Third Ashes Test, Australia v England, The WACA, day five recap

Third Ashes Test: Day five scores

Australia win by an innings and 41 runs and regain the Ashes

England 2nd inns: 218 (72.5 overs. Vince 55, Malan 54, Woakes 22, Bairstow 14, Root 14, Cook 14, Overton 12, Ali 11; Hazlewood 5-48, Lyon 2-42, Starc 1-44, Cummins 2-84)

Australia 1st inns: 662-9dec (179.3 overs. Smith 239, M Marsh 181, Khawaja 50, Paine 49*, Cummins 41, S Marsh 28, Bancroft 25, Warner 22; Anderson 4-116, Overton 2-110, Woakes 1-128, Ali 1-120)

England 1st inns: 403 (115.1 overs. Malan 140, Bairstow 119, Stoneman 56, Vince 25, Root 20, Broad 12, Woakes 8, Cook 7; Starc 4-91, Cummins 2-84, Lyon 1-73, Hazlewood 3-85)

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0746: WICKET! Australia regain the Ashes! Woakes attempts to get a short ball down to third-man for a single, but can only feather it through to Paine.

0737: England scamper a bye to the keeper from the final ball of the over to get Woakes back on strike. Would've been out had Paine hit the stumps, or had Bancroft been switched on at short-leg and run to the stumps.

0734: Good from Anderson, getting a single from the first ball of the over.

0733: Woakes tries to work the ball to long-leg for a single to keep the strike. It goes for four.

0728: Anderson will continue, and gets through the over. Decent effort.

0722: Crunch. The first ball James Anderson faces crashes into the side of his batting helmet. Looks like the protection has done the job, but Anderson will have to get through the concussion tests and source a new helmet before play can resume.

0721: WICKET! Not great ticker from Broad, you'd have to say. It's not a great look for him to be hiding below a two-cap player with a cracked rib anyway, but he's not got in line as he gloves this one through to the keeper.

0715: WICKET! Overton slaps a couple of boundaries through the offside off Hazlewood before steering one to Khawaja in the gully. Brave effort with a cracked rib, but we've sadly probably seen the last of him for this series.

0709: Overton fends Cummins to leg-gully, where Lyon can't quite get his fingers under it. And Lyon immediately runs from the field with blood dripping from the middle finger on his right (bowling) hand. Think he's taken some of the nail off there, which might make bowling a touch sore for the rest of the day.

0705: Woakes takes a quick single to bring up the 200 for England.

0701: Nice on-drive from Overton gets him two as his fellow injured paceman, Starc, half-stops the ball via a combination of hand and face.

0658: Hazlewood in the middle of a glorious spell here. Overton, unsurprisingly, has little answer here as three balls in a row jag past his outside edge. Overton, carrying that cracked rib remember, appears to have put on about 20lbs overnight such is the size of the chest guard he's got on.

0653: WICKET! Malan struggled horribly in Hazlewood's last over and can't survive this one. Gloves a short ball down the legside to give Paine a simple catch.

0650: Even better shot from Woakes here, whipping Starc through midwicket for four. Deficit down to 63.

0649: Nice check-drive from Woakes brings three. No prizes for guessing which Australian chased it down just inside the rope.

0646: Tremendous over from Hazlewood, though. As well as the lbw shout there are two plays and misses from a batsman who's looked remarkably secure until now. There are 47 overs to go.

0645: Australia lose a review for an lbw shout from Hazlewood against Malan. Ball sort of squeezed between bat and pad, but on replay it's clearly pad before bat. Matters not, though, because it's pitched outside leg.

0641: "OFF! OFF! OFF!" chant the Barmy Army again, so there must be a few spots of rain. Nothing much to it, though, and there's nothing much on the radar for the next few hours now either. If England want to get out of this, they're going to have to do it themselves now.

0633: Malan moves to 300 runs for the series. Comfortably England's biggest positive of the campaign. Fifty overs left in the Test.

0630: First boundary for Woakes as he runs Lyon down to third-man. Tidy shot, and it takes the deficit down to 71.

0624: Fifty for Malan to go with his first-innings century. Another high-quality innings in tough conditions, bringing up the landmark with a pull down to fine-leg.

0622: Biggest change between Malan at the start of this series and Malan now is his ability to find a single off Lyon. Does it again here, skipping down the track and working the ball just wide of mid-on to get down the other end.

0618: Nice shot from Chris Woakes, leaning on a full ball from Cummins and collecting three.

0611: WICKET! Moeen out to Lyon for the fifth time in six innings. Saved from an lbw by a small inside edge one ball, but trapped plumb in front by the very next delivery. Quite why he continued to play for extravagant turn I'm not sure.

0608: Cummins offers a tempter outside off stump for Ali, who accepts the invitation. Times the ears off the cover-drive this time, but not a shot Australia should worry about seeing too much. For one thing, it carries plenty of risk, and for another, it's very pretty.

0558: The draw's come back in to 6/4 here. Going to need some serious weather to justify that price. There are more showers forecast, though.

0556: Malan works Lyon into the legside for a single to take England's deficit down to double-figures. Runs not irrelevant here.

0549: "OFF, OFF, OFF!" chant the Barmy Army as another brief spell of drizzle rolls across the WACA. It's gone as quickly as it arrived, though, as the wind continues to howl.

0543: Starc hoops one down the legside going for the yorker against Moeen. It lands in the footmarks and balloons comically out of Paine's reach for four of the harshest byes you could ever see.

0540: Nathan Lyon into the attack. Malan skips down the track and chips him through midwicket for three. Usman Khawaja gives chase. He's not quite Warner, almost escorting the ball to the boundary.

0538: Mitchell Starc and his bruised heel get through their first over of the day without obvious distress for either batsman or bowler.

0532: Malan shapes to leave a routine back-of-a-length delivery from Hazlewood outside off stump. The ball instead jags back at him as if attracted by a magnet and thuds into his hip. Australia are going to win here, and they're going to deserve it, but this is still a pretty unsatisfactory end to a Test match.

0526: Chance! Warner missed a run-out chance in the first innings, and does it again here. Moeen Ali takes a crazy single off the back foot and would've been out by a yard-and-a-half had the throw hit the target. Warner probably guilty of rushing his throw there. Had more time than he perhaps realised. I'm thinking of the way Woakes set himself and made sure when running out Cameron Bancroft at Adelaide. Warner got his throw away incredibly quickly but was off-balance when he did so.

0517: Bye of the century. Hazlewood hits one of the cracks and the ball jags away from Moeen and wide of a diving Paine to be parried by a diving Mitchell Marsh at first slip. It's gone down as a bye. Between pitching and reaching the stumps, it's deviated by a almost a metre.

0516: First runs of the morning for Malan, punching Cummins through cover off the back foot. Warner, as ever, in hot pursuit but can't get there this time.

0511: Moeen Ali gets off the pair with a big drive down the ground, but then appears to have been caught low at second slip by Smith. Umpires go upstairs and, as ever, it's hard to see whether the ball has bounced into Smith's hands off his fingers or the grass. Fingers for mine, but the soft signal is not out and there's not enough evidence to overturn that. Third umpire Aleem Dar says it's "not clear", which is fair enough, so Moeen survives.

0504: WICKET! Unbelievable! Literally the first ball of the day into the wet patches from Josh Hazlewood scoots low and under Jonny Bairstow's bat and into off stump. England are going to lose this Test, and they're going to deserve it over the five days' play, but they are also going to be absolutely livid about the circumstances today.

0502: Cummins switches to round the wicket and goes fuller, with two slips now in place. Immediately hits one of those cracks and sends the ball grubbing along the ground through to Tim Paine.

0501: Short bowling the order of the day. Short-leg and two men out on the hook and only one slip with Dawid Malan on strike. First two balls of the day are short, and the left-hander ducks. A third successive bouncer sees Cummins no-balled.

0459: Bright sunshine (for now) and the players are out there. Pat Cummins to complete an over he began a lifetime ago on the fourth evening.

0456: Have to assume there was some rolling done earlier and that the umpires have deemed that sufficient.

0452: Play due to start in eight minutes. There needs to be seven minutes of rolling. The leaf blowers are still going...

0449: If it is an 0500 GMT restart, by my reckoning that's 70 overs.

0445: Based on Joe Root's sign language to the dressing room, play is going to start at 1pm - that's 0500 GMT - even though there are currently still five big blokes with leaf blowers drying the pitch. Seems absolutely ludicrous to announce a start time while that's still going on.

0437: The covers are coming off again!

