Australia in command at Lord's

In framing his pre-Test blog, Steve Smith made mention of how reversing Australia’s fortunes in the wake of their 169-run loss at Cardiff last week would rest significantly on their capacity to keep England in the field for a stretch.

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“From the batters’ perspective, we need to be able to absorb a bit of pressure and make sure we keep England’s quicks out there in the field for as long as possible,” Smith wrote for cricket.com.au, revealing a key plank of his team’s strategy in the process.

“ ...especially in the first innings of a game.”

The 84 overs the Australians managed in their first innings in Wales, and then the 70 for which they resisted in the second was not simply inadequate it also meant that England’s bowlers were fresh and fit and fired up to have another crack on what turned out to be the final day.

The energy of which many commentators spoke and which helped the home team to a one-nil lead in the five Test series had all but vanished as they cut weary, dispirited figures in today’s final session that Australia used to forge an unassailable position.

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Alastair Cook late on day three // Getty Images

At 362 runs in front, with all second innings wickets at their disposal and two full days of play ahead (London summer weather notwithstanding) on a pitch that began its life as comatose and is displaying increased signs of rigor mortis with each passing hour.

No team has chased such a fourth innings score to win a Test at Lord’s, and only six times in the game’s history has that benchmark been exceeded when batting last to score a victory.

And only once in an Ashes match, by Bradman’s Invincibles.

Poll: Should Jos Buttler have walked?

As England’s batsmen found to their frustration at crucial times today, the number of deliveries keeping low or coming through at an even further reduced speed than the bargain basement pace it offered on days one and two is making batting a fraught affair.

Well, at least when it’s being done against Australia’s bowlers it seems.

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Rogers and Warner got through undefeated // Getty Images

In the 26 overs they were asked to face before stumps when Australia captain Michael Clarke continued the habit of a captaincy and declined to enforce the follow-on despite being 254 runs in front, openers Chris Rogers (44no) and David Warner (60no) appeared little troubled.

Except for the shoulder-high gully catch that Warner offered from James Anderson before he had scored but which Adam Lyth – whose forgettable Test to date is reflective of many in his team – was too mentally muddled and technically tortured to accept.

England fielder Adam Lyth dropped a chance provided by David Warner early in the batsman's innings at Lord's on day three (Australia only)

A half-session that was never going to win England the match and could only ever feasibly set them back further on their heels may have served to give Warner – so far a shadow of recent destructive self in this series – the momentum he so craves.

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David Warner made fifty on day three // Getty Images

Mental notes would also have been made in the Australia dressing room, where Smith was padded up and pacing with slightly less nervous energy than is his habit, about the toll the 149 overs England were forced to bowl in the first innings.

New ball pair James Anderson (wicketless thus far in the match) and Stuart Broad spent time off the field, third seamer Mark Wood appeared to be favouring a sore knee and much of the workload seemed destined to rest with spinner Moeen Ali who was known to enter the game with a sore side.

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The mental scars inflicted by two days of remorseless batting had left an England team buoyant after Wales with minds as heavily clouded as the blanket of cirrostratus that settled across London late in the day and is expected to yield heavy overnight rain.

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Mitchell Johnson took three wickets // Getty Images

That inability to think their way through an hour or more of batting on Friday evening had undermined their innings, and but for the exception of Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes it continued into Saturday.

Rather like the Australians across the first two days, England’s batting was ordinary but for a pair of stand-out contributions.

But where Smith (215) and Rogers (173) were able to push their innings past sizeable to super, both Cook and Stokes fell short of deserved centuries in starkly similar circumstances.

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Having joined forces against a dire scoreline of 4-30 after 30 minutes of bowling carnage that might effectively decide the outcome, the stoic skipper and his brusque all-rounder looked to be mounting a partnership of similar contrast and purpose to that which had defined Australia’s knock.

But as the session that England needed to survive unscathed neared an end, the indifferent bounce saw Stokes drag an attempted drive at Mitchell Marsh on to his leg stump which left the all-rounder resting bat-down on the pitch staring hard with disappointment at the maligned surface.

Mitch Marsh brought about the key wicket of Ben Stokes, as England lost just the one batsman in the morning session of day three

Stokes had been the enterprising partner in the pair’s union, but his departure was not about to convince Cook to take over the role.

Typically brutal on those short ball that sat up like a lonely puppy, Cook’s luck looked to be in when he swivel-pulled Mitchell Johnson to spring a purpose-laid trap, but Smith was unable to clasp the chest-high chance that came at him several times faster than anything off the pitch.

However, the captain’s steadily controlled push towards that Ashes century that’s eluded him since his bountiful journey to Australia in 2010-11 was cut short by the mere measure of a boundary when Marsh replicated his dismissal of Stokes.

Which drew even greater despair from his victim.

Peter Nevill has found himself in the middle of an Ashes catch controversy, after a diving attempt to remove Jos Buttler was deemed not out

The loss of Cook and Jos Buttler – reprieved when technology cast doubt on Peter Nevill’s reflex low catch and very nearly again when umpire Kumar Dhamarsena turned down another appeal by the ‘keeper only to find Buttler already walking off – meant England were losing the battle of time and resources.

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Peter Nevill's attempts was spectacular... but denied

Indeed, they found themselves in precisely the position Smith had foreshadowed when – after their trying five sessions labouring on a loveless pitch – their bowlers found themselves back in the middleless than a day later, albeit wielding bats rather than a new Duke ball.

Not that their resistance yielded much.

Shane Warne and Mark Taylor have issues with Moeen Ali surviving via the decision review system at Lord's on day three of the second Test

A McGrath-like final spell from Josh Hazlewood saw Moeen Ali trapped so palpably lbw by a delivery that slid down the slope he could have followed Buttler’s lead and walked, and Wood castled that defied topography as well as his defensive prod to come back up the hill into off stump.

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Mark Wood bowled by Josh Hazlewood // Getty Images

When Broad finally made contact to one of a series of speculative back foot drives and was snared by substitute fielder Shaun Marsh at slip – who was there because Adam Voges’ right hip still bears traces of ball belted into it by Stokes while he was batting late on Friday evening – all eyes were on Clarke to see if he would send the crestfallen English back into bat.

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In a final act of mental disintegration, he opted to give his comparatively under-worked bowlers a nice break, send them back into the sun and give them another dose of what Smith had prescribed for them before a ball was bowled.

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Day three snapshot

Score: Australia 0-108 and 8(dec)-566. England 312.

Man of the moment: Alastair Cook was England's rock, scoring a wonderful 96. It was Cook's best innings against Australia in five years.

Key moment: Mitch Marsh delivered two telling blows - getting Ben Stokes and later Cook out. Both came at crucial times with the game meandering along.

Stat of the day: 4. The number of times Michael Clarke could've enforced the follow-on - but knocked back. The ghosts of Kolkata live large.

Summary: Already well on top, Australia have twisted the knife into England in another dominant day of Test cricket. Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes attempted to wrest some control back for the home side with a 145-run stand, but beyond them there was precious little support as Australia rolled them for 312 to take a 254-run first innings lead. Rather than enforcing the follow-on, Michael Clarke sent his openers out to administer more pain - and they delivered. Chris Rogers (44) and David Warner (60) made it through to stumps with Australia 0-108, leading by 362.

EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS: Australia continued to dominate England with bat and ball, building a 362-run lead at stumps on day three at Lord's (Australia only)

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