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42nd over: England 177-5 (Brook 61, Foakes 13) Brooks and Foakes touch it as Nauman comes back into the attack.
Simon McMahon sends a message to: “If it’s a song you’re after, how about the best Christmas song ever, Freiheit’s Keeping the Dream Alive? It’s only a week away, and the lyrics seem strangely appropriate for the cricket of today’s test: “the hopes we had were very high, very far, but we must try, no need to hide, no need to run, because all the answers come one by one, the game will never end , because we are keeping the dream alive”.
I can’t say I’m familiar with this tune, but it’s coming out of my speakers as I type.
41st over: England 171-5 (Foakes 9, Brook 59) Wasim keeps running, looking for that tail yorker to rattle the stumps or trigger an lbw. Brook dives for a ducker and hits the most sublime straight drive for four. A full toss follows and Brook goes through covers for another boundary.
40th over: England 163-5 (Brook 51, Foakes 9)
He is nowhere near the bat and the ball is expected to miss the stumps lbw as well. Carry on.
Foakes takes another boundary, this time off Abrar. But then the finger goes up! It’s to short leg, and Foakes has gone up to the flat for a review…
39th over: England 158-5 (Brook 50, Foakes 5) Foakes finally gets a wide from Wasim, and obliges with a touch to the third man boundary for four.
Fifty for Harry Brook!
38th over: England 154-5 (Foakes 1, Brook 50) Brook pulls quickly again to get four off Abrar. And then a moment of worry for the batsman, with a top edge sweep that sends the ball high… but the man at deep backward square leg can’t get there in time. And that too is a half-century in what has been a sublime series for England’s new batting star.
37th over: England 148-5 (Brook 44, Foakes 1) Wasim has also tightened things up at his end.
36th over: England 147-5 (Brook 43, Foakes 1) Having missed out on selection for the second Test, Foakes has to learn about the different tricks of Opening in this one. He’s understandably attentive, splashing as Brook grabs one.
35th over: England 146-5 (Brook 42, Foakes 1) Wasim starts to find his line, getting the ball to the end and testing Foakes’ defence.
34th over: England 146-5 (Foakes 1, Brook 42) Oh, this match is getting pretty exciting now.
33rd over: England 145-5 (Foakes 0, Brook 42) Foakes is out at mid on for his first innings of the series. And he has work to do.
WICKET! Stokes finished with Azhar/Wasim 26 (England 145-5)
alas my days Brook removes Wasim for what looks to be a comfortable couple of runs. Except Stokes wants three and keeps going, even as Brook goes back. The throw comes in from Azhar Ali and Wasim forces the non-striker end with the easiest of outs. Strange confusion and Pakistan are right about this.
Updated at 0755 GMT
32nd over: England 140-4 (Stokes 25, Brook 38) A tidy maiden to start the session.
Ben Stokes and Harry Brook are out there again. Looks like Abrar will kick things off.
Australia have won by six wickets at the Gabba in two days. What balance is this?
Lunch – England 140-4
31st over: England 140-4 (Brook 38, Stokes 25) Wasim is full and straight to Brook, resulting in an lbw shout, but it probably goes down. Decent pace from Wasim, going over 140km/h, but has struggled with his lines so far. Brook, off the third ball of the over, takes a stunning shot, opening the off side with a little leg shuffle, his four hitting the straightest of the bats. And that’s lunch!
30th over: England 135-4 (Brook 33, Stokes 25) Stokes sweeps for four off the third ball of the over. Nauman then falls too short and Stokes steps back to hit the offside for another boundary. It looks good.
29th over: England 127-4 (Stokes 17, Brook 33) Wasim returns and Stokes shows his hand early, stomping down the pitch but doesn’t put a bat on it. The England captain hits the penultimate ball of the over, however, steps forward to smash it for four through over.
Open magic delivery to get Pope out:
28th over: England 122-4 (Stokes 12, Brook 33) They’re talking football and fishing on the comms right now, so things have calmed down a bit.
27th over: England 120-4 (Brook 32, Stokes 11) Stokes sweeps and the ball bounces to hit Abdullah Shafique at short leg off the helmet. Then a brief pause in play to make sure all is well, and so it seems.
26th over: England 118-4 (Stokes 10, Brook 31) Stokes sees some air and sweeps Nauman hard for his first boundary.
25th over: England 110-4 (Brook 29, Stokes 4) Abrar calls home with an lbw appeal against Stokes, but the ball looks like it has been bowled outside leg. A quick, flat and straight follows to Brook, who barely keeps him out.
24th over: England 108-4 (Stokes 3, Brook 28) Stokes and Brook trade singles as Nauman continues.
