Ashes 2021-22 fourth Test, day five: Australia v England – live!

That’s the big one! Lyon finds some turn outside off and Stokes goes back and dabs to slip, as giving catching practice. He departs swearing profusely, knowing he may well have allowed the floodgates to open. But what a fine innings that is from a wounded warrior.

74th over: England 189-4 (Stokes 56, Bairstow 15) It’s a double change as the mighty Boland gives way to Starc. Can he find some reverse swing? He can – he produces an inswinging yorker, which Stokes might not clip for a single if his eye wasn’t in. Reverse swing is a killer for a new batter, so the question is whether Australia can separate this pair, who have now been out there for 16 overs on top of the 29 they saw off in the first innings.

“Thank you for the clear explanation,” says Jane Evans, “and so glad Boland and his heavy balls are back on deck!” Ha. There’s a reason why that expression tends to be used in the singular.

73rd over: England 187-4 (Stokes 55, Bairstow 14) Cummins, who certainly doesn’t over bowl himself, takes his sweater and brings back Lyon. His over brings a single to each batter and no dramas. The Barmy Army celebrate by singing God Save the Queen.

On Twitter there’s a typically good spot from Andy Zaltzman. “Khawaja two hundreds at five; Stokes two fifties at five,” he notes. “This is only the second Test [ever] played in which the number 5 reached fifty in all four innings. The other was the Durban timeless Test in 1938-39, when Nourse & Viljoen for SA, and Ames & Paynter for Eng, all made 50s at 5.”

72nd over: England 185-4 (Stokes 54, Bairstow 13) Boland gets some swing with his nip-backer and appeals for LBW against Bairstow, but it’s too high and Cummins rightly declines to review. Next ball, Bairstow has a wild waft outside off and could easily get a nick. Fine margins, as always in this fiddly old game.

71st over: England 185-4 (Stokes 54, Bairstow 13) Cummins has been uncharacteristically expensive in this innings and now Stokes swings him for four, almost for six. But Cummins may not mind too much as the ball went not too far from the man at fine leg. A telling caption shows that Stokes’s batting average against Australia, 36 overall, is a tale of two mindsets – a frustrating 27 in the first innings, a formidable 50 in the second.

70th over: England 181-4 (Stokes 50, Bairstow 13) I don’t believe it: Boland has conceded two! Off one ball. Bairstow nudges to the keeper’s left and races back for the second, more judiciously than he did when he first emerged.

So England have made it through 70 overs, with a minimum of 32 to go if the rain doesn’t return. On CricViz’s predictor, the draw has soared to 85 per cent. Hmmm.

69th over: England 179-4 (Stokes 50, Bairstow 11) Cummins takes Lyon off and gives himself a go. Butcher reckons that’s wrong for two reasons – Lyon has got Stokes out eight times, and he can whizz through his overs, which will hasten the second new ball. Against that, it’s the quicks who can best exploit the uneven bounce. After Bairstow glances to fine leg for a single, Stokes takes a blow on the glove. Being Stokes, he shrugs it off and punches to midwicket to reach his second fifty of the match. What a fighter he is.

68th over: England 174-4 (Stokes 46, Bairstow 10) Boland is bowling to Stokes, round the wicket. Showing no sign of discomfort, he’s as steady as ever if a little wider of off stump. He clocks up his umpteenth maiden and the only alarm comes when one ball keeps low. “Boland,” says Mark Butcher, “has been extraordinary.”

Scott Boland is back and seems to be about to bowl. His figures in this series, and his Test career, are ridiculous. He has 13 for 110 off 48.1 overs at an average of 8.46. The last time I reported anything like that was when I was 11, as the scorer for my school team. And many of those wickets have been big ones. According to Will Macpherson on Twitter, Boland has now dismissed Joe Root three times since the last time he allowed him to score a run. I hope someone somewhere is writing a children’s book about him.

