England resumed their second innings on 134-6 at the start of a bright, sunny afternoon at The Gabba in Brisbane, trailing hosts Australia by 43 runs. Having lost wickets cheaply in the final session on Day 2, the visitors were looking to dig in and put up a fight against the rampant Aussies.
Having come in late in the day, Ben Stokes and Will Jacks got themselves off to decent starts to survive under the lights. This morning, they showed further determination to make this day more than just a formality, with both batters scoring slow and steady runs.
The England captain is unbeaten on 36, having faced 112 deliveries since coming out to the middle. Stokes has hit a couple of lovely boundaries through the covers this morning and looks close to being fully-settled. With Jacks on 25 off 66 on the other end, the pair will likely look to take the attack to the Australians after the Tea break in a bid to tire them out.
Steve Smith has used his bowlers well so far, with Brendan Doggett and Scott Boland getting us underway in the first session. The pair bowled some great lines and lengths, limiting England’s scoring rate, but could not create too many chances. Boland saw a few deliveries beat the outside edge, while Doggett played around with the shorter lengths.
Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green were introduced into the attack as well. The former bowled at good speeds and looked to create angles to carve out openings to dismiss the batters, while the latter looked to force mistakes bowling at a slightly shorter length. The session ended with an over apiece from Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne as Smith looked to bring the magic of a part-time bowler into play just before a break.
However, England are now 16 runs ahead with two set batters out in the middle, both with a point to prove. Australia will look to restrict them to a maximum of 100 runs, but will need their bowling attack to find their rhythm and restrict Jacks and Stokes from scoring runs freely.
Stay tuned for the second session at The Gabba as England will come out to bat shortly.