23rd over: England 105-4 (Stokes 1, Brook 27) Stokes comes down the track to get off the mark with a single before Brook ends the over with a back-to-back six. how do you
WICKET! Pope b Abrar 51 (England 98-4)
Oh, you’re not playing this. Abrar delivers a beauty, drawing the pressure forward before getting the ball to turn and step on the stumps. A magical piece of bowling.
Fifty for Olie Pope!
22nd over: England 97-3 (Brook 20, Pope 51) Pope ends Nauman’s over with a boundary for his 11th Test fifty. played
Kim, who is trying to have it all, posts: “To keep track of events here and at the Gabba, I’ve resorted to holding a phone in each hand, which allows me to control both OBO channels simultaneously. I feel rather like The Sundance Kid with a six-shooter in each hand, holding off lawmen besieging my last refuge. That’s fine until my wife wakes up and demands her phone back. Then she’ll have to make a difficult decision as he is unlikely to take no for an answer.”
Looks like Australia is about to fix that. They just need twenty-somethings more to wrap things up at the Gabba.
21st over: England 89-3 (Pope 44, Brook 19) Abrar tries the front hand delivery and it’s too far down the leg side: Brook sweeps for four.
20th over: England 84-3 (Pope 43, Brook 15) Another neat one from Nauman.
Tony writes in: “There has been a lot of talk about who to leave in the England team and who to leave out, mostly revolving around who keeps the wicket and who is essentially a batsman. I would suggest that perhaps the choice would be simpler if off. Part-time spinner and batsman Root was dropped! Can you say such things?”
Tony, Tony, Tony. It’s early in the morning and I don’t think you’ve had your coffee yet.
19th over: England 83-3 (Pope 42, Brook 15) Abrar goes full and quick off the front of the hand to leave Brook in all sorts, and Babar steps up for a review. It’s going down the side of the leg, though, quite comfortably. Brook bounces off the last ball of the over, swinging back for a leg hit to take four. He was so quick to get into position for that.
The two wickets that fell earlier:
18th over: England 77-3 (Brook 10, Pope 41) Babar returns to the field as Nauman turns to concede just one. Drink time
Brian writes: “My expectations of proper, quiet Test cricket were being slightly disturbed by England’s cheerful run-scoring pace, but after the quick dismissals of Duckett and Root we can perhaps hope that young Brook and Pope undertake a patient reconstruction and restoration.decency to the proceedings”.
I’m not sure the kids stay quiet for long…
17th over: England 76-3 (Brook 9, Pope 41) Indignant from Brook, who bowls Abrar for a straight six, on the back foot raised for some extra flair. An LBW shout follows as Brook comes down the pitch a couple of balls later, but he’s too far from his crease for that to be a problem.
16th over: England 69-3 (Brook 2, Pope 41) Pope comes down the track to touch the ball to mid on and steal a single.
15th over: England 65-3 (Pope 38, Brook 1) Abrar gets another to stay very low, and Pope does well to pull it back for a couple.
14th over: England 60-3 (Pope 33, Brook 1) No hat-trick as Brook runs out immediately. A wonderful over from Nauman Ali livened up the proceedings.
Nauman in a hat-trick! Brook is out there to deal with it.
WICKET!!! Root c Salman b Nauman 0 (England 58-3)
Another! Lovely from Nauman as he bowls one to get the root to slide forward, and the outside edge is gobbled up at first slip. The referees check to see if it’s worn, and there’s no drama. A first player from Root. What a moment!
WICKET! Duckett lbw Nauman 26 (England 58-2)
And that’s getting to the halfway point! It was the referee’s call on impact. Nauman, off the cover, swerved to catch Duckett on the back foot. This has come slightly out of nowhere for Pakistan.
Duckett opines after Nauman has him lbw…
13th over: England (Duckett 26, Pope 32) Big from Duckett! He comes down the track and smashes Abrar for a straight six. Beautiful, beautiful shot. The left-hander taps towards the offside for a single a couple of balls later, and Pope collects a boundary with a nice clip down the leg side. England are cruising.
12th over: England 47-1 (Duckett 19, Pope 28) Pope and Duckett square off comfortably against Nauman, with the latter chipping in for a single.
11th over: England 42-1 (Duckett 17, Pope 25) Abrar is adjusting, and looking threatening, this low bounce gives him something to work with.
Here’s some love for Adam Collins, a regular on these pages. A great call on Mitchell Starc’s 300th Test wicket.
10th over: England 38-1 (Pope 22, Duckett 16) The quicks aren’t having much fun so it’s spin…