0435: And now it's raining again! Back comes the damp hessian cover. This is possibly the greatest day in Ashes history.

0434: Having deemed the pitch fit for play before the early lunch, the umpires appear to have changed their minds again...

0432: Plenty of talk about "body language" during this Test. Half-an-hour ago it was Root looking agitated with the umpires. Now it's Smith.

0431: The groundstaff are back with their blowers. Another delay...

0427: ...

0424: ...

0403: That start time is still very much provisional, given the weather forecast, but the major news is that the umpires are now happy with the pitch. That is in itself a very controversial call. One way or another, there is going to be some fallout here.

0402: Adam Gilchrist on BT reports that he's just spoken to Joe Root who is very unhappy that the umpires have deemed the pitch fit to play. The wet spots that Australia's groundstaff have been desperately trying to repair are now crusty on top but still soft underneath.

0350: LUNCH: England, 132-4, trail Australia by 127 runs
Early lunch taken with a view to now restarting at 0440 GMT. Who knows what might happen in the next 50 minutes, though. At the moment there are still 75 overs scheduled in the day. That will be plenty for Australia, but that still seems quite unlikely.

0330: Some chat about an 0400 GMT restart, which seems outrageously optimistic given that the covers have just come back on. That start time simply won't happen but does suggest, though, that the umpires are happy enough with the pitch should we get a sustained spell of dry weather.

0310: Adam Gilchrist says on BT that the umpires have told the groundstaff not to place the leaf-blowers directly on the pitch. Not sure that message has got through.

0305: Sun currently shining, and Darren Lehmann trying to pretend in an interview with Adam Gilchrist on BT that all is well with the pitch. Hmm.

0256: I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again, but if you ask me right now my best guess would be no play today and England escaping with the most ridiculous of draws.

0253: Not going to attempt to document the start and end of every shower here as they are happening so often, but we've got another heavy one right now. Half the groundstaff wrestling desperately with the covers while the other half run off with the leaf-blowers.

0242: Trevor Bayliss not happy...

0241: The draw is back out to 11/8. The prices changing as often as the weather.

0230: The draw is now odds-on at 10/11.

0225: Raining one minute, sunshine the next. Think we might be looking at quite a major stink here whatever happens. A lot of water got under those covers. I know Australia doesn't get rain like England does, but the inadequacy of the covers in a cricket economy like Australia's is a scandal waiting to happen. They've got worse covers than a mid-sized English club ground.

0215: Graeme Swann on the groundstaff and their leaf-blowers: "Like trying to defrost the turkey under a hot tap."

0205: Raining hard again...

0201: The other news this morning is that Mitchell Starc has a bruised heel. He will bowl today - assuming we get out there - but Jackson Bird has been retained in the squad for Melbourne rather than being released back to the Sydney Sixers for the Big Bash as planned.

0157: The umpires are adamant that play will not resume until the wicket is in the same condition it was yesterday. England are quite rightly going to be in the umpires' ear here.

0155: It's currently sunny as the groundstaff continue their ad hoc attempts to rescue the pitch. "It's a bit embarrassing for Australian cricket," says Ricky Ponting on BT.

0145: Astonishing scenes at the WACA this morning. The wind is howling across the ground bringing rain then sunshine then rain then sunshine then rain again. We won't have the early start we were due to get, but the big controversy is that during one shower this morning the covers were blown off the pitch.

The groundsmen are attempting to dry the pitch with leaf blowers and England are visibly unhappy about what's going on and the state of the pitch. Obviously, they would be.

Day four recap

0921: CLOSE: England, 132-4, trail Australia by 127 runs with six wicket remaining
England just about still in there fighting, but they probably need a combination of Bairstow, Malan and rain to deal with two sessions tomorrow to retain serious hopes of extending the fight for the urn beyond Christmas Day. Anderson bowled well this morning - not for the first time in the series doing so a frustratingly long time after it might have been genuinely useful, while Paine and Cummins (again) enjoyed themselves with the bat. Vince batted like a dream before getting the ball of the series from Starc, while Malan and Bairstow have carried their first-innings form into the second dig. Neither Stoneman nor Root will want to watch their dismissals again.

0921: Play has been abandoned for the day. Early start and a potential 98 overs from 0200 GMT tomorrow.

0908: Where's this come from!? Raining again just as the players were about to get back on.

0900: Back on in 10 minutes if it doesn't rain again, which it doesn't look like it will. We can play until 1026 GMT.

0848: Blimey. It's absolutely whacking down now. It does look brighter in the distance, but they're struggling to pin down the covers in this rain so it might take a little while to dry things out when this rain relents.

0844: Rain Stopped Play
It's got heavy again and even with the floodlights on it's pretty dark. Heaviest rain yet, but every chance it blows through quickly with this wind. No reason to think this is definitely terminal.

0841: Four more for Bairstow with a sweet drive through the covers. The floodlights are on, and the rain is starting to fall again.

0832: Four boundaries in an over for Malan, jumping out of his bunker from nowhere to smack Cummins all about the place. A drive down the ground, a pull from outside off, an even better pull through midwicket, and a delicate glide to third-man. Lovely stuff.

0824: Bairstow off the mark with a clip off his toes through midwicket.

0815: Sun shining through again.

0813: It's raining again. Staying out there for now.

0805: WICKET! Ooof. Unplayable delivery from Starc. It's 90mph left-arm round the wicket, it's pitched on off stump and then hit off stump. Vince has to go for 55 and need not concern himself too much with that dismissal. He's tried to work it through midwicket, and you can't grumble with that decision. Its original line is taking the ball past leg stump.

0802: Thick inside edge through square-leg brings Malan a single and brings up England's 100.

0801: Four more for Vince, sweeping Lyon hard behind square-leg to give the boundary sweeper no chance.

0754: Vince eases to an effortlessly elegant 50. Really does look so, so good right up until the moment that he doesn't and he's walking off. Eleven boundaries in this 85-ball effort, every one of them a masterpiece of the batsman's art.

0748: Starc back into the attack. He's not fully fit, I don't think. Meanwhile, the wind has picked up again and the groundstaff are lurking near the boundary ready for action.

0747: Vince has probably played the best seven or eight shots of the day in this innings. Here's another of them, rocking back and punching Lyon through cover-point for four.

0743: Vince been tied down since tea, and that's always when he's at his most vulnerable. Cummins' frustration understandable, then, when he sends down a friendly wide long-hop that Vince dispatched past point for four.

0733: Cummins hits one of those cracks which causes a full delivery to jag and bounce and roll away to the fine-leg fence via the flap of Vince's pad. Smiles all round at the extravagance of the movement there. Next ball is a good bouncer that Vince deals with nicely, dropping the hands and swaying, before he finds himself digging out a yorker next ball. Good cricket all round there.

0727: The evening session starts with a big leg-before shout from Cummins against Malan. Crashing into leg stump but it's pitched a fair way outside leg. Marais Erasmus says no, and Cummins rightly tells his skipper not to review.

0715: As quickly as the rain came, it's gone. Should resume pretty swiftly after the rescheduled tea break for a long final session. Could also be an extra half-hour at the end of it...

0706: TEA: England, 71-3, trail Australia by 188 runs
Slightly early tea taken for obvious reasons. Another bad session for England, with three unforced errors helping Australia on their way to victory. Stoneman and Root played particularly poor shots, while Cook was slightly less culpable as he fell victim to a stunning return catch from Hazlewood.

0705: Rain Stopped Play
This was forecast but it's still come from nowhere. In the space of five minutes the sky has filled in and it's now raining hard. The players trot off, the groundstaff trot on.

0656: Another beautiful cover-drive from Vince, off Lyon this time. Crucially, unlike Root, he's picked the right ball to attack. Just that bit fuller to bring it into half-volley territory.

0649: Dawid Malan strides to the crease with the confidence of a man who scored 140 in the first innings and promptly glides Lyon away to the third-man boundary with a delightful late cut taken almost out of the keeper's gloves.

0646: WICKET! Nathan Lyon strikes first ball to remove the England captain and surely any lingering hope for the tourists. It's full and wide, and Root can't resist a big drive at it. The ball ricochets off Paine's gloves to slip, where Smith adjusts smartly to pouch a good reaction catch.

0645: Four more for what we'll call a controlled outside edge. The runs are a bonus, but it's played with soft hands and straight into the ground.

0643: Vince punches four more through the covers off the back foot this time. Needless to say, it's achingly beautiful.

