Rain stalls Aussie bid to claim Ashes

Australia's hopes of seizing an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Magellan Ashes tomorrow will likely be decided by a combination of Perth's unseasonal summer and the batting pair who thwarted them so successfully in England's first innings.

After rain cost more than an hour's play at the end of day four, thunderstorms forecast for the following morning and the sight of England's only century makers of the series to date – Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow – unbeaten at the crease will occupy the home team's thoughts.

But with England listing at 4-132 and still holding an overall lead of 127, Australia knows they need only for the clouds to lift and a way into the tourists' tail to become apparent for the urn to be returned in the most emphatic manner.

Quite simply, the third Test is there for Australia's taking.

The toll inflicted upon England throughout almost 180 overs in the field as Australia chalked up their highest Ashes innings total on home turf – 9-(dec)-662 – became instantly apparent when Alastair Cook and Mark Stoneman confronted the new ball and a refreshed Australia attack.

The bat that Stoneman had wielded with authority in scoring 56 before adjudged out in controversial circumstances on Thursday seemed to have been encased in lead sometime during the three days in between.

After more than two days in the field and with the sight of a 259-run deficit flashing brightly against uncharacteristically dark Perth skies on the WACA's video screens, Stoneman gave the impression he went to the wicket hauling a greater burden than England's hopes of a solid start.

If the pull shot he aimed at Josh Hazlewood's fourth delivery of the innings and which brought nothing more than an under edge suggested a fatigued body, then the half-hearted defensive push that flicked the other edge next ball betrayed a tired mind.

Cook's dismissal to a remarkable caught and bowled effort by Hazlewood 25 runs later, when the tall quick reached reflexively down to his boot laces to pluck the chance followed by a dramatic roll and a dismount that stuck along with the catch, elicited a weariness of spirit from the former captain.

The instinctive backwards throw of the head as Hazlewood celebrated an acknowledgement that fortune had deserted Cook in his landmark 150th Test, and might not revisit him for the remainder of this touras twilight settles on his international career.

And the only explanation for Joe Root's dismissal as his team so obviously yearned for an innings in the spirit of his rival captain's epic knock across Friday and Saturday, was that trying to fathom means by which England could stay in the match had left him mentally drained.

How else to rationalise the lazy, unnecessary attempt to drive at Nathan Lyon's very first ball of the innings, a wide, floating off-break that barely turned and thus found the outside edge, which bounced from Tim Paine's keeping gloves into the unerring grasp of Smith at slip.

At 3-60 and with their three best-credentialed Test batters back in the hutch 30 minutes before tea, there appeared a very real risk that England might relinquish the Ashes before day's end.

Especially in light of the run of lower-order collapses that has punctuated the earlier days of this series, including the 6-35 they coughed up on the second morning to effectively wrest control of the third Test.

Those fears were quelled for an hour as James Vince and Malan weathered Australia's bowlers and the occasional squally shower that blew in from the Indian Ocean, and fashioned a fourth-wicket partnership of 40 along the way.

Until Vince copped a delivery from Mitchell Starc that was so utterly unplayable that even Smith, currently in the rarest of Test match batting form, would have been stretched to lay half a bat upon.

Flung down at 144kph from around the wicket so that it angled into the right-handed Vince, the ball landed on a sizeable crack that had opened back of a length in line with middle stump and deviated accordingly.

Which rendered Vince's technically pure defensive stroke totally useless as the ball jagged away from his perpendicular bat and instead uprooted his off stump.

Starc's silent celebration, pointing towards one of the giant TV screens on his way past the batter still frozen in his stance and disbelieving of what had happened, was as much in expectation of what might follow as in triumph of the event that had transpired.

His follow-up delivery at Jonny Bairstow was closer to 148kph and slid away past leg stump, and England's pair survived to stumps courtesy of the heavy showers that hit around 4.45pm and led to play being abandoned.

Australia had resumed on day four ahead by 146 runs and the initial plan was to extend that advantage at a clip and declare with a lead beyond 250.

An assessment that was revised immediately when Mitchell Marsh was dismissed by the morning's second delivery, despite his attempt to have the ruling overturned through the DRS appeals process.

The allrounder was then afforded perhaps the sole standing ovation from the Perth public for what was, technically, a second-ball duck but in actuality was due recognition for the innings of 181 that stands to re-define Marsh as a Test cricketer.

Four overs later, Smith suffered the same fate when, emboldened by the technology's upholding of the Marsh case, England opted to challenge.

The verdict from the ball-tracking technology might have represented one of the few times England's bowlers got a clear view of Smith's stumps, but his dismissal for 239 gave the tourists the fillip they had so sorely lacked throughout the previous day.

Having sent down 466 consecutive deliveries without so much as a hint of a breakthrough, England suddenly had two in the space of 23 and were into Australia's tail with the lead stalled at 157.

And when Mitchell Starc sacrificed his wicket in a darkly comedic mix-up with Tim Paine, who set off for a non-existent single upon being subjected to a confident lbw shout, it seemed that speculation over the timing of Smith's declaration would becoming rapidly redundant.

But chastened by his skittishness and with the studiously earnest Pat Cummins joining him in the middle, Paine put his head down and it became increasingly apparent Australia's tactics had swiftly changed.

What had loomed as a dash for runs now became an exercise in batting for time, Smith seemingly mindful that if his team was to capitulate as per England on the second morning then the door might open for a flattened opponent to climb off the canvas.

England's sole hope being to bowl out Australia in a hurry with a lead below 200, then bat deep into the first session tomorrow in the hope of reaching around 300 and setting their Ashes foes a victory target they would be compelled to chase on a pitch already exhibiting some fearful cracks.

Consequently, the Test entered a holding phase during which Paine and Cummins picked up boundaries occasionally and defended often, while England declined the third new ball lest it fly quickly and often from edges across the outfield.

The 19 overs up to lunch and the two that followed the interval yielded 93 runs as Australia pushed their advantage beyond 250 with minimal risk, until Cummins became Anderson's third lbw victim of the day.

Then Lyon flagged the moment had come when he clubbed a boundary, skied a catch next ball trying to find another and Smith waved his men in, with Paine unbeaten and stranded on 49 and England's only real remaining options being a brave draw or a gutting loss.

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21