Truman and co. are way before my time, but my uncle threw him out of his pub in Whitby because he gave it the big I am and demanded he brought out a table so he could sit outside. And then there's that gloriously odd TV show he did that was based on pub games in the 1970s. https://youtu.be/JhhQ3d8kKq8

The government would have to sanction itself for Russian links first. I doubt Venkys are giving Russians kamikaze chickens to bomb Ukraine.

I'd personally take young bowlers like Tongue, or spinners we've barely used but are doing well this season to compliment Leech. I'd leave Anderson and I that generation at home. We need to get the new guys in the squad now as we can't rely on 32+ year olds forever. I might end badly, but they'll need to build up experience somewhere, sometime.

I was initially optimistic but now I feel the best we can hope for is around 10th. The Venky's have deliberately gone and undermined JDT after nearly getting to the play offs and possibly getting promoted. They don't want that for whatever reason, but are too stupid and arrogant to sell the club to someone with real ambition.

Just looked at the BBC weather app, and the weather is said to be another horror show Sunday and Monday.

It shouldn't happen, but you never know. I'd look to bat until lunch tomorrow, then declare. Assuming the weather forecast is fine that is.

Well I hope we have an amazing striker coming through otherwise we'd be knackered.

Lead is now over 250. If we can see out the day with no drama we could win this. The Aussies look tired.

To be honest Chaddy, I'm happy with the Aussies being negative, it means they're scared. For as long as I've watched cricket they were the upbeat, aggressive team who scored at a high rate and pressured the opposition. To see them blocking and not scoring is great regardless of the entertainment value. And they're still losing wickets.

At least they're not running away with it as we probably all feared at the start of today. We need Smith out before the end of the day at the most since he can have a monumental innings. Then, in our second innings (whenever that will be) we need to target around 3-4 an over to build on before we go full Bazball.

At least it gives some cricket viewers a chance to gloat about being right. And keep Anderson away from India.

Down in a Hole by Alice in Chains would be appropriate with the current owners.

I'm amazed it got called at all. So many tackles in League are round the neck, or 'seatbelt tackles'.

Who will be the next captain and coach then?

I get the feeling we'll get to about 8 wickets taken but run out of time.

They bid for one of the recent ones, but they were not as strong as Qatar apparently. I think it was that one they went for. They needed Rupert Murdoch to fill some brown envelopes with some dollars.

Is there a decent, in form opener right now? Someone like that could be a number 3 for the short term. Out of the squad though, I can't think of who would work. Ali would not, as going 1 down early would almost make him an opener which is silly.

Unchanged squad announced, so Bairstow can drop more catches and endanger a result.

2 days to get those runs. If we lose now we are terrible.

I hear that Threads has taken off, and revived Zuckerberg's empire. He is a terrible, pernicious person but watching Elon Musk lose his mind is funny. As Twitter appears to fall into a far right conspiracy theory mindset it is in danger of being the next MySpace.

More idiotic batting from England by the looks of the score. All this game needs is Smith or Kawaja to have a good day and we are knackered.

Bairstow really needs to be out of the wicket keeper's gloves. You may as well not pick a wicket keeper his form is that bad.

Isn't that an old heavy metal band?

Smith is a dirty cheat, but you should say hats off to him him when he has one of those amazing games. Credit where credit is due and all that. Laugh at him when he has a stinker and gets out for single figures. At least England never lost a war to a bunch of flightless birds.

We need bowlers, as Anderson is finished. Bazball is fine against lesser teams but against there needs to be intelligence about the situation. We've lost the ashes due to stupidity.