67th over: England 174-4 (Stokes 46, Bairstow 10) It’s Lyon to bowl the last over before tea and Bairstow sees him off, so that’s tea. England have done all right since lunch and the rain, losing only Root, to the remorseless Boland – but Australia may have lost him to injury. England have another 35 overs to get through, so they are two-thirds of the way to the draw. But both batters out there are carrying injuries, and so is Jos Buttler, and after him comes the tail. Speaking as a Pom, and therefore a pessimist, I’d still put my money on Australia as long as the skies stay dry.

“Ignorant question perhaps,” says Jane Evans, “but are you able to briefly explain what bowling a ‘heavy’ ball means?” No such thing as an ignorant question! I should have been clearer. It’s an old-school term that tries to express what it feels like when a bowler keeps jarring the bat, threatening the gloves, getting the ball onto you a touch earlier than you expect it. It’s no fun to face.

66th over: England 174-4 (Stokes 46, Bairstow 10) Another friendly over from Labuschagne, which allows Bairstow to slip into double figures.

65th over: England 171-4 (Stokes 45, Bairstow 8) Ah – Lyon was just changing ends. Bowling to Bairstow, he steps up his pace, perhaps fancying an LBW. Bairstow is vigilant, playing out five dots before pushing into the on side for a single.

64th over: England 170-4 (Stokes 45, Bairstow 7) As a captain, Pat Cummins has an intriguing approach: let me bore you rigid with my field settings, but entertain you with my bowling changes. Now, just as it looks as if he’s a bowler down, he replaces Lyon with Marnus Labuschagne’s occasional leg-breaks. There’s a rank full toss, which Stokes wallops for four.

63rd over: England 164-4 (Stokes 40, Bairstow 6) if you’ve just come in and you’re up against Boland, your best hope is to play with soft hands and hope the edge doesn’t carry to slip. That’s what Bairstow does now, and he gets two as the ball bobbles away to third man and Warner makes a fine diving save.

On Twitter, there’s a good question from someone called Part Time PM. “Could Boland win Player of the Series after debuting in the 3rd Test?” He certainly could. He’s only two wickets behind the leaders, Starc and Lyon (15 each). But … he’s just gone off the field after falling, not for the first time, in his follow-through.

62nd over: England 162-4 (Stokes 40, Bairstow 4) Lyon to Stokes: yet another maiden. In the space of eight overs, Lyon and Boland have conceded only 11 runs and made any thoughts of an England win look silly.

61st over: England 162-4 (Stokes 40, Bairstow 4) Boland to Bairstow: another maiden.

“Hope you’re well,” says Dave Sadler. Not bad, thanks! “I am an ambitious England fan sat in the humidity at the SCG. I was working out how many runs an over we needed to win. It was about five a few overs ago and we were ticking along. And then Boland came in (with Lyon) and we’ve barely scored a run. His pace isn’t that special, what is it that the England batters can’t deal with? It seems remarkable that Aus have pulled someone out the Sheffield Shield who then dominates in such a fashion.” It’s true, there is an element of mystery about him, as he’s mostly no more than 80-82mph. But he bowls a heavy ball, every ball – putting his burly frame into it. And he’s so rigorously accurate that the batter gets no respite.

60th over: England 162-4 (Stokes 40, Bairstow 4) Lyon, who is finding some turn, draws an inside edge from Stokes. It trickles away for two but will only encourage Lyon, who can surely smell some wickets here.

59th over: England 160-4 (Stokes 38, Bairstow 4) So it’s back to Stokes and Bairstow, the ginger ninjas who made a game of it by rescuing England from the depths of 36-4 in the first innings. And Bairstow is nearly run out! Going for a second to backward square – he’d be gone if Alex Carey had gathered the throw neatly.

It’s been phenomenal stuff from Boland. He now has two for 17 from 15 overs, while Starc and Cummins, both far more tried-and-Tested, have none for 91 from 24 between them.

Boland gets his man! A classic nick, reward for his relentless accuracy. And in that split second the scales tip in favour of an Australia win.

58th over: England 156-3 (Root 23, Stokes 38) Root takes a single off Lyon and Stokes, on the attack again, belts him over mid-on for four.