0639: Drag-down delivery from Mitch Marsh is pulled away by Root to deep square-leg, where Shaun Marsh makes a mess of the fielding to turn two into four. Been a handy series for the Marshes, but that wasn't their best collective moment.

0635: And repeats the shot to show it wasn't a fluke.

0633: Root in on the act now with nothing more than a push through cover off Hazlewood that not even Warner is able to reel in.

0630: Two stunning fours for Vince off Mitch Marsh. The first is hooked straight into the carpet and placed perfectly between the two deep fielders, the second clipped wristily off his toes wide of mid-on. He's 20 not out with five gorgeous fours.

0625: Ludicrous delivery from Hazlewood to Vince here. We saw Anderson bowling 82mph leg-breaks earlier, well this is a 90mph off-break. Vince, blameless, ends up missing it by about eight inches. Behind the wicket they think it might be lbw, but it's probably missing a fifth stump having started outside off.

0612: WICKET! Unreal caught and bowled from Hazlewood. It's the best caught and bowled of this series, which is saying something. Cook gets a leading edge back to the bowler, who sticks out his right mitt and the ball sticks in there about six inches above the turf.

0607: Another gorgeous cover-drive for four from Vince. This is fine.

0601: Vince plays one of those cover-drives of his that could make angels weep at its beauty. Races away for four, yet we all know it could just as easily have gone straight to second slip. But that is the glorious fragility that makes Vince so beautiful. He cannot be tamed, we should not want him to be tamed.

0557: Cook going through one of those out-of-form phases that have pockmarked his career where his footwork is a mess and you wonder how he's ever going to score another run. He's now at the point of the cycle where he makes a belligerent century out of sheer force of will.

0551: Starc struggling here. Pulling up short and grimacing in his follow-through, and he's spraying the ball around. Cook flicks him away to long-leg for four and adds a less convincing single on the legside. Got stuck in the crease a la his first-innings dismissal but on this occasion gets the middle of the bat to the ball.

0546: WICKET! Tame dismissal for Stoneman, prodding tentatively at Josh Hazlewood and getting a chunky edge through to Paine.

0542: Both England openers off the mark Starc's opening over. Cook nurdling to leg, obviously, Stoneman steering the ball safely through gully off the outside half of a defensive bat and collecting three.

0526: END OF INNINGS: Australia, 662-9dec, lead by 259 runs
Odd innings today, but clearly the bulk of the work was done yesterday. Paine and Cummins' stand was handy, though. Anderson bowled far better today, knocking over both the big centurions and then glossing his figures with another couple of wickets during the post-lunch slog.

0526: WICKET! Paine stranded on 49 as Lyon skies Anderson to Moeen at mid-on and Smith says enough's enough.

0524: Paine advances down the wicket and woofs Broad over midwicket for a one-bounce four. Plenty of activity in the Aussie dressing room - declaration not far away here.

0519: WICKET! Fifty Test wickets in the year for Anderson, Cummins playing all round an inswinger to be plumb lbw. An optimistic review never looks like saving the batsman. Three wickets for Anderson today

0514: Paine hooks Broad down to fine-leg for another boundary. Nine from the first over after lunch. Won't be more than 20 or 30 minutes here, you'd think.

0512: Cummins thrashes Broad through the covers for four. He's into the 40s for the third time in four innings this series. His other innings was 11 not out. Handy from number nine.

0511: We're back under way for the afternoon session. Fun and games for Cummins and Paine here.

0505: We haven't heard anything, so Australia will be batting on after lunch.

0430: LUNCH: Australia, 643-7, lead England by 240 runs
Early antics but normal service swiftly resumed once Paine and Cummins got together and we're once again just waiting for the declaration. Tomorrow's slightly iffy weather forecast means it may come earlier rather than later. Could even be 10 minutes before the end of this lunch break. Australia 2/5 to get the win now, with a brave England rearguard draw at 2/1.

0428: Cummins is a ridiculous cricketer. Ten in two balls off Ali via a delicate sweep fine on the legside and then a huge slog-sweep way back on to the hill.

0423: Overton has gone off the field.

0422: Cummins sweeps Ali down to long-leg. Overton dives on his cracked rib to save one run when his team are 220-odd behind. It's brave, but I'm not sure it's smart.

0418: Cummins tries to duck a bouncer from Broad and gets a whack right on the left elbow. Doesn't even flinch, but that had to hurt.

0409: Fifty partnership between Paine and Cummins after all that early nonsense.

0359: And here comes the 200-run lead via two more for Cummins nudged away on the legside.

0358: The 600 is up for Australia as Cummins steers Woakes behind point for three.

0355: Broad now getting the ball to jag this way and that off the big Perth cracks. One veers down the legside and goes for four via Paine's backside, another finds the outside edge but flies out of Bairstow's reach for four more.

0333: Cummins edges Anderson wide of the sole slip all along the ground for four. And that will be drinks with the lead now 182.

0324: Paine given out lbw to Anderson but reviews it, and it's slightly high and wide on the legside. Paine's batting way out of his crease, which actually made that look more out from front on.

0315: Third new ball available for England. Always a good sign. No reason to take it, though, given it will be easier to hit and this old one is doing plenty.

0313: Anderson joins the other four members of England's attack with 100 runs against his name as Paine slaps a cut shot behind point for four. It's the eighth time in Tests that five bowlers have conceded a hundred in the same innings. Happened to England in the Monty-Anderson Cardiff Test in 2009.

0312: One of the great quirks of cricket. England's great start this morning has seen their odds drift to 40/1.

0257: WICKET! What a ridiculous sport this is. Huge leg-before appeal against Paine - looked pretty close, by the way - turned down, but while Anderson is appealing the batsmen have had an awful mix-up about whether or not there's a run. There isn't. The two of them can discuss it in the middle of the pitch as James Vince calmly trots in from gully to flick off the bails. They've just crossed it seems, because it's Mitchell Starc who's gone.

0250: WICKET! Smith gone as well now. Marsh and Smith made 410-0 between them over the last day and a bit, and 10-2 this morning. Great review from Root as ball-tracking shows the ball hitting just far enough below the bails for the not-out verdict to be overturned. Anderson and Broad now have 763 wickets between them in their 100 Tests together - more than any other pair of fast bowlers.

0245: Anderson sends an 82mph leg-break jagging six inches past Paine's outside edge. That's not particularly good news for England.

0241: Smith gets his first runs of the morning with an effortless clip through square-leg for four as Anderson gets a touch too straight.

0240: Chris Woakes starts his day's work with a maiden to Tim Paine.

0232: WICKET! James Anderson strikes in the very first over! After all that punishment yesterday, it takes just two balls for Anderson to pin Marsh lbw on the back foot. Clipping the bails on ball-tracking, so Marsh's review is partially successful. Doesn't save him, but does save the review. England managed to remove one Marsh in 90 overs yesterday, and they've matched it in two balls today.

0229: The players are back in the middle as Smith and Marsh resume their record-breaking alliance.

0215: At some point today England will find themselves with a very important and very difficult job to do with the bat. First, though, they must go through the motions with the ball until the Australian declaration comes at, one imagines, something around 700. Not much fun for the bowlers, but great fun potentially for Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh and anyone else who happens to get a go.

Day three recap

0945: CLOSE: Australia, 549-4, lead England by 146 runs
Just a ridiculous day's cricket. We always knew it might be tough for England to winkle out wickets on this pitch with their attack, but nobody thought it would be like this. England doing a rain-dance; it's the only thing that can save them from series defeat now. Smith and Marshes have added 346-1 today. Total and utter domination.

0943: Smith nurdles a weary legside single off Woakes to bring up the 300 partnership, in just 461 deliveries. Stunning display of skill and concentration, however woeful England may have been. (And they have been truly, cataclysmically woeful.)

0941: Moeen joins Broad, Overton and Woakes with 100 to his name. Anderson will have to wait until the morning.

0940: An understandably exhausted Smith is batting on fumes here, but still has just enough in the tank to whack an Ali long-hop to the point fence.

0935: Malan actually bowling quite a good spell here to be fair to him.

0920: Smith goes to his highest Test score with a pair of drives off Malan, the first to the boundary and the second for a single. He goes past the 215 he made at Lord's in 2015. He's gone past 400 runs in the series for twice out. England yet to dismiss him with a red ball.

0915: Broad bowls successive long-hops to Marsh, who crunches them through point and midwicket for four apiece. He's raced on to 171 - he's only 40 runs behind Smith now.

0902: Malan through two pretty tidy overs here. Mind, he does have a better first-class bowling average than England's second spinner Mason Crane.

