0746: WICKET! Australia regain the Ashes! Woakes attempts to get a short ball down to third-man for a single, but can only feather it through to Paine.
0737: England scamper a bye to the keeper from the final ball of the over to get Woakes back on strike. Would've been out had Paine hit the stumps, or had Bancroft been switched on at short-leg and run to the stumps.
0734: Good from Anderson, getting a single from the first ball of the over.
0733: Woakes tries to work the ball to long-leg for a single to keep the strike. It goes for four.
0728: Anderson will continue, and gets through the over. Decent effort.
0722: Crunch. The first ball James Anderson faces crashes into the side of his batting helmet. Looks like the protection has done the job, but Anderson will have to get through the concussion tests and source a new helmet before play can resume.
0721: WICKET! Not great ticker from Broad, you'd have to say. It's not a great look for him to be hiding below a two-cap player with a cracked rib anyway, but he's not got in line as he gloves this one through to the keeper.
0715: WICKET! Overton slaps a couple of boundaries through the offside off Hazlewood before steering one to Khawaja in the gully. Brave effort with a cracked rib, but we've sadly probably seen the last of him for this series.
0709: Overton fends Cummins to leg-gully, where Lyon can't quite get his fingers under it. And Lyon immediately runs from the field with blood dripping from the middle finger on his right (bowling) hand. Think he's taken some of the nail off there, which might make bowling a touch sore for the rest of the day.
0705: Woakes takes a quick single to bring up the 200 for England.
0701: Nice on-drive from Overton gets him two as his fellow injured paceman, Starc, half-stops the ball via a combination of hand and face.
0658: Hazlewood in the middle of a glorious spell here. Overton, unsurprisingly, has little answer here as three balls in a row jag past his outside edge. Overton, carrying that cracked rib remember, appears to have put on about 20lbs overnight such is the size of the chest guard he's got on.
0653: WICKET! Malan struggled horribly in Hazlewood's last over and can't survive this one. Gloves a short ball down the legside to give Paine a simple catch.
0650: Even better shot from Woakes here, whipping Starc through midwicket for four. Deficit down to 63.
0649: Nice check-drive from Woakes brings three. No prizes for guessing which Australian chased it down just inside the rope.
0556: Malan works Lyon into the legside for a single to take England's deficit down to double-figures. Runs not irrelevant here.
0549: "OFF, OFF, OFF!" chant the Barmy Army as another brief spell of drizzle rolls across the WACA. It's gone as quickly as it arrived, though, as the wind continues to howl.
0543: Starc hoops one down the legside going for the yorker against Moeen. It lands in the footmarks and balloons comically out of Paine's reach for four of the harshest byes you could ever see.
0540: Nathan Lyon into the attack. Malan skips down the track and chips him through midwicket for three. Usman Khawaja gives chase. He's not quite Warner, almost escorting the ball to the boundary.
0538: Mitchell Starc and his bruised heel get through their first over of the day without obvious distress for either batsman or bowler.
0532: Malan shapes to leave a routine back-of-a-length delivery from Hazlewood outside off stump. The ball instead jags back at him as if attracted by a magnet and thuds into his hip. Australia are going to win here, and they're going to deserve it, but this is still a pretty unsatisfactory end to a Test match.
0526: Chance! Warner missed a run-out chance in the first innings, and does it again here. Moeen Ali takes a crazy single off the back foot and would've been out by a yard-and-a-half had the throw hit the target. Warner probably guilty of rushing his throw there. Had more time than he perhaps realised. I'm thinking of the way Woakes set himself and made sure when running out Cameron Bancroft at Adelaide. Warner got his throw away incredibly quickly but was off-balance when he did so.
0230: .
0225: Raining one minute, sunshine the next. Think we might be looking at quite a major stink here whatever happens. A lot of water got under those covers. I know Australia doesn't get rain like England does, but the inadequacy of the covers in a cricket economy like Australia's is a scandal waiting to happen. They've got worse covers than a mid-sized English club ground.
0428: Cummins is a ridiculous cricketer. Ten in two balls off Ali via a delicate sweep fine on the legside and then a huge slog-sweep way back on to the hill.
0423: Overton has gone off the field.
