Ashes third Test, day three live: Comical scenes are cricket at its finest

After the first two sessions were lost to rain, we were treated to one over in the third before rain started again.

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Thankfully – at least for England – it was only another 15-minute wait before play resumed again and forced the Aussie batsmen out in testing conditions for batting.

3am – Starc adds valuable runs before Wood strikes

Former Aussie skipper Mark Taylor believes Australia will want a lead of at least 250 to enter the fourth innings with confidence, which means there’s plenty of work to do.

England has just three wickets to take after Mark Wood forced an uncomfortable shot from Mitchell Starc high in the air.

Harry Brook almost made a meal of it as he thought for a second it might have been Jonny Bairstow’s to claim, before clutching a diving effort.

Starc did some damage in his 19-ball stay, scoring 16 runs and putting on 29 runs for the seventh wicket.

2.30am – Carey goes the same way as Marsh

Another Australian batsman in two minds has fallen as the English bowlers revel in the overcast conditions.

Like Mitch Marsh before him, Alex Carey made a late decision to leave a Chris Woakes delivery that bounced more than he expected.

The ball hit Carey’s gloves and cannoned down into the stumps as he departed for five.

Carey had been lucky to survive the previous over from Stuart Broad, who forced two play-and-misses with sublime outswingers.

Australia is 6/139 and England is in to the tail. Enter Mark Wood.

2.10am – Marsh falls as England pounces

Australia has really been dealt a rough hand by this resumption in play and it’s cost Mitch Marsh his wicket.

The star of the first innings looked to continue his dominance of the England attack as he clubbed Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes for boundaries following the restart.

But the conditions are perfect for bowling and Marsh paid for changing his mind when he decided on the latest of leaves to a rising Woakes delivery.

He didn’t get his hands out of the way quickly enough and the ball clipped his glove and sailed through to Jonny Bairstow. Australia is 5/131.

2.05am – Quick shower passes and we’re back

Play has resumed for the second time today after a short rain delay.

1.50am – One over, two runs and we’re off again

Talk about an anti-climax.

After one Chris Woakes over – and a run each to Travis Head and Mitch Marsh – play was stopped again as the drizzle resumed.

It’s likely to continue this way so don’t give up on seeing more action – and spare a thought for Head and Marsh who won’t find this easy.

1.45am – Play resumes and it’s ‘perfect’ for bowling

England has been gifted an ideal opportunity to remove Australia’s last recognised batsmen as play resumes.

Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has described the conditions as “perfect” for bowling as the hosts look to remove Travis Head (18 not out) and Mitch Marsh (17 not out).

The umpires hope to squeeze in 34 overs of play, but there is more rain predicted to fall so don’t bank on getting that many.

11.33pm — The forecast was wrong

We came into the day with The Met Office predicting only a 50 per cent chance of rain in the first session, while thunderstorms are expected after play finishes.

Well that was wrong.

It’s raining still at Headingley and the Met Office now predicts 60 per cent chances of thunderstorms until at least the 3pm (midnight AEST).

It’s seemingly a 40 per cent chance at 3pm and 30 per cent at 4pm.

What does this mean? Who knows, the weather has just been sticking around and ruining the day.

Hopefully there’ll be some play in the final session.

9.45pm — Match referee clipped over Warner meme

The father of Stuart Broad — who is also an ICC match referee — has reportedly been rebuked by cricket’s governing body.

Chris Broad is a former international star for England, who score six Test centuries, but became an official after his career ended.

Broad has stood as the match referee in 120 Test matches and 349 ODIs, the second most of all-time in each statistic, and 127 T20Is, the fourth most in history.

So he probably should have known better than sharing this meme the Barmy Army also shared.

The Age reported while the ICC declined to comment, “sources close to the governing body indicated that he had been told it was unbecoming of his role as a neutral match official”.

However, it also mentions that Warner and Chris Broad have a long, friendly relationship.

As for Warner and Stuart Broad, that may be a bit different after he was dismissed for a 17th time in Tests on day two.

9.30pm — The covers are coming off

There will be some play today, but it’ll be after lunch as the teams have taken the early break.

It means the first session has been completely washed out.

But at least there’ll be some cricket today — the suspense has been killing us!

7.45pm — 50 per cent chance of rain…

It’s a bit more like 100 per cent because it’s raining in Leeds.

Looks like we’ll have a bit of a delayed start.

6.30pm — Warner disaster is no smiling matter

Aussie cricket legend Ian Healy has slammed opening batter David Warner after the veteran Aussie was once again dismissed by England quick Stuart Broad.

It was the seventeenth time Broad had claimed the wicket of Warner, the equal third most in Test cricket history.

But it wasn’t just that he was dismissed for 1 by his old nemesis, it was the opener’s reaction to the dismissal.

Warner was smiling as he left the field, which was a bizarre reaction when dismissed by a guy who’s been living rent free in your head for so long.

“It worries me,” Healy said from the Nine studio at tea on day two.

“He’s smiling a little too much. I’m hopeful it’s not a smile and it just looks like a smile.

“He’s numb, he’s not really into the innings, his clarity in the mind wasn’t there to get 300. Australia have got to get 300 right now. He’s been the real warrior that leads us into those innings in the past, but he’s just been nowhere in this Test when we need to really add 300 at least to our lead of 29.”

Was the a sledge Warner heard that the stump mic didn’t grab? Maybe, but it’s a bad look for a batter who’s hoping to retain his spot in the side until the New Year’s Test, where he hopes to retire.

That is looking a long way away in recent times with Warner scoring just 1099 runs at 28.17 since the 2020 Sydney Test, which includes his Boxing Day double hundred.

Healy pondered if Warner, who has 141 runs at 23.50 in this series, may not be able to afford sticking true with the batter.

“Not only is Broad unsettling him, but worldwide, bowlers over the last two years have not had much trouble with him. His average is about 28 over the last couple of years in cricket and those numbers for a national team are probably not good enough,” Healy said.

“So I worry that we can pick him again, even in the next Test in this series.”

Originally published as Ashes third Test, day three live: Comical scenes are cricket at its finest