0856: Dawid Malan bowling his filthy, filthy leg-spin. England should have tried this about 30 overs ago to be honest.

0852: They've brought out a chair for Smith at the drinks break. An Inzamamesque moment in a Bradmanesque innings.

0845: Misfields creeping in everywhere now. Ones becoming twos, twos becoming three. The 500 is up.

0836: The lead is now 91. Still almost an hour and a half left in the day.

0830: Marsh goes to 150. You can't pretend that England have made it as hard for him as it could possibly be, but it's still been a breathtaking innings. He'll beat Smith to 300 at this rate.

0815: Marsh looking in outrageous touch now. Steers a perfectly presentable delivery from Woakes to the third-man boundary, and then punches through cover where the England captain misfields.

0811: "NOOO!" howls Root into the WACA sky as he drags one down to be smashed through the offside for yet another boundary by Marsh.

0805: DOUBLE CENTURY FOR SMITH! Just outrageous batting this. He's barely playing the same sport as anyone else. The only surprise about this 200 is that it's only his second in Test cricket.

0758: Root brings himself on for a bowl. Immediately deflects an innocuous shot back at him into his own testicles. Metaphor.

0749: According to the stats, Smith has played and missed just four times in the 286 balls he's faced in this innings. That's just ridiculous. Meanwhile, a fine leg-glance brings three for Marsh and the second 200-run fifth-wicket stand of the match.

0743: Overton bowling here despite England confirming he has a cracked rib. He's the one bowler who can be excused in this sorry effort. Cracked rib or not, he's been comfortably England's best bowler and the only one to really give Smith anything to think about at all.

0736: With the score now 425-4, half of the runs in this Test have been scored for the fifth wicket: 414 (and counting) out of 828.

0732: We're back for the evening session. Looks like Moeen with the ball.

0711: TEA: Australia, 421-4, lead by 18 runs
From 368-4 to certain defeat in the space of less than four sessions. Test cricket is a brutal, brutal game and England have been given one of its harshest lessons here. Make no mistake, this defeat, when it comes, will be one to rank right up there with Adelaide 06/07 in the list of ignominy. The speed with which England have lost first the initiative and subsequently all hope here is utterly dizzying. Smith and Marsh have been utterly, utterly brilliant. England have been truly, embarrassingly dreadful.

0709: CENTURY FOR MARSH! Even if something is gift-wrapped, you still have to open it. Marsh has bullied England's bowlers here and goes to his century, fittingly with his 17th crunched boundary in 130 balls. England are long, long gone here but it's a special moment for the recalled Marsh.

0657: Marsh drills a straight drive back past Woakes and forces umpire Marais Erasmus into evasive action a split second before the ball bounces back off the boundary boards.

0643: Moeen half-stops a Smith cover-drive and saves three runs. Scores are level.

0636: Four hundred up for Australia as Smith quite deliberately steers Woakes between slip and gully and away to the boundary. This has been brutal.

0634: Marsh cannot believe his luck here. A long-hop and a half-volley from Anderson in this over, and both disappear for four. Wonderful shots they are too, through cover and straight back past the bowler. The partnership is 149, and Marsh is 15 short of a maiden Test century. Australia now 2/5 for victory with England set to face a horrible no-win third innings here where they can only get themselves in trouble.

0623: Australia bearing down on England's total, with Mitchell Marsh racing towards a century as he collects back-to-back boundaries off Anderson. Bleak stuff for England.

0611: England review a good lbw shout against Smith, but unbelievably Anderson has overstepped. He never oversteps. Luckily for Anderson and the sanity of every English fan, it was umpire's call so wouldn't have been out in any case. The net result of all that is England don't lose the review, but do cost themselves a run.

0605: Smith's 173 not out is the highest Ashes score at the WACA.

0604: Smith clips Overton fine for four down the legside to take Australia to 368-4. That's exactly where England got to...

0600: Big leg-before shout from Overton against Marsh. Just kept a touch low from back of a length, but it's going down leg. Bairstow talks Root out of burning England's last review.

0551: OVERTON FINDS SMITH'S OUTSIDE EDGE. It doesn't carry to slip or anything, but it still feels like there should be street parties or something. A national holiday. Commemorative stamps.

0550: The 350 comes up for Australia. Smith is a genius, but Marsh very much is not. This has been far, far too easy.

0544: England don't even bother to bring the field in to try and make Marsh's 50th run difficult. Gratefully accepts the easy single on offer down to deep mid-off. He's batted nicely, but my word England - bar a couple of overs of short stuff from Broad after lunch - have made it embarrassingly easy for him.

0542: Marsh moves to 49 as Woakes offers him a wide half-volley that gets crashed through point.

0535: Marsh swings and misses again at a Broad short ball. He's at least being given something to think about after England welcomed him back to the international scene with a succession of half-volley throwdowns.

0530: Smith cruises past 150 with a push-drive past cover for a couple. It's taken 205 balls, and there have been maybe five or six false shots in the whole thing.

0524: Woakes bowls 5/6ths of a good over at Smith and then sends down a long-hop that disappears through midwicket for four.

0520: Might work against Marsh, though, who has a flap-pull at one and is fortunate not to glove it through to Bairstow.

0518: Broad decides to go with some short balls. It's not a particularly original or brilliant plan, but it is at least a plan. There was little evidence of one this morning. It doesn't work, of course, because Smith is too good. Slaps Broad for four through point and then helps himself to a single to deep square-leg.

0510: We're back for the afternoon session. England have got to do... something.

0432: LUNCH: Australia, 314-4, trail England by 89 runs
Hard to escape the feeling that this was the session when the Ashes were finally, decisively settled. England unforgivably poor there, really. Yes, the pitch is flat. Yes, one of the batsmen is an actual genius. But they showed nothing. No fight. No desire. In Brisbane and Adelaide they had plans for Smith. They didn't always work, but they never stopped trying. They gave up here when he was about 20 not out. In Adelaide they got in his head with verbals; they've said nothing to him here.

Australia started the day even-money shots for victory here, and they're now 8/15. That's the sort of shift in odds more normally associated with a batting collapse. It's quite telling.

0431: Short and wide from Broad, and Marsh gratefully accepts the invitation to crunch the ball behind point for four. This has been England's worst session in the field this series. They've offered absolutely nothing.

0428: Fourteen from the Woakes over in all as Marsh clips another boundary to fine-leg before collecting three to midwicket. This has been a horrible session from England. They've been outplayed in the series before, but this is the first time they've shown no fight.

0426: Marsh pings Woakes through mid-on for four more to raise the 50 partnership. England are still 100 runs ahead, but they've felt about 200 behind since ball one this morning.

0423: Strangled leg-before shout against Marsh, who gets an inside edge into his pad. Broad stands mid-pitch double-teapotting as the ball dribbles 10 yards into the legside and, with no fielder in the ring on that side of the field, the batsmen scamper two.

0412: Steve Smith misses a ball. Astonishing sight. The ball goes away for four leg-byes. It's missing leg by at least a stump or two, but England quite rightly decide that any Smith false shot has to be worth a review. They lose one, but even if they persist with the "review every false shot from Smith" tactic they probably won't lose their second review for another 50 overs or so.

0410: Marsh chops one past the leg stump for a single.

0406: Quality shot from Mitch Marsh, leaning into a Broad half-volley and pinging it away to the cover boards. England still lead by over a hundred, which is just about worth remembering, but their Ashes hopes are circling the drain here. Australia a cracking 4/5 bet here, surely.

0358: The swing has ended, as have English hopes. All they've got now is a new ball as useless as the old one, but that goes to the fence a bit quicker. Smith with a gorgeous cover-drive off Anderson for four more.

0352: Anderson for some reason gives Mitch Marsh the chance to drive him down the ground with the knackered old ball despite the new one being available. Takes the new ball and then immediately finds Marsh's outside edge. Doesn't carry to gully, but it's something. This ball will swing for about three overs based on what we've seen in the match so far.

0348: First boundary for Mitch Marsh, clipped through square-leg as Overton errs in line.

0343: Anderson into the attack for the 79th over. Warm-up over ahead of the new ball.

0340: Mitch Marsh chips a miscued drive off Overton just out of mid-on's reach.

0329: Overton is the one bowler to have made Smith occasionally look human. Fair play to him. Smith gets in a complete tangle against a good bouncer, and takes a whack on the shoulder. Obviously he steers the next ball for four like it's the easiest thing in the world, but Overton has had his moments against the great man. He's obviously not quite a Ben Stokes-level find, but he's starting to feel like the 2013/14 Stokes-level positive for England from this series.