0422: Cummins sweeps Ali down to long-leg. Overton dives on his cracked rib to save one run when his team are 220-odd behind. It's brave, but I'm not sure it's smart.
0418: Cummins tries to duck a bouncer from Broad and gets a whack right on the left elbow. Doesn't even flinch, but that had to hurt.
0409: Fifty partnership between Paine and Cummins after all that early nonsense.
0359: And here comes the 200-run lead via two more for Cummins nudged away on the legside.
0358: The 600 is up for Australia as Cummins steers Woakes behind point for three.
0355: Broad now getting the ball to jag this way and that off the big Perth cracks. One veers down the legside and goes for four via Paine's backside, another finds the outside edge but flies out of Bairstow's reach for four more.
0333: Cummins edges Anderson wide of the sole slip all along the ground for four. And that will be drinks with the lead now 182.
0324: Paine given out lbw to Anderson but reviews it, and it's slightly high and wide on the legside. Paine's batting way out of his crease, which actually made that look more out from front on.
0315: Third new ball available for England. Always a good sign. No reason to take it, though, given it will be easier to hit and this old one is doing plenty.
0313: Anderson joins the other four members of England's attack with 100 runs against his name as Paine slaps a cut shot behind point for four. It's the eighth time in Tests that five bowlers have conceded a hundred in the same innings. Happened to England in the Monty-Anderson Cardiff Test in 2009.
0312: One of the great quirks of cricket. England's great start this morning has seen their odds .
0257: WICKET! What a ridiculous sport this is. Huge leg-before appeal against Paine - looked pretty close, by the way - turned down, but while Anderson is appealing the batsmen have had an awful mix-up about whether or not there's a run. There isn't. The two of them can discuss it in the middle of the pitch as James Vince calmly trots in from gully to flick off the bails. They've just crossed it seems, because it's Mitchell Starc who's gone.
0250: WICKET! Smith gone as well now. Marsh and Smith made 410-0 between them over the last day and a bit, and 10-2 this morning. Great review from Root as ball-tracking shows the ball hitting just far enough below the bails for the not-out verdict to be overturned. Anderson and Broad now have 763 wickets between them in their 100 Tests together - more than any other pair of fast bowlers.
0245: Anderson sends an 82mph leg-break jagging six inches past Paine's outside edge. That's not particularly good news for England.
0431: Short and wide from Broad, and Marsh gratefully accepts the invitation to crunch the ball behind point for four. This has been England's worst session in the field this series. They've offered absolutely nothing.
0358: The swing has ended, as have English hopes. All they've got now is a new ball as useless as the old one, but that goes to the fence a bit quicker. Smith with a gorgeous cover-drive off Anderson for four more.
0352: Anderson for some reason gives Mitch Marsh the chance to drive him down the ground with the knackered old ball despite the new one being available. Takes the new ball and then immediately finds Marsh's outside edge. Doesn't carry to gully, but it's something. This ball will swing for about three overs based on what we've seen in the match so far.
0348: First boundary for Mitch Marsh, clipped through square-leg as Overton errs in line.
0343: Anderson into the attack for the 79th over. Warm-up over ahead of the new ball.
0340: Mitch Marsh chips a miscued drive off Overton just out of mid-on's reach.
0329: Overton is the one bowler to have made Smith occasionally look human. Fair play to him. Smith gets in a complete tangle against a good bouncer, and takes a whack on the shoulder. Obviously he steers the next ball for four like it's the easiest thing in the world, but Overton has had his moments against the great man. He's obviously not quite a Ben Stokes-level find, but he's starting to feel like the 2013/14 Stokes-level positive for England from this series.
0326: Marsh replaces Marsh. Mitchell walks on, Shaun walks off.
0324: WICKET! Not sure who's the most surprised person in the ground right now, but there's a good chance it's Moeen Ali. He's got his first wicket since day two in Brisbane. After two rank deliveries are dispatched for four by Marsh, Moeen gets one just right to spin away from the left-hander and find the outside edge. Simple catch for Joe Root at slip, and England have a breakthrough against the run of play.
0306: Smith greets Woakes to the attack with a cover-drive for four to bring up 1000 Test runs in the calendar year for the fourth consecutive year. Matthew Hayden the only other player to have ever done that.
