As it happened - Australia vs England, 1st Test, Day 3, Ashes 2021-22

England captain Joe Root proved why he is the number one Test batter in the world while Dawid Malan continued his love affair with Australia as England fought their way back from near oblivion to erase most of the 278-run first-innings deficit and keep themselves in the game.

The pair shared an unbeaten 159-run stand with Root making 86 not out while Malan finished on 80 not out to leave England just 58 runs behind at stumps on day three with eight wickets in hand. They came together at 2 for 61 midway through the day with England 207 runs behind and staring an innings defeat in the face. But they played with fluency and positivity as the Gabba surface flattened into a great batting track and Australia’s much-vaunted attack showed signs of the vulnerability India exposed last summer. However, England still have a huge mountain to climb to either save or win the game.

Earlier, Travis Head made his second Test 150 to help Australia build their mammoth first-innings lead. Head showed England’s bowlers the same contempt he did in the final session on day two. He clubbed Ben Stokes over mid-off and flicked Mark Wood over wide fine leg for six. Head’s thirst for big scores has increased in the last 14 months and is part of the reason for his return to Test cricket. In his last six first-class centuries since October 2020, including this Test hundred, he has converted five of them into scores of 150 plus, having only converted two of his first 12.

Shiva Jayaraman has delved into why Nathan Lyon can't quite make the breakthrough.

Even as Nathan Lyon continues to wait for this 400th Test wicket, it’s been noticeable how the England batters have been comfortable defending Lyon the front foot. England have defended Lyon on their front foot 52 times so far in this match (before the current spell), but have not been in control to only six of those shots. In the past Lyon has used drift, dip and overspin to deceive batters looking to get on their front foot in Australian conditions. Out of the 61 wickets Lyon has taken at home in the last four season, 21 have come when batters have been out playing forward defence. That has been Lyon’s most productive mode of dismissing batters in Australia. However, numbers seem to suggest that batters are getting more comfortable defending Lyon off their front foot of late: according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, in summers of 2018 and 2019, Lyon took 19 wickets when batters were defending on the front foot – once every 47 balls. Since the last home summer, batters have played front foot defence to 320 balls from the bowler but have been dismissed only twice. Can Lyon rediscover his mojo?

England's No.3 Dawid Malan has passed 50 for the fifth time in 11 innings in Australia. He has an Ashes century, in Perth 2017, his only Test century. Incredibly, he has now scored more than half of his total Test runs in Australia and will average above 40 if he is dismissed for 91 or more in this innings. But in his 12 Tests in England and New Zealand, Malan has scored just 447 runs at 22.35 with just four half-centuries and no three-figure scores.

Joe Root has just claimed the record for the most runs in a year by an Englishman but he has also joined an elite group of eight to have scored 1500 Test runs or more in a calendar year. Only one man, Ricky Ponting, has done it twice. But Root has an opportunity to push up into rare air and join Mohammad Yousuf, Viv Richards and Graeme Smith by scoring more than 1600, with up to four innings left in the year after this one.

England fought back in the second hour of the middle session after losing Rory Burns post-lunch and Haseeb Hameed midway through the session. Burns copped a brute from Pat Cummins with the ball leaping from a length to catch the glove. Hameed was caught down the leg side trying to glance Mitchell Starc fine. Dawid Malan and Joe Root have added 46 run since to reach tea without further loss. Both men have had to battle. Root took 20 balls before he struck his first boundary while Malan has played and missed a number of times. But they have been disciplined and patient and forced the Australians to press. Nathan Lyon has been left frustrated that he can't make the breakthrough. It's a start for England but they still have a long road ahead.

Nathan Lyon appears to be getting a little frustrated as he remains stuck on 399 Test wickets. He's had a few close calls. Dawid Malan left one that nearly hit off stump. Joe Root played a paddle sweep that went onto pad and just popped over the head of short leg Marnus Labuschagne. Lyon hasn't extracted a huge amount of turn but he has started to get some drift back into the left-hander. Steve Smith mentioned to Fox Cricket during an interview at the last drinks break that he felt like Lyon just rushed a touch in the first innings but he was working with better rhythm in the second. The wait continues.

Joe Root walks in and Josh Hazlewood comes on immediately. Hazlewood picked him up in the first innings for a duck. It was the eighth time he has dismissed Root Tests. Pat Cummins has removed him seven times. If Root gets through them both he will face Nathan Lyon, who has also dismissed him seven times.

