• England wicketkeeper positive despite batting collapse
• Nathan Lyon predicts tough chase for Australia
After a day when rubbish was a distraction – on the pitch, it must be said, and swirling in the eddying winds around the cavernous MCG – England have left themselves with the stiff task of taking all 10 Australia wickets for 201 to win the fourth Test after the batsmen again squandered an advantage hard won by the bowlers.
England, with a 51-run lead after finally shifting Brad Haddin in the morning, got to 87-1 in the afternoon and collapsed for 179, losing their final five wickets for six runs. David Warner and Chris Rogers were untroubled knocking 30 off the 231 target and Australia and will be favourites not only to go into a 4-0 lead here but to finish the job in the fifth Test in Sydney next week.
If there was a moment that summed up the rising tension between the sides it arrived when Kevin Pietersen, the remaining hope, clashed with Mitchell Johnson after pulling away because of a movement behind the fast bowler's arm. They met mid-pitch to exchange words and hard glances and it looked briefly as if the confrontation might escalate.
Jonny Bairstow, batting at the other end, was close enough to witness the incident but insisted, "There wasn't really an exchange [between them]."
He added: "There were a few burger bun wrappers and crisp packets flying around so it wasn't necessarily easy with the wind picking up, and with the bails falling off later in the evening session. But there things that you just have to cope with."
It was the third time in the innings that Pietersen had withdrawn from the crease because of a movement in his sight line, clearly irking the Australian bowlers. Bairstow, who hit two sixes and two fours in a bright 21 before falling to Johnson, identified the cause of the distraction as, "a little baby that was crawling along the sightscreen, so I think the health and safety [people] might have been a bit cross if he had hit him."
The intruder was elsewhere identified as a small boy in a blue shirt but, none the less, it was a bizarre incident among several on this tour.
"I'm not really sure I can explain what happened, if I'm honest," Bairstow said of another England batting failure in conditions that were far from difficult, "but it's obviously disappointing. But we're looking forward to an exciting challenge, knowing we've got to go out and take 10 wickets, and we know we bowled them out for less than that in the first innings. We're very confident. We've got people in our side who've shown the skills over the years to win us this game. We're still 200 runs in front."
Nathan Lyon, who became the sixth Australian off-spinner to pass 100 Test wickets with his haul of five and who earlier played his part in pegging England's lead from an overnight 91 with Haddin, reckoned there were still dangers for them to overcome.
"It's going to be a challenge," he said. "We know how England bowled in the first innings. We have to bat with intent and be patient. When the ball gets to about 30 overs old, it's going to be quite hard with the reverse swing and the skill of Jimmy Anderson. It's going to be a tough chase, so fingers crossed.
"It was a great day of Test match cricket but to turn the game around in their second innings like that, we didn't expect that, to be honest. It was good to bowl with that wind, a useful weapon for me, to be able to drift some deliveries, although I didn't really turn many."
He said did not expect England to collapse they way did. "That's a great Test match pitch. There's no point blaming the pitch for what has happened in this game. As the game has played out, the new ball has been easiest to score off, and it's been harder with the old ball. So we have to be really patient with our batting. It's going to be a massive challenge, there's no doubt about that. In the first innings, we got ourselves out."
He was more mischievous in his observations on the Pietersen-Johnson mid-pitch confrontation. "I think they're going out to dinner tonight … but I'm not really sure what went on. I was 80 metres away." Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
• Nathan Lyon predicts tough chase for Australia
After a day when rubbish was a distraction – on the pitch, it must be said, and swirling in the eddying winds around the cavernous MCG – England have left themselves with the stiff task of taking all 10 Australia wickets for 201 to win the fourth Test after the batsmen again squandered an advantage hard won by the bowlers.
England, with a 51-run lead after finally shifting Brad Haddin in the morning, got to 87-1 in the afternoon and collapsed for 179, losing their final five wickets for six runs. David Warner and Chris Rogers were untroubled knocking 30 off the 231 target and Australia and will be favourites not only to go into a 4-0 lead here but to finish the job in the fifth Test in Sydney next week.
If there was a moment that summed up the rising tension between the sides it arrived when Kevin Pietersen, the remaining hope, clashed with Mitchell Johnson after pulling away because of a movement behind the fast bowler's arm. They met mid-pitch to exchange words and hard glances and it looked briefly as if the confrontation might escalate.
Jonny Bairstow, batting at the other end, was close enough to witness the incident but insisted, "There wasn't really an exchange [between them]."
He added: "There were a few burger bun wrappers and crisp packets flying around so it wasn't necessarily easy with the wind picking up, and with the bails falling off later in the evening session. But there things that you just have to cope with."
It was the third time in the innings that Pietersen had withdrawn from the crease because of a movement in his sight line, clearly irking the Australian bowlers. Bairstow, who hit two sixes and two fours in a bright 21 before falling to Johnson, identified the cause of the distraction as, "a little baby that was crawling along the sightscreen, so I think the health and safety [people] might have been a bit cross if he had hit him."
The intruder was elsewhere identified as a small boy in a blue shirt but, none the less, it was a bizarre incident among several on this tour.
"I'm not really sure I can explain what happened, if I'm honest," Bairstow said of another England batting failure in conditions that were far from difficult, "but it's obviously disappointing. But we're looking forward to an exciting challenge, knowing we've got to go out and take 10 wickets, and we know we bowled them out for less than that in the first innings. We're very confident. We've got people in our side who've shown the skills over the years to win us this game. We're still 200 runs in front."
Nathan Lyon, who became the sixth Australian off-spinner to pass 100 Test wickets with his haul of five and who earlier played his part in pegging England's lead from an overnight 91 with Haddin, reckoned there were still dangers for them to overcome.
"It's going to be a challenge," he said. "We know how England bowled in the first innings. We have to bat with intent and be patient. When the ball gets to about 30 overs old, it's going to be quite hard with the reverse swing and the skill of Jimmy Anderson. It's going to be a tough chase, so fingers crossed.
"It was a great day of Test match cricket but to turn the game around in their second innings like that, we didn't expect that, to be honest. It was good to bowl with that wind, a useful weapon for me, to be able to drift some deliveries, although I didn't really turn many."
He said did not expect England to collapse they way did. "That's a great Test match pitch. There's no point blaming the pitch for what has happened in this game. As the game has played out, the new ball has been easiest to score off, and it's been harder with the old ball. So we have to be really patient with our batting. It's going to be a massive challenge, there's no doubt about that. In the first innings, we got ourselves out."
He was more mischievous in his observations on the Pietersen-Johnson mid-pitch confrontation. "I think they're going out to dinner tonight … but I'm not really sure what went on. I was 80 metres away." Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.