0302: Four more for Marsh, whipping Overton through midwicket. Can't criticise England's bowling to the freak of nature that is Steve Smith, but they've got it totally wrong to Marsh here. They're bowling round the wicket to try and bring the cracks into play, but he lines it up much better from that angle and it feeds his favourite shots through the legside. Should be attacking him with the ball slanted across him, where he's looked far more vulnerable.
0256: STEVE SMITH PLAYS A FALSE SHOT. Thick outside edge squirts along the ground out to deep point for a single. That's as uncertain as he's looked at any stage.
0254: Smith has now scored his slowest and fastest Test centuries in this series. Off 261 balls in Brisbane and 138 here.
0248: HUNDRED FOR SMITH! That has felt inevitable since about teatime yesterday. Just a ridiculous innings. Hardly a false shot in it, never mind a play and miss and certainly not a chance. It's his 22nd Test century and he's still only 28 years old. Beautiful shot to bring it up as well, whipping Anderson through midwicket like it's the easiest thing in the world.
0246: Four more for Smith, driving Broad effortlessly wide of mid-on and sending the ball racing across this glorious outfield. Moves to 99 with a single to deep square-leg and will keep the strike.
0243: Anderson using all his experience here and shrewdly deciding to bowl a full over at Shaun Marsh. It's a maiden.
0237: Smith Richie Richardsons a full ball out to deep point off the back foot for a single. Shaun Marsh takes one off middle stump through midwicket for three to oohs and aahs from the bowler and fielders. Pretty safe really. Was very full.
0234: Just a single for Smith from the first over of the day. That's pretty much a victory for England, although Australia have now avoided the follow-on.
right now to win the Ashes in Perth for the third time in four tours. The draw , and England somehow taking 17 more wickets with this pitch on this attack and forcing a win is .
0230: Players are out in the middle and ready to go. James Anderson has the ball in his hand.
0200: Day three at the WACA. The first news of the day is that Craig Overton, struggling with injury yesterday, has had a scan and a bowl in the nets and is, we're told, fine to play a full part today. The fact this is so important is testament to the impact he's made in his Test-and-a-half today. Was by far England's best bowler yesterday before succumbing to that side/chest injury, removing both Australia's openers and, most impressive of all, actually making Steve Smith look uncomfortable.
And there, of course, is the day's real key figure. He looked outrageously good - in his own, bizarre way - yesterday and England simply have to find a way to stop him today before the match and the series get away from them.
England's best plan may genuinely be to try and get the other seven non-Bradmans out rather than worry too much about Smith.
Day two recap
1003: CLOSE: Australia, 203-3, trail England by 200 runs
Another superb day's cricket, but this one very much Australia's. England collapsed horrendously after a stupendous 237-run stand between Malan and Bairstow, while Smith's batting has just been on a different plane to anything else we've seen in this series or, indeed, anywhere for a very, very long time. England had no answer.
0951: Drop! Marsh works Ali into the legside and it hits Stoneman on the toe at short-leg. It bounces up in the air and both he and Bairstow dive for it. For the second time in the series, two England fielders contrive to get in each other's way and bungle a catching chance.
0949: The 200 is up for Australia in the 58th over as Marsh clips Broad through the legside for three.
0944: Shaun Marsh off the mark from the 18th ball he faces, squirting a thick outside edge all along the ground wide of gully.
0933: England have packed the legside and are bowling straight to Smith. He still somehow manages to thread the ball through square-leg for four. This innings is ridiculous.
0918: WICKET! Khawaja has to go for exactly 50 after being on the wrong end of the most marginal of lbw decisions. The left-hander plays back and is hit above the knee-roll just about in front of off stump. Might be an inside edge there as well, but Aleem Dar is happy enough that it's only pad. On to ball-tracking which shows amber lights for Impact and Wickets with the ball hitting up near the bails. Australia retain the review, Khawaja a touch unlucky to be given out on-field there you'd have to say.
0836: This is special from Smith. Just playing a different game to absolutely everyone else we've seen so far. Five defensive shots out of the middle of the bat are followed by a gorgeous cover-drive that races to the fence.
0832: Khawaja not looking quite as solid as his captain, but gets a good four here as he laces a short, wide one from Woakes behind point.
