successive boundaries after having nothing to go at from Jimmy. The partnership is now up past 150.
0019: Anderson's superb new-ball spell is over. Four overs for four runs, and those off a genuine edge at catchable height between first and second slip. Broad now hunting for 400.
0015: MMarsh calls SMarsh through for a dicey single. Bairstow quickly whips off the glove and throws at the non-striker's stumps. Just misses, and SMarsh would've been gone.
0012: Another superb Anderson over. Two huge lbw shouts against MMarsh. Joel Wilson not having either of them, and both decisions are fair enough. The first is just clipping leg, the second just missing. England review neither.
2300: We go again. It's hotter than the sweaty depths of hell itself in Sydney today. An absolutely brutal day in the field awaits for England's beleaguered attack before the sweet relief of declaration once Australia's sadistic pleasures are sated. Then England will try and fail to bat out for a draw. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First we have the Marsh Brothers. Shaun is two away from a century, Mitchell 37. For both/either, it will be a second century of an already hugely successful series.
Day three recap
0651: CLOSE: Australia, 479-4, lead England by 133 runs
Bruising, painful day for England as Australia just grind them into the Sydney dirt. Only 286 runs in the day, but only two wickets as well as Khawaja, Smith and the Marshes each took the chance to fill their boots on the best day for batting. An exhausted England will have to bat four sessions at least to get a draw against an attack that includes a proper spinner. Seems a tall order.
0650: No.
0649: SMarsh to 98 with a first-ball single. Can MMarsh help his brother out?
0648: Last over of the day. Anderson to bowl it. SMarsh needs three.
0647: There's the 100 stand for the Super Marsh Bros as Mitchell smacks Curran behind point for four.
0646: We're also one run away from a Marsh-Marsh hundred partnership.
0643: Marsh clips Curran through midwicket for a couple to move to 96. Can he get to three-figures tonight?
0635: Strange moment. Curran wins a dubious-looking lbw verdict against MMarsh, who reviews. From replays it looks like it's probably missing leg, but the third umpire has managed to spot an entirely fictional inside edge and overturns the original decision on this basis. There's nothing on Hot Spot, and a tiny squiggle on snicko. But the Hot Spot on the other side shows that the tiny noise was bat hitting pad, not ball. Luckily for everyone involved, it is indeed missing leg stump by a long way. In summary, then: two horrendously bad umpiring decisions combine via sheer luck to produce the correct result in the end.
0625: Fifty for MMarsh, who couldn't lay a bat on Crane earlier in the day but is now enjoying himself in the evening sunshine. Took him 18 balls to get off the mark, but has reached 50 in just another 47 deliveries.
0612: SMarsh drives a Root full-toss to the cover fence to bring up the 100-run lead.
0610: Four more for Marsh, hitting Ali over mid-on. Horrible time for the bowlers and fielders here. The lead is now 96.
0602: England have kept it tight, but the charge is on now with the return of Ali. MMarsh hits him down the ground for a pair of sixes before adding four more through the covers.
0548: No luck again for Crane. Big ripping leg-break comes back at SMarsh from way outside off stump, and he plonks a top-edged pull shot straight up in the air but somehow finds safety to the right of Broad at mid-on.
0546: Big leg-before shout against MMarsh from Crane. Flattening all three, but has it pitched outside leg? Dharmasena thinks so, and Crane fears so. England don't use their last review, and prudently. PItched just outside.
0541: The 400 comes up with a jab into the legside from SMarsh. MMarsh flicks the next ball fine down the legside for four. Plumb in front if he'd missed it, but got a good piece of it.
0538: MMarsh beaten again by one that only just misses his off stump as well. The all-too common tale with the leg-spinner, though: the next two balls are absolute pies that MMarsh hits for four, driving a half-volley through the covers and then smacking a long-hop through midwicket.
0530: MMarsh battling away. SMarsh looking serene. But Australia not getting away from England here. Still a chance England could get away with a draw here if they've fight enough left in them. .
0516: MMarsh having a torrid time against Crane, but finally gets himself off the mark with an edge wide of slip for two.
0501: A fourth play and miss from Mitch Marsh lures England into a review as the ball spins sharply past the edge and to Root at first slip. Hit the ground, not the ball. Great decision from Kumar Dharmasena, just looked for all money like a routine edge to slip.