57th over: England 151-3 (Root 23, Stokes 34) Boland bothers Root again, beating him on the inside edge with the nip-backer and going up for a big appeal. Cummins thinks about a review before deciding against. He’s probably right, but it’s surprising as he has three reviews to play with and Root is the man most capable of batting all day here. I wonder if Cummins was dissuaded by the famous moment at Headingley in 2019 when Tim Paine burned Australia’s last review and paid the price.

56th over: England 150-3 (Root 23, Stokes 34) It’s a double change as Green gives way to Lyon. He’s on the spot to Stokes, who is wary, as well he may be after being LBW b Lyon in the first innings, and that’s a maiden.

A couple of things I missed, sorry. That pull from Stokes in the 53rd over brought up the fifty partnership – it’s now 54 off 22 overs or so. And I failed to say thanks to Sam Perry, whose elegant words kept us entertained for the first half of the day, or, in my case, the whole of the night.

55th over: England 150-3 (Root 23, Stokes 34) Here is a bowling change. Cummins takes Starc off and brings back Scott Boland, the man with the fairytale Test career. He’s immaculate as usual: five testing balls to Root in the channel, followed by one that jags away and just evades the outside edge.

54th over: England 150-3 (Root 23, Stokes 34) Still no bowling change from Cummins since the resumption, which isn’t like him. Green doesn’t repay his faith in this over, repeatedly dropping too short. Root plays a measured cut for two, then a less measured one that would bring four if it wasn’t rudely interrupted by a flying save from Nathan Lyon in the gully. Root then plays a watchful pull for a single. He does play at a lot of deliveries, which makes great viewing, but it has got him into trouble on all of his trips to Australia.

53rd over: England 147-3 (Root 20, Stokes 34) Starc continues and it’s Root’s turn to get a harmless edge, a thick one off the inside of the bat as he pushes to leg. He takes a single, leaving Stokes to help himself to a straight punch for two and a pull for four. These pulls are making him grimace, but he’s still playing them. Is he dreaming of a win?

52nd over: England 140-3 (Root 19, Stokes 28) Green overpitches for once and Stokes cashes in with a crunching cover drive for four. He has batted better here, with a side strain, than he did in the first three Tests when fully fit.

51st over: England 136-3 (Root 19, Stokes 24) Starc finds a sliver of movement, squares Stokes up and draws a leading edge, but it goes down not up. Stokes replies with a rock-solid push to mid-on for a single. And England have made it to halfway in terms of overs – while, of course, reserving the right to collapse at any time.

50th over: England 135-3 (Root 19, Stokes 23) Green to Root: dot, dot, dot… maiden. And England have made it to 50 overs, with another 52 to go if the rain stays away.

49th over: England 135-3 (Root 19, Stokes 23) Stokes, facing Starc for the first time in this spell, gets a short ball and thinks he might as well pull it for six. Say what you like about England, they’ve won the battle of the sixes in this match – the score is England 8, Australia 5. As yet, though, neither side has managed a seven.

48th over: England 129-3 (Root 19, Stokes 17) At the other end, Cummins goes with Cameron Green, so it’s height at both ends. Three singles and no alarms off his over.

47th over: England 126-3 (Root 17, Stokes 16) It’s Mitchell Starc to reopen the proceedings. He’s mostly outside off stump, where many batsmen would leave him alone – but not Joe Root, who lives and dies by the glide. He lives by it now, helping himself to a four, nice and controlled.

Play to recommence at 2.10pm local

That’s in nine minutes

Isla on England’s supposed 0% chance of winning via CricViz: Hi Sam, as a mathematician, can I say that’s possible, if there’s no decimal point and numbers behind the decimal point. That is: a probability of less than 0.5%. Though as a cricket fan I’d give England a slightly higher probability of winning – still remember Butcher’s big hundred chasing down 370-odd, and Crawley seems to be in the mood. Cheers, Isla

From Gavin: “The ground PA is now playing “I can see clearly now, the rain has gone”. So I think we’ll be playing again soon.”

Forecast looking good for the next few hours