Late night stumble gives England hope

What an exciting day of test cricket has emerged as late wickets give England some glimmer of hope in the 2nd test match of the Magellan Ashes series.

Beginning the 3rd day with England at 1/29, Australia came out with their tails up. Some excellent bowling from all bowlers saw England on their knees at 7/142. Not before fighting innings from Chris Woakes (36) and Craig Overton (41*) helped England reach a somewhat credible score of 227 trailing by 215 runs. 

Australia's bowling performance today was probably the best of the series so far. Pitching the ball up and challenging the opposition's front foot certainly worked for the Aussies in dismissing the top and middle order. But the hero for Australia was Nathan Lyon who bagged 4/60 and has looked by far the most dangerous bowler in this series so far. 

With England all out for 227, Smith's decision to not enforce the follow-on was somewhat a topic of debate. But his record as captain suggests, he is not typically known for asking the opposition to follow-on. Which is fair enough, as Australia are only playing with 4 bowlers, hence to some extent, the workload may be too much. With innings lead of 215 before the third innings, Australia has gone out with the mindset to bat England out of the game and denying them a chance of chasing the runs. 

The only problem and hurdle Australia had to face was the twilight session. And England certainly made it count and opened the game up again after it was shut for most of the day. The night-time certainly came to life at the Adelaide Oval as England were making the ball talk and certainly had Australia in a survival mindset. Test cricket at its best is often played out when the contest between bat and ball is balanced and when batsmen are left to fight it out. With England's intent and the ball hooping in all directions, the likes of Camron Bancroft (4), Usman Khawaja (20), David Warner (14) and Steve Smith (6) all found themselves in the sheds with Australia at 4/53 at stumps on day 3. 

Besides some excellent bowling, the mindset for Australia may not have been the correct way of going about the lead and the last session. It almost seemed that Australia was not thinking about the twilight session but more about how they were going to go on day 4. Hence, there was no real intent from any of the batsmen and it looked as if they were just trying to survive which is what has caused a fair bit of worry for Australia. While they still have a healthy lead of 268, England will certainly have most of the momentum leading into the fourth day. Again one or two early wickets on day 4 could see Australia being bowled with a lead of less than 330, giving England a real chance of winning this game. But, there is still plenty of batting to come for Australia with the likes of first innings hero Shaun Marsh, wicketkeeper Tim Paine and a steady Pat Cummins. 

The game has certainly opened up, but the test will be to see who will take the opportunity to sneak out on top. If England is to bowl Australia out leaving them with less than 330 to win, I could see the game being well and truly back in the balance. However, I expect that Australia will look to be watchful in the first session and go hard in the second, before declaring early in the twilight on day 4. 

Overall, what a thrilling day of test cricket that has England slowly coming back to life. But let's hope for another cracker on day 4.