0817: Outrageously good 50 for Smith, brought up with a wonderful cover-drive off Woakes. Be a huge, huge surprise if this innings isn't three-figures by the time it's done. Only been there 58 balls - at that rate he'll get there tonight.
0808: Drop! Dreadful back-foot waft from Khawaja off Woakes goes at head height to second slip, where Joe Root doesn't seem to pick up the ball at all. Just ends up sticking a hand up at it in desperation. Ball flies through for four.
0759: Four more, and this is even more ridiculous from Smith. He's actually slightly hurried by one that seemed to skid on, yet he still times the ears off it through midwicket.
0757: Smith looking ominously good here. Broad sends him a leg-stump half-volley, but they still need putting away which Smith does with aplomb through midwicket.
0748: Four for Khawaja, but it's lucky. Aims a bid drive at Moeen and gets a genuine edge wide of slip.
0745: Four more for Smith, steering Broad quite deliberately to the third-man boundary. He's racing along.
0737: Smith goes after the short ball from Broad. "Catch!" is the cry from bowler and fielders, but they're talking only to the crowd. Ball sails high over Moeen Ali's head and six rows back. Broad so staggered by that he's doing his Broadface again. Hundred up for Australia.
0734: Not a great start for Ali, who drags one down and gets pulled through midwicket for four by Khawaja. The left-hander may have his problems with off-spin, but long-hops are not among them.
0731: We're back for the final session of the day.
0712: TEA: Australia, 88-2, trail England by 315 runs
England will be pretty happy with that on a good batting pitch showing just the occasional signs of misbehaving. Overton has bowled an excellent spell to remove both openers, Ali has bowled three good overs at Khawaja. None of the other bowlers really posed any threat, though, with Woakes bowling a bizarre spell of powderpuff short balls for some reason. Smith looking in great nick after a rare quiet Test at Adelaide.
0416: Three wickets in five overs. Wouldn't be surprising to see the last three go in similar time here. Good morning this now for Australia, with England still only around par here.
0413: WICKET! Woakes gets four for a lovely drive through the covers but then flicks one off his hip and can't believe it's carried all the way to Cummins at long-leg.
0408: Woakes not looking entirely comfortable against the bumper barrage from Cummins. Understandable. Carves unconvincingly over the slips to third-man for four. Given the line and length of attack, you'd think mid-on could move to a third slip or even down to third-man. Genuine catching position as well as a run-saver.
0405: Much better shot from Bairstow this time, cutting Hazlewood hard into the ground and bouncing it over the man at backward point. What an outfield this is.
0403: Bairstow's changed the way he plays now. Crucial spell in the game here. Genuine edge off an optimistic drive sails at catchable height into the gap between second slip and gully. That runs away for four, but the next ball he aims a big swish outside off stump and doesn't get close to the ball. Just needs to carry on batting normally here, at least until Broad and Jimmy are out there.
0400: That double-wicket burst has seen the odds return to exactly where they were before play this morning:
England are still odds-on to reach 450 at 1/2. Looks quite a way off now...
0356: WICKET! One brings two. Moeen Ali has sat and watched a 237-run partnership and then come out to fend his second ball to Steve Smith at second slip.
0351: WICKET! Malan's brilliant innings comes to an end. Skews an attempted drive off a thick outside edge and is brilliantly caught by sub fielder Peter Handscomb at point.
0347: Cummins now bowling bouncers from round the wicket to Bairstow. Australia on to about Plan R here.
0335: England's approach to Nathan Lyon so, so different in this game. Yes it's easier to play him here, but the mindset is different. Malan immediately drives him for two and then collects a single to deep point. Bairstow nurdles to leg for a single. Malan uses his feet to hit a quick single to mid-on. It's a different sport, all of a sudden. Another possible record coming up: Malan now has the second-highest score for an England batsman at Perth, with only Chris Broad's 162 to overhaul now.
0332: Bairstow is only the sixth England wicketkeeper to score an Ashes century. Joins Les Ames, Alan Knott, Jack Richards, Jack Russell and Matt Prior on that short list. Knott the only one to make two Ashes hundreds.