0326: Marsh replaces Marsh. Mitchell walks on, Shaun walks off.

0324: WICKET! Not sure who's the most surprised person in the ground right now, but there's a good chance it's Moeen Ali. He's got his first wicket since day two in Brisbane. After two rank deliveries are dispatched for four by Marsh, Moeen gets one just right to spin away from the left-hander and find the outside edge. Simple catch for Joe Root at slip, and England have a breakthrough against the run of play.

0306: Smith greets Woakes to the attack with a cover-drive for four to bring up 1000 Test runs in the calendar year for the fourth consecutive year. Matthew Hayden the only other player to have ever done that.

0302: Four more for Marsh, whipping Overton through midwicket. Can't criticise England's bowling to the freak of nature that is Steve Smith, but they've got it totally wrong to Marsh here. They're bowling round the wicket to try and bring the cracks into play, but he lines it up much better from that angle and it feeds his favourite shots through the legside. Should be attacking him with the ball slanted across him, where he's looked far more vulnerable.

0256: STEVE SMITH PLAYS A FALSE SHOT. Thick outside edge squirts along the ground out to deep point for a single. That's as uncertain as he's looked at any stage.

0254: Smith has now scored his slowest and fastest Test centuries in this series. Off 261 balls in Brisbane and 138 here.

0248: HUNDRED FOR SMITH! That has felt inevitable since about teatime yesterday. Just a ridiculous innings. Hardly a false shot in it, never mind a play and miss and certainly not a chance. It's his 22nd Test century and he's still only 28 years old. Beautiful shot to bring it up as well, whipping Anderson through midwicket like it's the easiest thing in the world.

0246: Four more for Smith, driving Broad effortlessly wide of mid-on and sending the ball racing across this glorious outfield. Moves to 99 with a single to deep square-leg and will keep the strike.

0243: Anderson using all his experience here and shrewdly deciding to bowl a full over at Shaun Marsh. It's a maiden.

0237: Smith Richie Richardsons a full ball out to deep point off the back foot for a single. Shaun Marsh takes one off middle stump through midwicket for three to oohs and aahs from the bowler and fielders. Pretty safe really. Was very full.

0234: Just a single for Smith from the first over of the day. That's pretty much a victory for England, although Australia have now avoided the follow-on.

Australia even-money favourites right now to win the Ashes in Perth for the third time in four tours. The draw 13/8, and England somehow taking 17 more wickets with this pitch on this attack and forcing a win is 4/1.

0230: Players are out in the middle and ready to go. James Anderson has the ball in his hand.

0200: Day three at the WACA. The first news of the day is that Craig Overton, struggling with injury yesterday, has had a scan and a bowl in the nets and is, we're told, fine to play a full part today. The fact this is so important is testament to the impact he's made in his Test-and-a-half today. Was by far England's best bowler yesterday before succumbing to that side/chest injury, removing both Australia's openers and, most impressive of all, actually making Steve Smith look uncomfortable.

And there, of course, is the day's real key figure. He looked outrageously good - in his own, bizarre way - yesterday and England simply have to find a way to stop him today before the match and the series get away from them.

England's best plan may genuinely be to try and get the other seven non-Bradmans out rather than worry too much about Smith.

Day two recap

1003: CLOSE: Australia, 203-3, trail England by 200 runs
Another superb day's cricket, but this one very much Australia's. England collapsed horrendously after a stupendous 237-run stand between Malan and Bairstow, while Smith's batting has just been on a different plane to anything else we've seen in this series or, indeed, anywhere for a very, very long time. England had no answer.

0951: Drop! Marsh works Ali into the legside and it hits Stoneman on the toe at short-leg. It bounces up in the air and both he and Bairstow dive for it. For the second time in the series, two England fielders contrive to get in each other's way and bungle a catching chance.

0949: The 200 is up for Australia in the 58th over as Marsh clips Broad through the legside for three.

0944: Shaun Marsh off the mark from the 18th ball he faces, squirting a thick outside edge all along the ground wide of gully.

0933: England have packed the legside and are bowling straight to Smith. He still somehow manages to thread the ball through square-leg for four. This innings is ridiculous.

0918: WICKET! Khawaja has to go for exactly 50 after being on the wrong end of the most marginal of lbw decisions. The left-hander plays back and is hit above the knee-roll just about in front of off stump. Might be an inside edge there as well, but Aleem Dar is happy enough that it's only pad. On to ball-tracking which shows amber lights for Impact and Wickets with the ball hitting up near the bails. Australia retain the review, Khawaja a touch unlucky to be given out on-field there you'd have to say.

0914: Fifty for Khawaja. It's suffered in comparison to his captain's serene progress at the other end. Dropped on nought and 28, but cashing in now.

0913: Smith continues on his merry way with a delicate late cut off Ali. So, so easy.

0903: Overton is off the field.

0901: He's still bowling, but he shouldn't be. Sends down a medium-pace lollipop that Smith slaps for four. It's hard enough for a fit bowler here.

0859: Overton was grimacing earlier, and he's really struggling now. He's receiving treatment to his side halfway through this over, and I'm not sure he's going to be able to complete it. England in real bother here if they go a bowler down.

0855: Smith moves serenely to 65 with his 11th boundary, punched through the covers off the back foot. Related: Australia have gone back odds-on for victory.

0836: This is special from Smith. Just playing a different game to absolutely everyone else we've seen so far. Five defensive shots out of the middle of the bat are followed by a gorgeous cover-drive that races to the fence.

0832: Khawaja not looking quite as solid as his captain, but gets a good four here as he laces a short, wide one from Woakes behind point.

0817: Outrageously good 50 for Smith, brought up with a wonderful cover-drive off Woakes. Be a huge, huge surprise if this innings isn't three-figures by the time it's done. Only been there 58 balls - at that rate he'll get there tonight.

0808: Drop! Dreadful back-foot waft from Khawaja off Woakes goes at head height to second slip, where Joe Root doesn't seem to pick up the ball at all. Just ends up sticking a hand up at it in desperation. Ball flies through for four.

0759: Four more, and this is even more ridiculous from Smith. He's actually slightly hurried by one that seemed to skid on, yet he still times the ears off it through midwicket.

0757: Smith looking ominously good here. Broad sends him a leg-stump half-volley, but they still need putting away which Smith does with aplomb through midwicket.

0748: Four for Khawaja, but it's lucky. Aims a bid drive at Moeen and gets a genuine edge wide of slip.

0745: Four more for Smith, steering Broad quite deliberately to the third-man boundary. He's racing along.

0737: Smith goes after the short ball from Broad. "Catch!" is the cry from bowler and fielders, but they're talking only to the crowd. Ball sails high over Moeen Ali's head and six rows back. Broad so staggered by that he's doing his Broadface again. Hundred up for Australia.

0734: Not a great start for Ali, who drags one down and gets pulled through midwicket for four by Khawaja. The left-hander may have his problems with off-spin, but long-hops are not among them.

0731: We're back for the final session of the day.

0712: TEA: Australia, 88-2, trail England by 315 runs
England will be pretty happy with that on a good batting pitch showing just the occasional signs of misbehaving. Overton has bowled an excellent spell to remove both openers, Ali has bowled three good overs at Khawaja. None of the other bowlers really posed any threat, though, with Woakes bowling a bizarre spell of powderpuff short balls for some reason. Smith looking in great nick after a rare quiet Test at Adelaide.

0712: Brute of a ball to end the session from Overton. Hits a crack and rears up at Smith from a good length. Cracks into the thumb and Smith, in obvious pain, has to have his wits about him to knock the loose ball away from his stumps before he can check on his injured digit. At least he's got 20 minutes for treatment now.

0708: Moeen Ali three overs into his spell and looking better than in the first two Tests. Just a top-edged sweep for four from Khawaja coming from those three overs. None of the short balls and full-tosses that have pockmarked his bowling in the series to date.

0659: Smith looking absolutely tremendous in his own fidgetty, idiosyncratic, perpetual-motion way. Pings Overton straight down the ground for four and collects two more with a back-foot punch. Would've been three but for a slip from Khawaja at the non-striker's end.

0649: Four more from Smith, punched through cover off the back foot. Woakes getting his line and length wrong here. Clear plan to target Smith full and straight early. Woakes going short and wide.

0643: Steve Smith not hanging about. Strides in and immediately steers Overton through gully for two before getting out the big cover-drive for four. Seven in four balls via a clip to long-leg.

