The Ashes best bets for day three & odds: Late wickets offer England faint hope

Free cricket tips, best bets and analysis for the Ashes between Australia and England.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 3.30am Sunday

Scoreboard
Australia 303 (Head 101, Green 74) & 37-3 (Smith 17*) lead England 188 (Woakes 36) by 152 runs.

Best prices
1-7 Australia, 5-1 England, 80-1 Draw

Story of day two

Another dismal batting performance has left England staring down the barrel of a humiliating 4-0 series loss at the end of day two of the fifth and final Ashes Test in Hobart.

After restricting the hosts to 303, England were bundled out for just 188 and while three late wickets kept Joe Root's men in the contest, Australia are just 1-7 to win the fifth Test, with England 5-1 shots.

Australia had earlier resumed their first innings on 241-6 at the Blundstone Arena and England made a quick breakthrough when Mark Wood had Mitchell Starc caught for the addition of just five runs.

Pat Cummins and Alex Carey soon followed but Australia added 21 runs for the final wicket before Nathan Lyon was bowled by Stuart Broad to bring the hosts' innings to a close.

England's openers have struggled throughout the series and they began in comical fashion again as Rory Burns was run out for duck after a questionable call by partner Zak Crawley, who was then dismissed by Cummins for 18.

David Malan (25) and Root (34) showed some fight, but Cummins returned to remove them both and by the time Ben Stokes was out for just four, England found themselves at 85-5 and in big trouble.

Debutant Sam Billings contributed 29 runs as he combined with Chris Woakes (36) for some lower-order resistance before Cummins took the final wicket of Mark Wood, leaving England 115 runs behind.

Requiring quick wickets, England responded well under the Hobart lights. Stuart Broad soon had David Warner caught for a duck (his second of the Test) and Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja were both caught behind to leave Australia at 37-3 at the close.

Star of the day

After wrapping up the Australian tail, England's hopes of establishing a first-innings lead were quickly extinguished by Pat Cummins. The world's number-one ranked Test bowler claimed the key wickets of Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan and Joe Root to leave the tourists in a deep hole.

Moment of the day

In what is likely to be his final Test in Australia, Stuart Broad took the wicket of David Warner for the 14th time in Test cricket. Warner arrived at the crease on a pair after a first-innings duck and he was again dismissed for nought by his tormentor-in-chief, with help from a fine Ollie Pope catch.

View from the camp

"All results are still possible. It will be a huge session tomorrow morning.

"We have seen the ball zip around plenty tonight. The first session tomorrow will be really key."

Sam Billings, England wicket-keeper

Day three preview

Sam Billings' assessment is correct. The tourists simply must bowl out Australia quickly on day three if they are to have any chance of setting a realistic target for their troubled batting line-up to chase.

Australia will resume on 37-3, 152 runs ahead and, given England's performances with the bat this winter, they might not need many more if they are to put themselves in a position to win the Test.

England will need to quickly get rid of nightwatchman Scott Boland and avoid falling into the same trap they did in the first innings by making sure Steve Smith, Travis Head and Cameron Green do not take the game away from them.

However, that's easier said than done for a tired bowling unit, even with Ollie Robinson able to return following the back spasms which forced him off the field in Australia's first innings.

England did early damage under the lights but they will not get the same opportunities on Sunday morning and that could enable the hosts to pile on early runs. Over 218.5 Australian second-innings runs appeals.

If Australia can establish a lead of at least 300 runs, England will then have to brace themselves for trial by swing when the lights come on for the final session of the day.

Best bet

Over 218.5 Australia second-innings runs
1pt 10-11 bet365

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