0328: Another record: England's highest partnership at the WACA for any wicket, beating Bill Athey and Chris Broad's 223 in 1986. It's only England's third ever 200 partnership in Perth.
0325: HUNDRED FOR BAIRSTOW! Pulls Marsh to long-leg for a single, punches the air removes his helmet and headbutts it. Get in, lad.
0323: Another record: England's highest fifth-wicket partnership against Australia anywhere, beating Compton and Payneter at Trent Bridge in 1938. It's now worth 220 as Bairstow clips Marsh away for two to reach 99.
0322: Shot of the morning from Malan. Cummins goes short, but the left-hander rocks back and steers a gorgeous late cut past gully and away to the third-man fence. England scored no runs in the first four overs of the morning, but 40 in the seven overs since.
0321: Been some harsh byes go against Paine in this Test already, but a rare genuine error from the keeper here as he lets one squeeze through his gloves for a couple of extras.
0320: Flashing blade from Malan brings four more for an uppish drive through the vacant backward-point area.
0316: These two had to earn the right to play again this morning but they're in full flow now. Leg-stump half-volley from Marsh easily put away by Bairstow, who moves into the 90s.
0315: A clip to long-leg off Mitchell Marsh brings Bairstow two runs and raises the 200 partnership.
0311: Another record: England's highest fifth-wicket partnership in Australia, breaking a record set in 1903.
0310: Bairstow greets the introduction of Pat Cummins with an on-the-up drive through cover-point that takes him into the 80s. Next ball is a genuine half-volley and it's crunched through extra-cover with real authority.
0307: Malan miscues a pull shot, but gets it into a big gap at midwicket and collects two. Brings out that favourite cover-drive again for another couple of runs.
0300: First boundary for Malan this morning, and no surprise that it comes via the cover-drive that we saw so often yesterday. Easy put-away really, Starc striving for the yorker and offering up a full-toss.
0257: This is now England's biggest partnership in Australia since Cook and Trott's unbeaten 329 in the second innings at Brisbane in 2010.
0706: Quiet spell as Lyon and Mitch Marsh look to get through some cheap overs while Malan and Bairstow aren't really able to go on the attack. Malan jumps out of his bunker to whip Marsh through midwicket for four, which is nice.
0650: Just an update on the Stoneman decision. Another replay has now emerged which shows fairly conclusively that it did hit his top glove on its way through. So the right decision reached in a vaguely unsatisfactory way, which is enormously cricket.
0640: Wonderful shot from Bairstow, drilling Lyon straight back down the ground for four. Almost in bother two balls later, though, chipping the ball back towards the bowler but out of the reach of Lyon's dive.
0636: Chance! Bairstow takes a crazy single to Warner at cover, and Malan would've been two feet short with a direct hit. Warner, with about two-and-a-half stumps to aim at, will feel he should have done better.
0629: Malan the only England player who's been prepared to go after the short ball here. Not sure there's much future in it as a tactic, but a big top-edge here sails over the keeper and all the way for six.
0623: Jonny Bairstow, one place higher in the order, up and running with a gorgeous straight drive. Been great cricket today. Wonderful contest. Can't help but feel that, on here, Australia's batsmen against England's 84mph seamers might be more one-sided.
0619: Malan looking good, as he often has in this series without really getting the runs to show for it. Absolutely creams a cover-drive to the fence off Starc.
0609: WICKET! Huge moment. Brute of a ball from Starc whistles past Stoneman's face and is brilliantly taken one-handed high above his head by Paine. Marais Erasmus says not out, but Aleem Dar on review takes a deeply unconvincing snicko spike as conclusive evidence to overturn the decision. England absolutely furious, Root even trying to get Stoneman to turn round and return to the middle. That's not going to work, whatever the rights and wrongs of what just happened.
0557: Malan punches a Starc bouncer just short of Bancroft at short-leg before picking up a pair of boundaries. First one is neatly flicked away down the legside, but the second slightly streakier off a thick edge that would have offered third slip a tough overhead chance had there been a third slip.
0553: Dawid Malan off the mark nicely with a cover-drive for three. Would've been four but for that man Warner being in pursuit again. That's two he's reeled in today that were four with any other fielder in world cricket doing the chasing.