0640: WICKET! Overton with another! England go to DRS after a huge lbw appeal against Bancroft is turned down. The confusion, presumably, for Erasmus is two noises caused by bat and then ball hitting pad. Technology confirms no inside edge, and ball-tracking does the rest. Cannoning into middle-stump, and Bancroft has to go. Great spell this from Overton.

0631: Overton feeling his side after Khawaja works him away for two. Not what England need.

0630: Cricket is a daft sport. Overton been the slowest of England's seamers today, but looked comfortably the most dangerous.

0624: Drop! Not looking so easy out there all of a sudden. Usman Khawaja in at three and gets a big leading edge back down the pitch towards mid-on. Looks like it's way out of Overton's reach, but he throws himself to his left and gets a paw on it. Just can't hold on.

0620: WICKET! Big breakthrough for England as WACA specialist Warner plays a loose back-foot defensive shot against Overton and gets a healthy edge through to Bairstow. Two balls after the drinks break, which has taken more Test wickets than Murali and Warne combined.

1616: That'll be drinks. Batting looking pretty easy right now...

0606: We saw plenty of Tim Paine flying around in the first innings, and it's Bairstow's turn now. Even at Woakes' mid-80s mph this one still climbs alarmingly. Bairstow can only tip it over the bar, condeming Alastair Cook to a long chase. Does well, flicking the ball back just inside the boundary and saving two runs. Not what a man playing his 150th Test should have to be doing.

0553: Slightly streaky boundary for Bancroft, off the cue end, straight into the ground and through the gully.

0550: These two knocking the ball around quite nicely now. With no movement through the air or off this pitch, England's high-quality but fast-medium opening bowlers looking pretty easy to handle.

0545: Glorious shot from Bancroft. Solid check-drive through mid-on off Broad. Nothing wrong with the delivery, and the shot was just a small extension of a forward defensive. Absolutely raced past the mid-on fielder, who had no chance of getting across to it.

0544: If we're being hyper-critical, Broad and Anderson still just bowling a touch short. Not much for them in this pitch, though. Much more suited to Australia's attack, which is not a huge surprise.

0539: Warner breaks the shackles with a glorious punchy drive straight back past the bowler.

0534: Good start from Broad and Anderson, this. Into the fourth over, and only two scampered Bancroft singles on the scoreboard.

0524: Tidy first over from Anderson. Just a single for Bancroft squirted through point.

0519: We're back for the afternoon session and Australia's response to England's 403. David Warner averages almost 90 here, so that's good.

0446: LUNCH: England 403 (115.1 overs)
A middling score for England that could have been far more, but could have been far less. Something over 500 looked well on the cards at one point, but if Australia had held their catches or David Warner taken the run-out chance offered at 150-4, then it could have been 230 all out and series over. England are at the very least in the game.

0441: WICKET! Broad tries to ramp Starc over the keeper's head. Balloons it to short-leg instead. He's the greatest cricketer of all time.

0435: England do find their way past 400 in astonishing fashion as Broad shuts his eyes and swings at a Hazlewood short ball and sends it sailing high and absolutely miles over the boundary on to the back of the hill in front of the scoreboard. Must be close to a 100m hit, and he didn’t even bother himself with anything as mundane as watching the ball.

0431: Astonishing shot from Broad, and some astonishing running as well. He backs away to flay Starc into the offside and scampers three. Inexplicably, with the ball already in the air he starts to think there might be an all-run four available. Realises just in time that actually that might be silly.

0429: England have lost five wickets for 25 runs in 37 balls. From 368-4, they now look unlikely to reach 400. Astonishing collapse, only made more astonishing for being so entirely predictable.

0425: WICKET! Short ball does for Overton as well now. Broad had fended a couple before this one from Hazlewood is zeroing in on Overton's ribs before looping to short-leg off the glove.

0417: WICKET! Bairstow gone now. Great morning for Australia. Bairstow plays all round a straight one, not trusting the tail and with good reason to be fair to him. Australia back in to 13/8 for the win here...

0416: Three wickets in five overs. Wouldn't be surprising to see the last three go in similar time here. Good morning this now for Australia, with England still only around par here.

0413: WICKET! Woakes gets four for a lovely drive through the covers but then flicks one off his hip and can't believe it's carried all the way to Cummins at long-leg.

0408: Woakes not looking entirely comfortable against the bumper barrage from Cummins. Understandable. Carves unconvincingly over the slips to third-man for four. Given the line and length of attack, you'd think mid-on could move to a third slip or even down to third-man. Genuine catching position as well as a run-saver.

0405: Much better shot from Bairstow this time, cutting Hazlewood hard into the ground and bouncing it over the man at backward point. What an outfield this is.

0403: Bairstow's changed the way he plays now. Crucial spell in the game here. Genuine edge off an optimistic drive sails at catchable height into the gap between second slip and gully. That runs away for four, but the next ball he aims a big swish outside off stump and doesn't get close to the ball. Just needs to carry on batting normally here, at least until Broad and Jimmy are out there.

0400: That double-wicket burst has seen the odds return to exactly where they were before play this morning: Australia 3/1, Draw 11/10, England 15/8.

England are still odds-on to reach 450 at 1/2. Looks quite a way off now...

0356: WICKET! One brings two. Moeen Ali has sat and watched a 237-run partnership and then come out to fend his second ball to Steve Smith at second slip.

0351: WICKET! Malan's brilliant innings comes to an end. Skews an attempted drive off a thick outside edge and is brilliantly caught by sub fielder Peter Handscomb at point.

0347: Cummins now bowling bouncers from round the wicket to Bairstow. Australia on to about Plan R here.

0335: England's approach to Nathan Lyon so, so different in this game. Yes it's easier to play him here, but the mindset is different. Malan immediately drives him for two and then collects a single to deep point. Bairstow nurdles to leg for a single. Malan uses his feet to hit a quick single to mid-on. It's a different sport, all of a sudden. Another possible record coming up: Malan now has the second-highest score for an England batsman at Perth, with only Chris Broad's 162 to overhaul now.

0332: Bairstow is only the sixth England wicketkeeper to score an Ashes century. Joins Les Ames, Alan Knott, Jack Richards, Jack Russell and Matt Prior on that short list. Knott the only one to make two Ashes hundreds.

0328: Another record: England's highest partnership at the WACA for any wicket, beating Bill Athey and Chris Broad's 223 in 1986. It's only England's third ever 200 partnership in Perth.

0325: HUNDRED FOR BAIRSTOW! Pulls Marsh to long-leg for a single, punches the air removes his helmet and headbutts it. Get in, lad.

0323: Another record: England's highest fifth-wicket partnership against Australia anywhere, beating Compton and Payneter at Trent Bridge in 1938. It's now worth 220 as Bairstow clips Marsh away for two to reach 99.

0322: Shot of the morning from Malan. Cummins goes short, but the left-hander rocks back and steers a gorgeous late cut past gully and away to the third-man fence. England scored no runs in the first four overs of the morning, but 40 in the seven overs since.

0321: Been some harsh byes go against Paine in this Test already, but a rare genuine error from the keeper here as he lets one squeeze through his gloves for a couple of extras.

0320: Flashing blade from Malan brings four more for an uppish drive through the vacant backward-point area.

0316: These two had to earn the right to play again this morning but they're in full flow now. Leg-stump half-volley from Marsh easily put away by Bairstow, who moves into the 90s.

0315: A clip to long-leg off Mitchell Marsh brings Bairstow two runs and raises the 200 partnership.

0311: Another record: England's highest fifth-wicket partnership in Australia, breaking a record set in 1903.

0310: Bairstow greets the introduction of Pat Cummins with an on-the-up drive through cover-point that takes him into the 80s. Next ball is a genuine half-volley and it's crunched through extra-cover with real authority.

0307: Malan miscues a pull shot, but gets it into a big gap at midwicket and collects two. Brings out that favourite cover-drive again for another couple of runs.

0300: First boundary for Malan this morning, and no surprise that it comes via the cover-drive that we saw so often yesterday. Easy put-away really, Starc striving for the yorker and offering up a full-toss.

0257: This is now England's biggest partnership in Australia since Cook and Trott's unbeaten 329 in the second innings at Brisbane in 2010.

0256: And now the first boundary of the morning as Bairstow leans into a length delivery and drives through the covers.

0255: Runs absolutely flowing now, Malan tucking a second single of the morning into the legside.

0251: First run of the day! Malan squeezes another full toe-crusher down to fine-leg for a single.

