On a day badly affected by the British weather, England managed to establish a first innings lead on day three of the first Ashes Test.
Despite the delays, there was plenty of action at Edgbaston, with wacky fields, a tremendous catch and a 20-minute horror spell between storms for England.
Here’s the five things you missed overnight.
1. Bairstow bottles another one
Cameron Green, Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey were all gifted lives on day two, and Jonny Bairstow played the role of Santa Claus yet again on day three.
Just four balls into the day, Jimmy Anderson found the inside edge of Alex Carey, and Bairstow made a meal of his effort to reel it in, giving the Australian keeper a life when he was on 52.
He dove back to the right and stuck a glove down, but wore the ball on the meaty part of his mitt, almost the wrist.
Considering England coach Brendon McCullum made the choice to hang up the gloves to focus on his batting during his playing days, it might be time for a chat with Bairstow.
Regardless of the feeling inside the camp, the debate about picking a specialist keeper like Ben Foakes is sure to ramp up between now and the next Test.
2. Moeen’s magic spray costs him
After almost two years away from the Test and first-class scenes, Moeen Ali’s once callused and rough hands have turned soft and silky.
So, after less than a day’s worth of off-spin bowling, his right index finger has been cut up by the pronounced seam on the Dukes ball.
He was spotted on the boundary spraying something on his busted digit and the match referee took note.
The International Cricket Council was satisfied Ali wasn’t trying to affect the condition of the ball in any way but that the spray was simply a drying agent, so he copped a lesser fine of 25 per cent of his match fee.
The recalled offie has bowled a lot of overs already in this match — 33 in England’s first innings — and Ben Stokes will be hoping to have him at his disposal in the fourth innings when this driest of Birmingham pitches should offer heaps of turn.
3. England’s mad field bamboozles Ussie
A signature feature of Bazball has been the innovative, or sometimes downright wacky, fields that are set for the bowlers.
With Khawaja set on 141, having faced 320 balls on a placid pitch, there wasn’t much that could surprise him — apart from the field Ben Stokes set for his 321st.
Stokes deployed three catching fielders in a ring on the off side and three more on the on side.
“It is as if Stokes is trying to make the fields as bizarre as possible to confuse the batsman,” BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew said on ABC Sport.
Well, it worked.
Khawaja decided to charge Robinson and was bowled on off stump.
“Brilliant tactics. As good as it gets,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said on ABC Sport.
4. England’s weather arrives
After two days of beautiful weather, the forecast rain finally arrived in the afternoon session on day three.
The English openers had combined for 0-26 off 6.5 overs — assisted by some ultra-defensive fields from Pat Cummins — when the umpires’ eyes were cast skyward.
Zak Crawley refused to face up to Pat Cummins in the light sprinkle, which became a proper downpour and sent both teams running for cover.
The rain only precipitated a delay of 75 minutes, but the heavy cloud cover across the Midlands seemed to promise plenty more, which duly arrived 20 minutes after the resumption.
That 20 minutes was a god-send for Australia, who had England 2-2 and on the ropes.
5. Green takes another brilliant gully catch in the post-lunch dark
After the resumption, with the cloud cover heavy and lights on, Pat Cummins made the breakthrough thanks to another stunning catch in the gully by Cameron Green.
The ball was nibbling about and moved away just enough to catch the edge of Ben Duckett.
Green dived, scooped the ball out of the air and took another spectacular catch to add to his collection.
The umpires had a look, but the catch was clean and Australia, making the most of very dark conditions, had their man.
It proved to be a profitable 20-minute session before the rain returned for Australia, when Scott Boland had Zak Crawley feathering one behind to Alex Carey to leave England 2-28.
For a more detailed look at everything that happened on day three in Birmingham, check out our full Ashes match wrap and ball-by-ball coverage.
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