0406: Bit of away shape from Anderson, but a thick outside edge from Marsh runs away for four. Glorious shot to follow, though, a crunching square-drive to bring up another half-century.
0400: Anderson back into the attack with another maiden over. Has bowled superbly well in this series, but the support just hasn't been there for him.
0353: Australia ahead as Marsh slaps Ali through the covers for four. Good use of the feet from the left-hander. England had a decent spell either side of lunch, but batting very easy now.
0352: Khawaja dabs Broad down to the third-man fence. Deficit down to two.
0350: Big Broad lbw shout against Marsh, but there's a lot of inside edge on that.
0343: Broad back into the attack, still looking for that 400th Test wicket. Marsh gets him away through midwicket and down the ground for a couple of twos.
0338: Quirk of this series has been England's ability to keep things quite tight without ever really seeming to put that batsmen under concerted pressure.
0325: Fifty partnership as Marsh works Curran away to the long-leg fence. Wrong line from the bowler.
0322: Marsh is given out caught-behind off Root, but it's reviewed and overturned. Nothing on Hot Spot or snicko, with the noise looking like it's bat on pad rather than bat on ball.
Day two recap
0643: CLOSE: Australia, 193-2, trail England by 153 runs
No century tonight for Khawaja, then, but unlike England yesterday there are no late dramas for Australia who are now in a position of real dominance. Barring something entirely unexpected, they should kick on tomorrow and secure a huge lead on the best day for batting and leave England with a lot of work to do on the final two days to avoid a 4-0 defeat. Khawaja's been excellent and Smith, despite being someway short of his usual God-like standards, has made a chanceless 44 not out.
0642: Root's first ball is a horrible drag-down that Khawaja smashes through midwicket for four to move into the 90s.
0641: Root to bowl the final over of the day. Khawaja 13 away from a century...
0638: Very, very easy for this pair now. Smith didn't actually start all that convincingly today but he's in ominous and full control now. Picks Crane off for a couple to bring up the 100-run stand.
0609: Khawaja reverse-sweeps Crane and collects three as Curran does good work to prevent the boundary.
0551: Even Smith's edges are perfectly judged. Great delivery from Broad, angled in and moving away, but with soft hands Smith edges it wide of a diving Bairstow and short of Alastair Cook at first slip.
0549: Smith gets to 6000 Test runs. It's his 111th Test innings. Only You Know Who has done it quicker in, ludicrously, 68 innings. Smith is joint-second with Sir Garfield Sobers.
0542: Edge! Drinks break almost at it again. Broad draws Smith into playing at a full, wide one and the outside edge scuttles along the ground and wide of Root at second slip. Four more for the Aussie captain, who is now just two short of 6000 Test runs.
0537: Crane's best over this. Genuine edge from Smith lands short of Root at slip before Khawaja sends one looping in the air off pad and glove. Crane and Stoneman converge on the ball but neither can get there before it lands mid-pitch.
0533: Broad back into the attack with a maiden.
0528: Iffy moment for Crane. Twice aborts a delivery at the last moment and when he does finally release the ball it's a waist-high full-toss that Smith slaps for four through midwicket.
0526: Edge! Crane finds Khawaja's outside edge but it finds the gap between keeper and slip and bobbles away for a couple of runs.
0524: Good maiden over from Curran to Khawaja. Probing line and length.
0517: Khawaja going along superbly well now, coming down the track and hitting Crane back down the ground for four. A single to cover brings up the 50 partnership.
0515: Curran attempts his back-of-the-hand slower ball and gets it all wrong. Turns into a loopy thigh-high full-toss but Smith can't put it away. He's mildly narked about it.
0511: Khawaja almost offers a bat-pad chance off Crane, but Stoneman diving forward can only scoop it up on the half-volley.
0502: Crane bowling to Smith. Two England debutants have got him in this series so far...
0455: Four more for Khawaja as Crane ends a good over with one a bit too wide and a bit too full that's driven sweetly. Too easy, that. This is Khawaja's fourth half-century against England, and at 55 not out it's now remarkably the best of them. The other three worth only 54, 53 and 50.
0451: Curran back into the attack with a better over. Only two runs from it, and those come from Smith's outside edge after he plays back to one he should have been forward to.
