Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor slam Australia as England dominates day three

England is running away with the match after another blistering start by its openers set up the day.

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Australia’s plans in the first hour left Ricky Ponting and Mark Taylor fuming in the commentary box as the Poms scored devastatingly quickly.

12.40am – England almost home at tea

Australia was slightly better in the second session but England still added 135 runs to be in full control of this match at tea.

The dismissals of Zak Crawley (73), Ben Stokes (42) and Harry Brook (seven) had given Australia some hope of fighting back, but Jonny Bairstow’s arrival at the crease quickly changed the momentum.

Bairstow was 34 not out of 35 deliveries at the break, having already added 43 runs with Joe Root (61 from 58). England is 4/265 with a lead of 253 runs, leaving Australia very little wriggle room in the final session.

12.05pm – Brook goes cheap to give Aussies a glimmer of hope

Josh Hazlewood has been the pick of the Aussie bowlers today and finally got rewarded with the wicket of Harry Brook.

It was a corker of a delivery too, rising sharply off a good length and drawing the edge of Brook’s bat.

Brook was out for seven off six balls and England was suddenly 4/222.

11.55pm – Murphy snares Stokes

Pat Cummins is desperate for Todd Murphy to bowl well enough to stay in the attack and the spinner is beginning to answer the bell.

Murphy was expensive in his first six overs but drew an error from Ben Stokes midway through the second session to claim his first wicket of the innings.

Stokes attempted to hit Murphy down the ground but miscued and sent a catch to Pat Cummins at mid-on.

England was 3/212 but there was no respite for the Aussies as Harry Brook joined Joe Root at the crease and hit the second balll he faced off Murphy back over his head for six.

11.40pm – No Aussie comeback in sight

After a positive start after lunch for the Aussies, including the wicket of Zak Crawley, England has resumed its dominance of the day.

Joe Root and Ben Stokes combined for a 50-run partnership as England was 2/193 at drinks.

Root in particular was making batting look very easy as he scored at better than a run-a-ball and reverse-ramped Mitch Marsh for six.

11.15pm – Mark Taylor continues attack on Aussie bowlers

Mark Taylor has also called out Australia’s pace trio after Ricky Ponting was critical of the approach in the first session.

“Australia haven’t changed their tactics enough,” Taylor said shortly after lunch.

“Such an experienced bowling line-up and they’ve been good for so long, bowling a certain way, and they’ve been either reluctant to change or haven’t really thought about changing the way they bowl.

“Particularly to Crawley, and Duckett today. Just very full, looking to get the ball to swing, which is sensible, normal Test match new-ball bowling but against Duckett and Crawley they

likes to hit those full balls for four, and they get away from you.

“I just felt that Australia haven’t thought about maybe a different tactic, a few short balls early on, then bowling the line that everyone’s talking about that fifth-stump line to both of them, getting them to drive from a hesitant position.”

Crawley in particular feasted on the Aussie pace trio, finishing the series with 309 runs at an average of 103 and a strikerate of 83 against Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood.

10.50pm – Crawley falls after lunch break

Australia finally got their line right to Zak Crawley after the lunch break and was almost immediately rewarded with his wicket.

Pat Cummins delivered on a sixth stump line, Crawley flashed a full-blooded drive and nicked it to Steve Smith for 73.

Crawley finishes the series with 480 runs at 53.33 – topping the batsmen from both sides.

10pm – Ponting fumes at Cummins as Aussies wilt

If only Ricky Ponting was coaching instead of commentating.

The cricket legend sounded frustrated enough to hang up his microphone and join the Aussie huddle as the visitors appeared to throw away any chance of winning the series during a horror morning at The Oval.

England was 1/130 from 25 overs at lunch, with Zak Crawley (71 not out from 73 balls) continuing on the sparkling early work of Ben Duckett (42 from 55).

Ponting was questioning Australia’s approach almost immediately as the new ball was handed to Mitchell Starc instead of Pat Cummins.

England took 13 overs from Starc’s first over and the initiative was lost.

“It would be better for Cummins to be bowling at that end with the brand new ball,” Ponting said.

“It was Cummins who changed things in the first innings. With the sun out – Mitchell Starc relies on swing – there’s not going to be any swing out there so he can leak runs like what is happening now.”

His blood started boiling further as Ben Duckett hit boundary after boundary to an unprotected leg side.

“That’s now five boundaries for Duckett. All leg side. And four of them from midwicket to backward square. They have not had one man out there,” he said.

As a co-commentator suggested Ponting was “about to explode” and Nasser Hussain began to laugh, the batting great kept firing shots.

“Nass, can you please stop laughing! I have my earpiece in that ear to try and block you out. I can still hear you giggling away!” he said.

“I’m not about to explode. I would just like to see things change up a little. Just a little! Execute better. Bowl the right line and length. Or at least get your fielders where the ball is going to go.”

Hussain also couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Australia were very poor with the new ball,” he said.

“For such an experienced attack of Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc, they bowled both sides of the wicket.

“Everyone in world cricket knows where to bowl to Zak Crawley. It wasn’t like the information Ricky Ponting was giving on commentary was something ‘wow’ and deep insight. You bowl fifth stump, back of a length to Zak Crawley.

“They bowled on his pads, they bowled both sides of the wicket and they got it wrong and now they’re playing catch-up cricket and have upset Ricky Ponting.”

Starc (1/43 from seven) ended up getting Australia’s only breakthrough of the session as he had Duckett caught behind, but along with Cummins (0/30 from six) and Todd Murphy (0/29 from four) was too expensive.

“(Australia has been) a bit all over the place,” Ponting added during the lunch break. “It just feels like we haven’t been quite ready. Quite ready to change (plans). Quite ready with the right fields.”

9.30pm – Starc finally gets the breakthrough

Ben Duckett is on his way back to the sheds after the faintest of edges brought an end to his stellar innings.

Mitchell Starc got a delivery to move just enough away from the English opener and it caught the edge of his bat.

After initially being given not out, the Aussies sent it upstairs for review with snicko showing a faint edge.

9pm – England openers explode

Pat Cummins and his men have no answers for England’s batting onslaught as openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett smash the attack to all corners of The Oval.

With 13 overs in the books for day three, the English duo have pushed the scoreboard along to sit at 0/66.

8pm – Crawley goes whack with the first ball

England opener Zak Crawley has made his intentions clear from the outset with a forceful shot through the covers.

A tossed up delivery from Mitchell Starc was comfortably dispatched through the cover region much to the delight of the English faithful.

After entering the day behind by 12 runs, it took only one over for England to take the lead after scoring 13 runs from Starc’s over.

Originally published as Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor slam Australia as England dominates day three