0545: Not entirely sure exactly how Stoneman is still there, but he is and he's scrapping hard. Controlled outside edge this time, wide of the gully and away for four. Then another blow on the body.
0540: WICKET! Stoneman struggling, but it's Root who's gone. Legside strangle, gloving the ball from Cummins and giving Paine a simple catch.
0535: Drop! Very next ball! Another short one, Stoneman tries to ride it and can only send the ball looping into the offside off the shoulder of the bat. Lyon does the hard work running in and diving forward from point. Gets both hands to the ball before it lands, and should probably have caught it having got there. Stoneman plays and misses with an airy drive that betrays a muddled mind, but he's managed to survive the over.
0531: Stoneman's reward for surviving that edge to slip is a huge whack on the side of the helmet from Hazlewood. Perfect bouncer thuds into the side of the grille, sending the neck guard spinning through the air. Lengthy delay while Stoneman receives treatment and goes through some on-field concussion tests.
0526: Australia left to rue another edge, this time because it brings Root four. Third slip had just gone to gully after the shots Root played in Cummins' last over. Wouldn't have been a catch for third slip, the edge going straight to ground, but may well have saved four runs.
0524: Drop! Bad miss from the returning Mitch Marsh at first slip. Big drive and thick edge from Stoneman goes through nicely to Marsh the Younger at first slip, but the ball bursts through his hands and goes to ground.
0520: Root moves to 16 off 12 with a back-foot punch behind point. Risky shot in Australia, but played well on that occasion.
0518: Another quick start to a session for England. Four more for Root as he clips Cummins through midwicket.
0516: Fifty for Stoneman and 100 for England as an uppercut over gully takes the opener to his third half-century in his sixth Test. Great chance to go on and make this a big one on a flat pitch and billiard-table outfield.
0511: Under way again after lunch with a Root square-drive for four off Hazlewood.
0431: LUNCH: England, 91-2 (27 overs)
England minutes away from a very good morning, but it's even-stevens in the end as James Vince's Groundhog Day Test career continues.
0424: WICKET! Australia strike five minutes before lunch as Vince just can't resist any longer and plays at one he should've left outside the off stump. Big edge, Paine does the rest.
0413: England already showing why Australia wanted a fifth bowler here, even without Handscomb's horror form making it a no-brainer. Lyon not offering the vice-like grip he did in Brisbane and Adelaide, with Stoneman slog-sweeping him for four in another productive over for the tourists.
0406: England making a determined effort against Lyon here. The runs flowed off the quicks with the new ball just naturally, but this is a conscious decision. Both batsmen using their feet, and Vince gets a cover-drive away to the fence. Lyon has gone for nine runs in two overs - generally taken seven or eight overs for England to get that many off him up until now.
0400: Fifty partnership for these two now.
0359: Nathan Lyon into the attack, and Stoneman immediately gets a couple of sweeps away for singles while Vince uses his feet for a couple of singles of his own. Big change from the way England have played him in the series to date...
0356: Four more byes as a legside bouncer from Starc leaves the keeper flinging himself at thin air. Ludicrous that these are going against the keeper's name really.
0351: Another eventful over. Two plays and misses from Stoneman, the first of which has Australia considering a review. Smith didn't hear anything, and nobody seems sure enough to convince him otherwise. Between those two false shots, Stoneman thumps a drive straight back past the bowler for four more. England still above four an over.
0347: This is an okay start for England, and . Seen enough in this series to suggest that's well worth a second look...
0337: A rare three here for Vince as he check-drives through cover. A combination of not-quite-perfect timing, the longest boundary on the ground and Warner being the fielder in pursuit means the ball doesn't quite make it.
0331: So far, so good for Vince. Two drives, two fours. This time through point. That'll be drinks, and it's been an okay first hour for England after winning the toss. Already clear we're going to see higher scores here than in the first two Tests. The pitch has pace and bounce but is absolutely true, while the upturned saucer outfield is helping everything from anywhere near the middle of the bat on its way to the fence. That's the drinks break, and it looks like England have managed to get through it without pouring any of it over each other.
0328: This had been coming. Paine done well to reel a couple in, but had no price here as Stoneman ignores a bouncer that continues to climb and evades the keeper's leap as well. Bounces away for four byes, and that's the 50 up for England.
