Day 3 @ Leeds - Rain, rain, go away...

Viewers turned on the idiot box to see the Headingley pitched (and most of the ground) covered from the sky beers that were falling. Possibly similar to the covers that would have been needed in the Long Room at Lord's a weeks ago as they upturned their Pimm's & Lemonade on any Australians that snuck into the Members' Area based on their reciprocal rights of their M/SCG membership.

The rain is not necessarily a bad thing. It can provide a time to reassess and reset plans for the day to come, a time to catch up on sleep, but I was a fan of playing cards. A former team mate of mine always thought the perfect day was to complete a full day of uninterrupted cricket, drive to the club, as you walk in it would start raining, continue to do so as you had a steak or parmy with half a dozen schooners, and then drive home as apparently "cops don't do booze-buses in the rain". If there are any kids reading, drink driving is not cool - it should only be done in moderation...

Louise and Tubby did their best to try and keep viewers on Channel 9 but it would have been like trying to stay awake during your parents in-law going through their photos from their recent overseas trip. But before you actually get to see a photo, enduring the painful experience of giving them your Wi-Fi code so that their iPhone can talk to your smart tv, and then finding the right input setting on your tv, while discovering the correct folder within their camera roll so that you don't have see every photo since 2013. In any case, session one came and went, so did session two; until Trav and Mitch strode out for session three. 

The boys did well, shooting from the hip on occasion. The Bison with his drives through the off, Sampson with throwing his hands at anything wide of off stump and anything short of a length. Again, things looked rosy for the visitors until Not so (Woakes) produced a decent pill that has the Bison nibbling and given Cuddly Bair dropped the last one, it was time for him to catch this offering. Carey was next without requiring those scoring with their hands to worry about using a second one - Woakes again for his 6th wicket of the test (6 down and leading by not enough). The entry of the bowlers to the crease was a signal to Head that a job was required quickly if they were to set the hosts a reasonable target. Trav did what he has for the past 18 months - kept out the good ball, then absolutely hurt the rubbish ball.

He hit seven 4's and three 6's on his way to 77, eventually mistiming a pull to be caught by D#$%it on the boundary - Australia rolled for a below par 224 and did not bat out the session, losing 6/108 despite Trav's heroics. Would it be enough, only time will tell. If it wasn't, unfortunately there are 2 people to blame, and they are ranked 2 and 3 in the world. 

England started their run chase well. 0/27 at the end of the 15 minutes they had to bat - and the Aussies burned a howler of a DRS review on D#$%it to boot. Whatever happens, this test is not going 5 days, and may not even make the final session of tomorrow.

JT