England’s Everest disappearing from view

If Pat Cummins and Australia don’t have one hand on the Ashes urn, then surely they are stretching out their arms to welcome a dearly loved possession into their arms for the fifth time in a row.

Just nine wickets separate Australia from another comfortable Ashes victory and in double quick time, with England requiring a highly unlikely 430 more runs to keep the series alive.

Ironically, the day that may see the Ashes return to the hosts actually started quite brightly for England, as they picked up the last six Australian wickets for only 38 runs, bowling them out for 349.

There had been slightly ominous signs in the morning’s early exchanges, with Travis Head passing 150 on his home ground, until he skied a Josh Tongue (4 – 70) delivery to Zak Crawley out at deep mid-wicket and departed for an outstanding 170.

From that moment on, England dominated the morning session, cleaning up the Australian lower order with a minimum of fuss.

Alex Carey (72) was denied twin hundreds, when he gloved Ben Stokes to Harry Brook at leg slip, before the impressive Tongue squared up Josh Inglis (10) and drew an edge through to the diving Jamie Smith.

The Australian tail has wagged considerably at times so far this series, but failed to do so this time around, with their last three wickets falling for a measly five runs.

Brydon Carse (3 – 80) had Pat Cummins caught by Brook at first slip and trapped Nathan Lyon LBW from the very next delivery, leaving Jofra Archer to claim the final wicket of Scott Boland with a diving caught and bowled.

Faced with the daunting task of chasing 435, England set out with the initial task of surviving the remaining 10 minutes until the lunch break.

They were unable to do so though, with Ben Duckett dangling his bat aimlessly at Cummins’ second delivery and guiding it into the gleeful hands of Marnus Labuschagne in a packed Australian cordon, as they fell to 5 – 1.

Groundhog Day is here for England, with a mammoth run chase ahead of them in the second session and Ollie Pope once again facing the prospect of batting for his career.

The West Indies recently compiled 457 – 6 in the fourth innings of their Test match against New Zealand at Hagley Oval to save the game, thanks to an unbeaten 202 from Justin Greaves and 140 from Shai Hope.

That kind of feat feels a very long way away from England at the moment though and this particular mountain feels overwhelmingly too steep for a side reeling from a calamitous Ashes down under so far.

If you’re still awake and want to follow the second session, then the only place to do so is via our ball-by-ball commentary on the Guerilla Cricket YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/3TyCqDyt5V4?si=9syg4Ep4BDe6mX_f