0317: Ball coming on to the bat and going across the outfield so, so much quicker than in either the first two Tests. For the first time in the series, batsmen really getting full value for their shots. Vince this time collecting four as he clips Hazlewood neatly through midwicket. Nine boundaries in 10 overs this morning.
0315: The WACA may not be as quick as it once was. Still quick enough. Hazlewood bangs down an 89mph bumper that Stoneman gets underneath easily enough and has Paine leaping behind the stumps to prevent any extras. Or "sundries" as they insist on calling them over here, while also putting the scores the wrong way round.
0312: Vince off the mark with a cover-driven four off Pat Cummins. Can't think of another player who so exemplifies the maxim of "your biggest strength is your biggest weakness".
0306: Stoneman continues to produce a giddy combination of ugly short-ball tangles and gorgeous full-ball boundaries. Hazlewood clipped through midwicket to the fence this time.
0300: Another short ball, another scare for Stoneman. This time it's fended off the shoulder of the bat but short of gully. Good response from Stoneman, though, leaning into the full follow-up and punching it through mid-on (and Vince's legs at the non-striker's end) for four more.
0258: First short ball of the morning, and it gets Stoneman in a tangle. He punches it over where short-leg isn't, and it lands safely for a single.
0252: James Vince the new batsman, and Starc immediately throws the next two deliveries up full and wide of the off stump. Vince able to resist there, but for how long?
0248: WICKET! Cook done all ends up by a full, swinging one from Starc as England's rollicking start comes to a grinding halt. The plumbest of lbws; I'd expect ball-tracking to somehow confirm it was actually hitting all three stumps.
0245: Cook in on the driving action now, going through the covers in atypical fashion. Already apparent that the outfield is lightning quick - not even Warner can reel that in.
0242: Starc beats Stoneman with one that jags off the pitch dramatically from back of a length. Stoneman responds with three straight boundaries. The first two are through the legside as Starc gets his line wrong looking for a glory ball, the third driven square through the offside.
0239: Cook off the mark in his 150th Test. Fittingly, it comes from a legside nurdle for one. He's just gone past 35000 minutes batting for England in Tests. That's ages.
0237: Of course, going for a full length means you're going to get driven from time to time. Stoneman does so to full effect here with an elegant cover-drive for four. Fine shot, but not one Hazlewood or Steve Smith should worry about too much.
0235: Big leg-before shout second ball against Mark Stoneman, but Josh Hazlewood hasn't quite got the line right. Pitched just outside, and swinging further down the legside. But Australia have instantly hit the perfect full length here. England throughout this series have generally bowled too short with the new ball due to their fear of Dave Warner.
0233: Solid start for both Cook and Mitchell Starc. Decent maiden over from Starc, with a hint of swing, but Cook solidly in behind when he needs to be and showing good judgement to leave when possible.
0220: The players are out in the middle for the anthems.
0208: Australia now for victory here, which looks exactly the kind of 8/11 shot to be interested in. Not really sure why they're drifting - the pitch lasts well here so the toss shouldn't be decisive. England are , and the is available for Root to top-score in England's first innings.
0204: Nice moment at the toss, as Mark Nicholas speaks to Root about Alastair Cook's 150th Test, but accidentally calls him "Alastair Root".
"Hundred and fifty Tests," deadpans Root. "You'd think you'd get his name right by now."
Whatever his name is, the big work for Cook begins in 25 minutes. England have to bat well today, or the series is gone. If it isn't already.
0200: Joe Root wins the toss and, grinning from ear to ear, tells Mark Nicholas "We're going to bat." Good lad. England are unchanged, but have rearranged the deckchairs slightly, with Jonny Bairstow slated at six and Moeen Ali at seven.
Steve Smith confirms Mitch Marsh comes in for Peter Handscomb, who has been horribly exposed by England's bowlers in the series to date.
0150: Plenty to keep you occupied until the toss and team news. We've got betting tips here, and a 20/1 Sky Bet RequestABet as well. Warning: May contain David Warner.
There's also the latest exclusive Paul Collingwood Video Diary from Down Under, including his take on the Ben Duckett-James Anderson brouhaha.