0249: Four overs, no runs, no wickets, one lost review.

0244: Three overs, no runs, no wickets, one lost review.

0242: Australia lose their second review. Missing leg stump by a couple of inches. Fast and full from Starc, but just missing.

0241: Australia review a leg-before shout against Malan. Looks close. Missing leg if anything.

0239: Still no run this morning. Josh Hazlewood also starts with a maiden. Better one than Starc's, asking plenty of early questions of Bairstow. In keeping with tradition, this feels like a very crucial first hour. An early wicket for Australia and this could very easily be 360 all out on such a pacy pitch. These two get through it, and 450-500 is on the cards.

0235: Mitchell Starc starts with a slightly wild and woolly maiden over to the centurion Malan.

0230: The players are out. Just about the first day of the series with proper Australian weather.

0210: Well yesterday was England's best day of the series. It was better than anything that happened here four years ago. You have to go back to Sydney in the early days of 2011 for anything to match it. The big question now: can England make it count? It's a hot, blue batting day that will greet Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow as they stride out to continue their partnership already worth 174.

Day one recap

1003: CLOSE: England 305-4 (89 overs)
Great day for England, and especially for Dawid Malan who walks off unbeaten with 110 runs to his name. They still have plenty to do to force a win or even put the game safe on a very flat batting pitch, but you can't ask for too much more than 300 with significant power to add after the first day of a Test.

0959: We're into the 89th and final over of the day, with the clock set to beat us before the 90th can be sent down.

0954: Up comes the 300 for England as Bairstow nurdles to leg and scampers two. England's best batting performance in Australia since 2010/11, and by a wide margin.

0950: Bairstow survives a big leg-before shout from Starc (swinging down leg) and then collects four for a thick, safe outside edge wide of the slips.

0945: Malan adds four more with another sweetly timed cover-drive - very much the shot that has stood out in this innings. Knows he doesn't need to overhit the ball on this pitch, just caressing the ball to the fence.

0943: MAIDEN TEST CENTURY FOR DAWID MALAN! Pulls Hazlewood for four through square-leg. It's been a special innings given the pressure on both player and team.

0939: Single for Bairstow takes the stand to 150. No exaggeration to say it's a partnership that has kept England in the series.

0936: The new ball always a huge challenge for middle-order batsmen even when well set, and it's been tough for Malan until an early Christmas present arrives from Hazlewood in the shape of a half-volley outside off stump. Four more, and he's on to 97.

0931: Starc absolutely ticking here at the end of a long, tiring day. Another full delivery, another outside edge - Bairstow's this time - and it flies between third slip and gully for four.

0929: Drop! Starc takes the new ball, immediately finds Malan's outside edge and Bancroft, diving across Steve Smith from third slip, shells it. Not as easy as the one Mitch Marsh dropped earlier, but very, very catchable. Not a good day in the cordon for Australia.

0926: Mitchell Marsh continuing with the old ball, for some reason. Bairstow clips him away to fine-leg for four. Partnership now worth 140.

0923: Second new ball due. Malan still eight short of three-figures.

0917: Malan into the 90s with a late cut for three off Smith.

0915: Fifty for Bairstow thanks to an audacious late cut between the two slips, who at first and then a lottery-ticket fourth. Cracking innings, and fully justifying the promotion to six. Proper innings from a proper batsman.

0908: The ultimate stick-or-twist poser for Malan here. He's approaching a first Test century, and Steve Smith is bowling filthy legspin with an old ball. What a decision it is to make, and Malan sort of chooses... neither. He misses an attempt to cut one that's almost wide of the return, succeeds in cutting one that he can reach for a couple and then whacks a full-toss straight to mid-off.

0902: This is really good cricket from this pair. Forty-three pretty much risk-free runs in the last 10 overs as they look to both cash in on a good time to bat while also knowing that the new ball is nearby and they need to be there to counter it. Bairstow also running the Australians ragged, as is his wont.

0850: Hundred partnership for Malan and Bairstow. This is almost going too well. I'm worried.

0842: Malan breaks the shackles with a couple of lovely boundaries, the first driven straight back past Lyon and the second steered to third-man off Cummins. Adds a single to deep point and is now just 25 away from a first Test hundred. Played beautifully.

0836: Back-to-back maidens. Australia good at hanging in during the difficult times with the ball during this series. England have then generally gifted them something.

0833: Going over the bails. Australia lose a review.

0831: Malan against Cummins from round the wicket has been a problem throughout the series for him. Survives a caught-behind appeal (thigh-pad) but Australia now reviewing an lbw shout. Might be high?

0822: Four more through midwicket for Bairstow. This really does look like a tremendous time to bat. Also, England are only halfway to a competitive first-innings total here. This pitch is absolutely full of runs.

0816: Good initial signs for Operation:Cash In as Bairstow and Malan collect a boundary apiece from Hazlewood's over. Nice shots they are too, Bairstow whipping through midwicket and Malan threading a drive through a packed cover ring.

0812: The 200 is up for England. This is such a crucial period in the game. The ball is old, the pitch is good, there are two set batsmen. This the sort of opportunity England have spurned throughout the series.

0753: Malan to 50 with an easy punch down the ground off Lyon for a single. Been a fine innings thus far. He's shown he can scrap in the first two Tests, and here he's been a bit busier and avoided getting bogged down. Plenty more needed, though.

0745: Malan moves to 49 with a delicate late cut off Lyon. They've not exactly smashed him around, but England have at least found a way to stop Lyon being able to just wheel away without any pressure coming back.

0730: And we're back. Judging by the over-rate, going to be a long session. We'll be going through to 1000 GMT, and probably losing an over or tea as well.

0710: TEA: England 175-4 (53 overs)
Another nip-and-tuck session, but you can't help but feel the contest between bat and ball will be rather less even when Australia bat. Australia are 4/6 having gone briefly odds-against when Stoneman and Vince were going along nicely enough just before lunch, while England are now 3/1 with the draw 7/2.

0706: Quiet spell as Lyon and Mitch Marsh look to get through some cheap overs while Malan and Bairstow aren't really able to go on the attack. Malan jumps out of his bunker to whip Marsh through midwicket for four, which is nice.

0650: Just an update on the Stoneman decision. Another replay has now emerged which shows fairly conclusively that it did hit his top glove on its way through. So the right decision reached in a vaguely unsatisfactory way, which is enormously cricket.

0640: Wonderful shot from Bairstow, drilling Lyon straight back down the ground for four. Almost in bother two balls later, though, chipping the ball back towards the bowler but out of the reach of Lyon's dive.

0636: Chance! Bairstow takes a crazy single to Warner at cover, and Malan would've been two feet short with a direct hit. Warner, with about two-and-a-half stumps to aim at, will feel he should have done better.

0629: Malan the only England player who's been prepared to go after the short ball here. Not sure there's much future in it as a tactic, but a big top-edge here sails over the keeper and all the way for six.

0623: Jonny Bairstow, one place higher in the order, up and running with a gorgeous straight drive. Been great cricket today. Wonderful contest. Can't help but feel that, on here, Australia's batsmen against England's 84mph seamers might be more one-sided.

0619: Malan looking good, as he often has in this series without really getting the runs to show for it. Absolutely creams a cover-drive to the fence off Starc.

0609: WICKET! Huge moment. Brute of a ball from Starc whistles past Stoneman's face and is brilliantly taken one-handed high above his head by Paine. Marais Erasmus says not out, but Aleem Dar on review takes a deeply unconvincing snicko spike as conclusive evidence to overturn the decision. England absolutely furious, Root even trying to get Stoneman to turn round and return to the middle. That's not going to work, whatever the rights and wrongs of what just happened.

0557: Malan punches a Starc bouncer just short of Bancroft at short-leg before picking up a pair of boundaries. First one is neatly flicked away down the legside, but the second slightly streakier off a thick edge that would have offered third slip a tough overhead chance had there been a third slip.

0553: Dawid Malan off the mark nicely with a cover-drive for three. Would've been four but for that man Warner being in pursuit again. That's two he's reeled in today that were four with any other fielder in world cricket doing the chasing.

0545: Not entirely sure exactly how Stoneman is still there, but he is and he's scrapping hard. Controlled outside edge this time, wide of the gully and away for four. Then another blow on the body.

0540: WICKET! Stoneman struggling, but it's Root who's gone. Legside strangle, gloving the ball from Cummins and giving Paine a simple catch.