Matt Roller has noted it is worth keeping an eye on the running between Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan. These two were involved in a needless run-out on the final day of England's most recent Test against India at The Oval in September. England were 1 for 120 chasing 368 to win. This was our ball-by-ball commentary.

Lunch will taste a little better today for the England camp after Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed got through a tricky eight-over period. Hameed took the first ball for the first time in Test cricket and Burns was at the non-striker's end for just the third time in Tests and the first time in 40 innings. It nearly backfired anyway with Starc hitting his front pad when he got on strike and the umpire gave it out, but it was overturned on review with ball-tracking showing it was just going over. Burns seized on a couple of short balls while Hameed played some lovely drives but both were beaten consistently by Josh Hazlewood, Starc and Pat Cummins. The Australians will push again after the break.

David Warner is off the field at the moment and sitting in the rooms in his training gear. He was struck in the ribs by Ben Stokes while batting yesterday and needed to wear a chest protector after lunch, which he rarely wears when he bats. Cricket Australia have confirmed he has "bruised ribs" but he is clearly very sore. Coach Justin Langer said as much this morning. Jhye Richardson on as the sub fielder and Marnus Labuschagne is fielding at first slip. Hugo Burdon from the Gold Coast Dolphins is the acting 12th man.

Mark Wood clean bowled Travis Head for 152 to end Australia's innings on 425 with a lead of 278. Wood deserved some reward for nearly four sessions of toil. He bowled 25.3 overs of unrelenting pace and troubled Australia's batters throughout. Ollie Robinson was excellent yesterday as well. But the rest of England's attack was battered by Head, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne. Mitchell Starc played an excellent hand as well making 35. England's batters now must answer the call to avoid this game ending in three days. Victory from here seems impossible and even saving the game looks implausible but England did make 1 for 517 declared in 2010-11 to save a Test at the Gabba after starting their second innings 221 runs behind.

Sampath Bandarupalli has pulled out a terrific stat. The 8 sixes struck by Australia so far in this innings is the most by any team in a Test innings at the Gabba. The previous best was 7 sixes by Australia in 2004 against New Zealand, which included the only six of Glenn McGrath's career. McGrath famously made his highest Test score of 61 in that innings, his only half-century in Test cricket.

Former ICC umpire Simon Taufel has explained why it is so difficult for the umpires to call no-balls live onfield following yesterday's revelations that Ben Stokes had bowled more than 14 no-balls without being called.

Taufel, who officiated in 87 Tests including 74 on-field and 13 as the third umpire, was speaking on Channel Seven as part of their commentary team on day three. He showed some vision from an umpire camera that had been taken during a Sheffield Shield match recently. The camera was situated on the umpire's cap and showed former Australia Test bowler Peter Siddle bowling for Tasmania. The still shot showed Siddle at the point of release, with his back leg and body completely blocking the view of his front foot on the popping crease.

"You can see the back leg actually hides the front foot," Taufel said. "So for the umpire to call that a no-ball, the front foot no-ball, would be absolutely guessing. And this is where the rock and the hard place comes in. If the umpire calls the front foot no-ball here, and a wicket falls, and then the replay shows that wasn't a no-ball, that it was actually a fair delivery, the umpires cannot change it and the fielding team is disadvantaged and that's why it's so difficult for an umpire to guess and to call a no-ball in those situations.

“I think there's an element here of expectation and obviously when people think that technology is involved that the expectation is that there's zero errors. I think the expectations haven't been met in that regard. I know that the umpires would have been working really hard, Paul (Reiffel) and Rod (Tucker) would have been working hard from a technique perspective to move up in their stance and to move back in their stance and make every effort to see the front foot landing but if you cannot see the front foot landing, to guess and call with the playing conditions the way that they are, is really difficult.”

A piece of technology had failed in the lead-up to the Test meaning the third umpire could not get real-time views of the side on cameras to be able to monitor no-balls as they happened. But Taufel believed that a replacement part was on its way.

“Another replacement part has been shipped out as we speak for the second Test match,” Taufel said.

One area Travis Head has improved over the last two Australian summers is his ability to convert starts into big scores. Four of the five Sheffield Shield centuries Head has scored since October 2020 have been 150 plus and one of them was 223 at the WACA against Western Australia. He also made a staggering 230 in a Marsh Cup game earlier this season against Queensland, his second List A double-century. In his previous 12 first-class centuries prior to October 2020, he converted just two of them into scores of 150 plus. One of those was his highest Test score of 161 against Sri Lanka in Canberra in 2018.