I swear Smith has made some pact with Warner's Devil. He gets so much luck early on then just goes on and does the business. The delivery that bowled Head was 91.7mph.

They don't need to win so they won't be making any declarations that give England a chance. I don't think England will be getting many on a genuine 5th day pitch. It's already playing up with some inconsistent bounce. ? I think England's best chance of a draw is for Australia to bat too long. So we need to keep the scoring rate down and also take a wicket or 2 so they aren't able to go gung-ho later in the innings knowing they are almost uncertain to lose. I would be pleased to see England bowl continually outside off stump with the Crims continually leaving the ball for the next 50 overs.

Here we go again, England in the sauce with Smith and Lasagne. ?

How is he coming in ahead of Broad and Leech? He's as genuine a number 11 as I've ever seen at this level. Also it's funny to see Buttler playing for his average. Giving the strike to the tailenders and hoping they get out first.

Diving and cheating. I can't think of any other sport where rolling around on the floor or otherwise pretending to be injured is a normal part of the game. I can really see where North Americans are coming from with their 'soccer isn't a sport' and 'it's for girls' jibes over the many years.

Is anyone feeling confident about those £25 fifth day tickets? ?

How about Buttler?

Minus 140? ?

Bad news: the rain stopped far too early.

Well that would at least save those that have bought a 5th day ticket some wallet emptying pain and frostbite.

I think this is the first time England look like they are being truly humiliated. The Archer thing is a bit weird, they were making excuses for him saying 'it was cold', but Mahmood of Lancs got up to 90mph last night in the Arctic Circle, sooooo . . . . . .

I was actually thinking about starting a 2020-21 season thread since this one is already over. ?

How many will England be down by close of play 2, 3, 4? All out?

I thought some of Mowbray's decisions were shit until I saw that. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it was one of the worst decisions in sporting history. I guess it would be the equivalent of Rovers leading 1-0 in the Championship play-off final and Mowbray subbing the keeper for Smallwood with 10 mins to go and then him letting in 2 long range under body fluffers to lose 2-1 or something crazy like that. It was that bad. Sometimes you take a gamble by bowling out your best bowlers leaving no choice at the end but it's almost like he had a compete brain freeze as there were several better options. Crazy stuff.

More than a bit of a disgrace that Lancs are playing a home quarter final away in what feels like a club cricket atmosphere. You can hear the echos from the empty stands.

But I thought Old Trafford had a strict no unofficial resale policy on their tickets? ? Are we seeing the real Archer here? 2 rocks at the crease and he's bowling 2nd division championship stuff because he doesn't like the cold weather.

As usual the sold out line seems to be a load of sauce judging by very noticeable empty seats at Old Trafford.

Smith and Lasagne is where the game is at (the 2 rocks). If England can't break this partnership it could be as good as game over. Curran must get pissed off. He always seems to be in the squad but never considered. Especially given the fact we are playing luxury no.7 batsmen in the team who don't even score runs.

Is that like western union?

Billy Vanilli should be next.

I had to watch this back as upon live viewing the terrible kit clash and the often awful far out camera angle made for one of the worst games I have ever seen on the box EVER so I missed a few things: As I originally thought, the ref WAS a nailed on homer - the first West Brom goal should have been given as a foul bearing in mind what other crap were given as fouls during the game.

We are not going to win anything in that grey kit.