0535: Drop! Very next ball! Another short one, Stoneman tries to ride it and can only send the ball looping into the offside off the shoulder of the bat. Lyon does the hard work running in and diving forward from point. Gets both hands to the ball before it lands, and should probably have caught it having got there. Stoneman plays and misses with an airy drive that betrays a muddled mind, but he's managed to survive the over.

0531: Stoneman's reward for surviving that edge to slip is a huge whack on the side of the helmet from Hazlewood. Perfect bouncer thuds into the side of the grille, sending the neck guard spinning through the air. Lengthy delay while Stoneman receives treatment and goes through some on-field concussion tests.

0526: Australia left to rue another edge, this time because it brings Root four. Third slip had just gone to gully after the shots Root played in Cummins' last over. Wouldn't have been a catch for third slip, the edge going straight to ground, but may well have saved four runs.

0524: Drop! Bad miss from the returning Mitch Marsh at first slip. Big drive and thick edge from Stoneman goes through nicely to Marsh the Younger at first slip, but the ball bursts through his hands and goes to ground.

0520: Root moves to 16 off 12 with a back-foot punch behind point. Risky shot in Australia, but played well on that occasion.

0518: Another quick start to a session for England. Four more for Root as he clips Cummins through midwicket.

0516: Fifty for Stoneman and 100 for England as an uppercut over gully takes the opener to his third half-century in his sixth Test. Great chance to go on and make this a big one on a flat pitch and billiard-table outfield.

0511: Under way again after lunch with a Root square-drive for four off Hazlewood.

0431: LUNCH: England, 91-2 (27 overs)
England minutes away from a very good morning, but it's even-stevens in the end as James Vince's Groundhog Day Test career continues.

0424: WICKET! Australia strike five minutes before lunch as Vince just can't resist any longer and plays at one he should've left outside the off stump. Big edge, Paine does the rest.

0413: England already showing why Australia wanted a fifth bowler here, even without Handscomb's horror form making it a no-brainer. Lyon not offering the vice-like grip he did in Brisbane and Adelaide, with Stoneman slog-sweeping him for four in another productive over for the tourists.

0406: England making a determined effort against Lyon here. The runs flowed off the quicks with the new ball just naturally, but this is a conscious decision. Both batsmen using their feet, and Vince gets a cover-drive away to the fence. Lyon has gone for nine runs in two overs - generally taken seven or eight overs for England to get that many off him up until now.

0400: Fifty partnership for these two now.

0359: Nathan Lyon into the attack, and Stoneman immediately gets a couple of sweeps away for singles while Vince uses his feet for a couple of singles of his own. Big change from the way England have played him in the series to date...

0356: Four more byes as a legside bouncer from Starc leaves the keeper flinging himself at thin air. Ludicrous that these are going against the keeper's name really.

0351: Another eventful over. Two plays and misses from Stoneman, the first of which has Australia considering a review. Smith didn't hear anything, and nobody seems sure enough to convince him otherwise. Between those two false shots, Stoneman thumps a drive straight back past the bowler for four more. England still above four an over.

0347: This is an okay start for England, and Australia are already odds-against. Seen enough in this series to suggest that's well worth a second look...

0337: A rare three here for Vince as he check-drives through cover. A combination of not-quite-perfect timing, the longest boundary on the ground and Warner being the fielder in pursuit means the ball doesn't quite make it.

0331: So far, so good for Vince. Two drives, two fours. This time through point. That'll be drinks, and it's been an okay first hour for England after winning the toss. Already clear we're going to see higher scores here than in the first two Tests. The pitch has pace and bounce but is absolutely true, while the upturned saucer outfield is helping everything from anywhere near the middle of the bat on its way to the fence. That's the drinks break, and it looks like England have managed to get through it without pouring any of it over each other.

0328: This had been coming. Paine done well to reel a couple in, but had no price here as Stoneman ignores a bouncer that continues to climb and evades the keeper's leap as well. Bounces away for four byes, and that's the 50 up for England.

0317: Ball coming on to the bat and going across the outfield so, so much quicker than in either the first two Tests. For the first time in the series, batsmen really getting full value for their shots. Vince this time collecting four as he clips Hazlewood neatly through midwicket. Nine boundaries in 10 overs this morning.

0315: The WACA may not be as quick as it once was. Still quick enough. Hazlewood bangs down an 89mph bumper that Stoneman gets underneath easily enough and has Paine leaping behind the stumps to prevent any extras. Or "sundries" as they insist on calling them over here, while also putting the scores the wrong way round.

0312: Vince off the mark with a cover-driven four off Pat Cummins. Can't think of another player who so exemplifies the maxim of "your biggest strength is your biggest weakness".

0306: Stoneman continues to produce a giddy combination of ugly short-ball tangles and gorgeous full-ball boundaries. Hazlewood clipped through midwicket to the fence this time.

0300: Another short ball, another scare for Stoneman. This time it's fended off the shoulder of the bat but short of gully. Good response from Stoneman, though, leaning into the full follow-up and punching it through mid-on (and Vince's legs at the non-striker's end) for four more.

0258: First short ball of the morning, and it gets Stoneman in a tangle. He punches it over where short-leg isn't, and it lands safely for a single.

0252: James Vince the new batsman, and Starc immediately throws the next two deliveries up full and wide of the off stump. Vince able to resist there, but for how long?

0248: WICKET! Cook done all ends up by a full, swinging one from Starc as England's rollicking start comes to a grinding halt. The plumbest of lbws; I'd expect ball-tracking to somehow confirm it was actually hitting all three stumps.

0245: Cook in on the driving action now, going through the covers in atypical fashion. Already apparent that the outfield is lightning quick - not even Warner can reel that in.

0242: Starc beats Stoneman with one that jags off the pitch dramatically from back of a length. Stoneman responds with three straight boundaries. The first two are through the legside as Starc gets his line wrong looking for a glory ball, the third driven square through the offside.

0239: Cook off the mark in his 150th Test. Fittingly, it comes from a legside nurdle for one. He's just gone past 35000 minutes batting for England in Tests. That's ages.

0237: Of course, going for a full length means you're going to get driven from time to time. Stoneman does so to full effect here with an elegant cover-drive for four. Fine shot, but not one Hazlewood or Steve Smith should worry about too much.

0235: Big leg-before shout second ball against Mark Stoneman, but Josh Hazlewood hasn't quite got the line right. Pitched just outside, and swinging further down the legside. But Australia have instantly hit the perfect full length here. England throughout this series have generally bowled too short with the new ball due to their fear of Dave Warner.

0233: Solid start for both Cook and Mitchell Starc. Decent maiden over from Starc, with a hint of swing, but Cook solidly in behind when he needs to be and showing good judgement to leave when possible.

0220: The players are out in the middle for the anthems.

0208: Australia 8/11 now for victory here, which looks exactly the kind of 8/11 shot to be interested in. Not really sure why they're drifting - the pitch lasts well here so the toss shouldn't be decisive. England are 7/2, and the same price is available for Root to top-score in England's first innings.

0204: Nice moment at the toss, as Mark Nicholas speaks to Root about Alastair Cook's 150th Test, but accidentally calls him "Alastair Root".

"Hundred and fifty Tests," deadpans Root. "You'd think you'd get his name right by now."

Whatever his name is, the big work for Cook begins in 25 minutes. England have to bat well today, or the series is gone. If it isn't already.

0200: Joe Root wins the toss and, grinning from ear to ear, tells Mark Nicholas "We're going to bat." Good lad. England are unchanged, but have rearranged the deckchairs slightly, with Jonny Bairstow slated at six and Moeen Ali at seven.

Steve Smith confirms Mitch Marsh comes in for Peter Handscomb, who has been horribly exposed by England's bowlers in the series to date.

0150: Plenty to keep you occupied until the toss and team news. We've got betting tips here, and a 20/1 Sky Bet RequestABet as well. Warning: May contain David Warner.

There's also the latest exclusive Paul Collingwood Video Diary from Down Under, including his take on the Ben Duckett-James Anderson brouhaha.

0145 GMT: Welcome to live coverage from day one of the third Ashes Test at the WACA. England must avoid defeat to keep the series alive. They've lost their last seven matches here, and all by a very long way. So the omens... are not good. Still, at least it's the last time they'll ever have to come here, with Perth's shiny new stadium now complete for future tours. Things will definitely go better there, I reckon.

We're 15 minutes away from the toss in what will be Alastair Cook's 150th Test match. He's only the eighth player to reach that landmark, and surely the first who still has to try and justify his place in a team where there are zero plausible replacements