Cornish Steve

Thank goodness for that. It would be such an anticlimax to witness two pointless games after three exciting ones.

England really should win this. If they don’t, they have only themselves to blame. Two days remain, so there’s plenty of time. If only they can resist the temptation to be aggressive. Do they have the discipline to be patient?

I fail to understand England's tactics. They must and could win this game. They must and could overtake Australia's lead. They have 3-1/2 days to do that. So Wood and Stokes decide to become a swashbucklers. It might be good for a few cheers, but, to win, England need a lot of runs, not cheers. This is a batter's pitch, so be patient and use it properly. Slow and steady wins the race, especially on a pitch like this.

Did Taylor Swift welcome him back after all?

Don't you just feel sorry for those who paid good money for tickets on Day 5?

Two England wickets have fallen. England run rate at over 5 an over. Is there any correlation, do you think? Certainly, Duckett just couldn't leave off.

The next session will decide this game, I think.

Agonising for Scotland. They just missed out.

It looks like England are learning their lesson and mixing up the team a bit. The smartest thing appears to be giving themselves more options in the coming test.

OK - I went back and looked, and my impression from the time was wrong. The predecessor to Mercedes-Benz Stadium was the Georgia Dome - and it took three years to build. It was replaced 25 years later.

And NOT a gambling company. Woohoo.

You know, I'm still OK with taking some risk. For sure, we've taken the risk on too many players in the past that were a huge disappointment, but, as they say, no risk no reward. What matters are two things: learning the lessons of why previous risk-taking failed and doing all the right due diligence. If we were sure someone would be a success, their asking price would be double what it is. What's the alternative: chasing average players?

I’m thinking of its predecessor. I confess that I didn’t look up the actual time to build and am basing my comment on memory. I shall look it up.

While it's nice to watch drone footage, I can't believe how slow is the progress: It's a snail's pace in slo-mo. Here in Atlanta, for example, a new football stadium was completed in a matter of months. Not ten years later, they were already planning for its replacement. Mind you, entry fees are much higher, which probably justifies it, and they generate significant revenues from renting out stadiums for all kinds of events.

Haven't been able to access Twitter links of late. Is Elon Musk expecting us to pay?

His scoring has improved then.

"Splashing over £25m on a player who is not suited to the current manager’s style and has had a poor season seems like a bad decision, but Everton love making those in the transfer market."

According to the BBC, even a narrow loss would put them through.

It's been very fine margins. The teams are well-matched, which means it all comes down to strategy and tactics. Flexibility and willingness to adapt, in my opinion, are the key.

The next match is at Headingley.

The BBC news page reports that we're interested in a swap with Blackburn to get their defender Scott Wharton. The swap would involve either Maupay or Simms.

Is the optimism surrounding Branthwaite much more than hope at this point? I can understand why Dyche wants to see what he can actually do in the Premier League before making a big commitment.

Australian commentators are claiming that Bairstow tried the very same run-out attempt earlier in the game but happened to miss the stumps. It would be interesting to see whether there's a video clip of that. Here's the quote: "There is a certain element of irony in all of this, considering two days earlier Bairstow tried to execute the exact same style of dismissal against Marnus Labuschagne – but failed. Australia were 1-79 when Bairstow threw the ball at the stumps and missed. In that instance, Labuschagne was aware of the fact and kept his ground. It's even more ironic that McCullum has a grievance considering he has pulled off the same or similar stunts." https://wwos.nine.com.au/cricket/the-ashes-news-2023-australia-vs-england-brendon-mccullum-on-jonny-bairstow-stumping-run-out-controvery/9ed61eea-9d56-47ed-a491-5b748b1cf094?ocid=Social-WWOS

I agree with limiting the number of short balls per over. It’s a good idea.