0446: Khawaja takes Ali downtown for a glorious, towering six to bring up his third half-century of the series. Hasn't gone past 53 in the other two.
0440: Khawaja into his work nicely after tea, skipping down the wicket to create a full-toss from Ali and whipping it wide of mid-on for four.
0436: Beauty from Khawaja, rocking back and crashing an Anderson long-hop through square-leg for four. Not been many of those from Anderson in this series, and Khawaja's taken full toll there. Hundred up for Australia.
0431: Ready again for the final session of the day.
0415: Australia have shortened a touch further to in the match betting, with . Steve Smith is a to top-score for Australia. Fill your boots there, it's what he does and Warner was by far his biggest threat given his remarkable recent record here. Australia currently - say that out loud - and I'd expect them to do so around this time tomorrow.
0412: TEA: Australia, 96-2, trail England by 250 runs
Good effort from the England bowlers in a session that showed just how flat this pitch really is. With the attack they've got here, it was vital that Anderson and Broad led by example: between them, they've contributed 15-3-30-2, dismissing both openers. That'll do. Ali and Crane have bowled some nice stuff without being quite consistent enough, Curran got a bit of tap from Warner which is a thing that can happen.
0410: Steve Smith off the mark with a flowing cover-drive for three off Anderson.
0407: Friendly one just before tea for Khawaja, a wide long-hop from Ali that he slaps through point for four.
0401: WICKET! Anderson strikes. It's an off-cutter that Warner edges through low to Bairstow. Smart catch, smarter bowling. What a cricketer Anderson is. Warner looked all set for a big one here, but has to go.
0359: Good over from Ali. Almost gets Khawaja caught at close cover before spinning one past a tentative forward defensive prod.
0354: Beauty from Anderson bounces and seams to go past the outside edge of Warner's optimistic attempt at a booming drive.
0351: Warner cuts Ali away to the point boundary. He's putting this pitch in perspective right now.
0349: The ball is going to be changed after failing to get through the umpire's hoop gauge. Out comes a very fancy little briefcase of old balls.
0345: Warner works the returning Anderson into the legside for an easy single to reach a nicely compiled 50. It's looked pretty easy.
0343: Huge lbw shout against Khawaja on the sweep. Touch and go whether it's hit him in line. England decide not to review. It's umpire's call for both impact with the pad and the off stump, so wouldn't have been overturned but would have been a free review.
0340: Warner creams a drive through the covers for four as Ali overpitches and offers enough width for the left-hander to free his arms.
0335: Ali back on in place of Crane, with a good over as well. Khawaja gets three for a deft back-cut before Warner is almost deceived by a quicker ball before managing to jab his bat down on it and get a thick inside edge to safety.
0331: Edge! Genuine nick from Warner to a good one pushed across him by Broad, but it reaches Root only on the half-volley.
0321: Broad back into the attack, one wicket away from the 400 Club.
0319: Crane lands a googly nicely, but Warner looked to pick that pretty easily and defends off the back foot. Both spinners bowling okay here, but still feels like they're waiting and hoping for a mistake on this good batting pitch.
0313: Half an lbw shout from Crane against Khawaja. Nothing doing, but it's been a nice enough start from the young leg-spinner.
0306: Partnership goes past 50 and starting to look good. Warner looking to get on top against the spinners, Khawaja looking nice and solid. Maybe the drinks break can do the business for England...
0304: Warner in his Baggy Green now with two spinners on. Slaps Crane through cover for a couple.
0258: Warner slaps the last ball of the over through the covers for a couple. Three from Crane's first over. Dragged a couple down, landed a couple nicely.
0257: Third ball's a nice one. Drifts across Warner and spins back in. Solidly defended.
0256: His first ball is a drag-down, but Khawaja can only slap it out to deep midwicket for a single.
0255: Time for a first look at Crane...
0254: And he isn't. Third boundary in four balls for Warner, this one thumped back down the ground and beating Broad's despairing dive at mid-off. Twenty runs from Curran's three overs. Warner accelerating into the 30s.
0253: Back-to-back boundaries for Warner off Curran, driven through the covers and glanced fine on the legside after an over-correction from the bowler. England asking a lot of Curran as third seamer in a two-spinner attack here. They need him to hold an end at the very least.
0250: Good follow-up from Moeen, though, spinning one past Khawaja's outside edge. Didn't miss off stump by far either.
0249: Runs off Moeen now as a couple of easy singles to mid-off are followed by a thumping drive through mid-off for four from Khawaja.
0243: Two overs, two maidens for Moeen Ali. Looks to be coming out quite nicely.
0237: Broad and Anderson out of the attack after four-over new-ball spells. Curran and Moeen now in tandem.
0223: Warner bottom-edges a pull shot into his thigh-pad but still collects four as the ball runs away to the fine-leg fence.
0219: Anderson snakes one past Khawaja's outside edge. Good start from England's wily old new-ball pair.
0208: Punchy cover-drive from Warner brings a couple of runs. He's made first-innings hundreds in his last three Tests here. Took him almost a whole session to do it against Pakistan last year.
0207: He's off the mark with a quick single here anyway, which is a good sign for that knee.
0206: Usman Khawaja, another batsman under a bit of pressure, in at three. We understand his knee is fine after that nasty-looking tumble in the outfield yesterday.
0205: WICKET! Broad strikes with his second ball! After Warner takes a quick single, Broad spears one through Bancroft's inadequate defences to knock back off and middle. Nipped back a touch, but bizarrely loose defence form Bancroft, who's gone for a duck.
0202: Fine maiden over from Anderson to start. Big innings this for Bancroft. Won't be a certainty for the South Africa tour without runs here.
0158: James Anderson and England ready to go for Australia's first innings. Cameron Bancroft to face first ball, as always.
0125: Might feel like it's been England's morning, but it's Australia's price that's shortened. , with and the . Davey Warner is a to top-score in the Aussie first innings. Smacked a hundred in a session here against Pakistan last year. England are in the afternoon session - would rather be on the the other side of that, to be fair - while it's that James Anderson strikes before tea.
0122: LUNCH: England 346 (112.3 overs)
It's one of those again. England wouldn't have taken it at 228-3, but they would have done first thing this morning at 233-5. It's a working total, and Curran in particular has batted nicely today. Who knows, if England can find some way to dismiss Smith before he's got a hundred it could be game on. Here's an encouraging stat, anyway:
2245: Very different to the sight that greeted us first thing yesterday. The sun is shining, conditions are good, and today should be a batting day. Unfortunately for England, there's a very real chance now that most of that batting will be done by Australia. Those last 10 minutes last night really were a kick in the teeth on a day that summed up this tour pretty well. England competing, battling their way into the ascendancy at points, but being swiftly cut down when it really came down to it.
Day one recap
0805: CLOSE: England 233-5 (81.4 overs)
A day that should have been England's ends as Australia's thanks to a ridiculous last 10 minutes with the new ball. Root's centuryphobia sees him finding ever more imaginative ways to get out between 50 and 100. Flicking a leg-stump half-volley straight to square-leg after back-to-back boundaries is up there. He'd played so, so well as well. That left Bairstow with 1.5 overs to survive at the end of the day. He couldn't do it. On a flat pitch and with a long tail, England are, once again, in real trouble.
0802: WICKET! Brilliant end to the day for Australia now. Hazlewood goes wide on the crease and draws Bairstow into playing at one he didn't have to. Nicks it through to Paine, and that will be stumps.
0758: Steve Smith gets overexcited and reviews an lbw shout against Bairstow that has absolutely nothing going for it. It's clearly swinging down leg for a start, but we don't even get as far as ball-tracking confirming this: Bairstow's got an inside edge. Australia lose a review. Smith's also done himself out of another over from Starc tonight with that review. Hazlewood to bowl what will now be the final over of the day.
0754: WICKET! It's happened again! Root falls short of a century. Eventful three deliveries with the new ball. It's the worst delivery of the three, swinging into the pads, but Root clips it straight into the hands of Mitchell Marsh at square-leg. It's so, so soft.
0752: Four more! Less convincing this time, a big inswinger that Root somehow squeezes past leg-stump and down to the fine-leg fence.
0751: And Root responds by punching the very first ball back past the bowler for four.
0750: Starc at the top of his run with a sore heel and a new ball.
0743: Jonny Bairstow and Mason Crane both padded up. New ball will be available for the last three scheduled overs today.
0735: Starc grimacing and hobbling. Right now, the gamble to play him here has not paid off.
0733: Malan works the next two balls into the legside for a pair of twos that take him past 50. Battling innings, not as fluent as either of his efforts at Perth, but no less valuable for that. Really has been England's big unlikely positive of the series. It's his fifth Test half-century to go with that WACA hundred.
0732: Mitchell Starc starts his final spell of the day with a 78mph half-volley. Malan gratefully slaps it away to the cover fence.
0723: Malan fiddles one slightly uncomfortably into the legside for a single that brings up England's 200.
0717: For the second time today, Root top-edges a hook shot and gets away with it. Having holed out in Melbourne, it shows the fine margins in this game. Got one fine of long-leg earlier, this one goes between long-leg and deep square-leg for two. Ten overs left in the day. England 40 minutes away from a very decent opening day. This is Root's highest score of the series, which is silly given his form has been so decent.
0709: Root hooks Cummins safely out to deep square-leg to bring up the hundred partnership.
0700: Cummins back into the attack with a good maiden over to Root, and that will be drinks.
0652: Couple of twos for Root off Marsh take him to 64. These are the danger times for Root, but he's looking absolutely imperious.
0642: This game approaching "perfectly poised" territory here. .
0631: Drop! Steve Smith paid a heavy price for dropping Alastair Cook at slip in Melbourne. He's put down a very catchable chance here offered by Malan off Lyon. Not sure he's even laid a hand on it in the end as the ball passes over his right boot.
0628: Malan throws the bat at a wide half-volley and slices the ball behind point for four.
0627: That run out near-miss the only real alarm in the last half-hour or so. Pitch looking very, very flat. Khawaja, meanwhile, is back out there which is good to see.
0623: Horrible mix-up between Malan and Root. Malan cuts to backward point. Root calls him through for a single, but Malan stays put. They're briefly at the same end before Malan belatedly realises he's got to run. The throw comes back in to the keeper's end, and a decent throw from Paine back to Lyon would have been enough. But he drags his throw a yard wide of the stumps and Malan escapes.
0409: Better shot from Malan brings two more, back-cut past slip, and takes England to three figures. They've taken some damage, though, with three wickets down in what are now good batting conditions. The frustration will be that they got through the difficult new-ball period with only one wicket down, but have failed to cash in.
0407: Dawid Malan off the mark with a slightly loose drive off Lyon. Ball slides off the face of the bat in the air but safely through gully for a couple.
0402: WICKET! Nope. Pitching just on leg stump, and Cook has to go. Hitting the middle of middle, that part was never in doubt. All about where it pitched. Completely understandable for the on-field umpire to say not out, but great use of the technology.
0315: Vince throws his hands at a wide one from Starc and sends a thick outside edge over point for four more.
0309: Rare bad ball from Lyon, dragged down outside the left-hander's off stump, but Cook can't take full advantage. Punches it through the covers but only picks up two as the timing's not quite perfect.
0304: Textbook cover drive from Vince brings him four before he climbs all over a short ball from Starc and crashes it over backward-point for four. Both feet off the ground to play that one. Smashed it.
0252: First look at Nathan Lyon today. Cook immediately works him away for a single. Vince drives pleasantly for a couple more.
0251: Cook now just 32 runs away from 12000 Test runs. Ludicrous, really. This is also his 150th consecutive Test match, a feat only previously achieved by Allan Border.
0249: The drinks break almost claims another victim as Cook top-edges a pull shot but finds safety out at deep square-leg. Trots through sheepishly for a single.
0243: Pitch a touch quicker than I think anyone expected this morning given the weather. Bouncer from Cummins absolutely flies over Vince's head and is called a wide. Wasn't silly short by any means but it whizzed through.
0236: James Vince off the mark with a clip off his pads for two.
0231: Two for Cook off a thick outside edge attempting to drive Cummins through the covers. Safely along the ground, but not entirely convincing.
0224: WICKET! And he still hasn't. Defending off the back foot at a ball he could've left alone and gets a healthy edge through to the keeper. Run-a-ball 24. Very nice, but it's not going to keep you in an opening slot in Test cricket.
