The Ashes LIVE: Bitter blow for Usman Khawaja in his final Test as weird Steve Smith second leaves cricket legend surprised

Lawrence Booth writes…

The game has gone into a holding pattern, with England’s seamers testing out the middle of the pitch, as they have so often in this series, and Steve Smith and Cameron Green refusing to take the bait. If Australia can stretch their lead to three figures, it’s hard to see how England emerge with anything better than a draw. But if they can keep the deficit to no more than, say, 60, they will still have a chance. While Smith’s around, though, that debate feels academic.

That’s the second time he’s ended up on the deck as he dodges a short ball. This time it’s a very good bouncer from Tongue.

Green has now scored 12 of his 18 runs with boundaries. He desperately needs a good score here to quiet the calls for his axing after a very poor series to date.

A Smith single puts him on strike to Stokes and he blocks one that was bound for middle stump.

The skipper was thinking about coming back for two on what turned out to be a single when he suddenly jumped up in pain, hoisting his right leg up like he’d stepped on a nail.

Must’ve been a passing pain – he’s just taken off for a run and looked unbothered.

A single to Green does it. He’s on 14 from 21 balls.

The Aussies are seven runs adrift now and Green is being cautious with the run rate just a tad over four an over.

Stokes is working the corridor just outside off and the all-rounder is wisely leaving it alone as he gets a bit of movement away.

Now Green steers it past the last slips fielder to make sure the over doesn’t end up a maiden.

A nice late fightback from England there as they snared Head, Khawaja and Carey to get themselves back in the match.

The towering all-rounder produced a beautiful straight-bat shot to score a boundary straight down the ground.

Before Carey fell, the Aussie skipper asked the bowler to put his sunglasses on the back of his head rather than the front because the glare was distracting him.

‘Carsey, just turn your glasses around,’ Smith said.

‘Don’t think there’s any regulation for the way you wear your glasses,’ Michael Vaughan told Fox.

‘I’ve never seen that before in my life.

‘Brydon Carse should just put them [the sunglasses] on. I can’t believe he’s actually said OK, no problem.’

It’s the same way he went in Melbourne – straight to leg gully, with Bethell taking a sharp catch to get the dismissal.

Carey looked in great touch and full of confidence there, but the Aussies bat a long way down with Green, Webster and Starc all still to come.

Here’s Lawrence Booth’s take…

England are just about clinging on here, as Alex Carey is caught at leg slip for the third time in the series. Australia are still 18 behind with four wickets left, but Steve Smith is still there and the nightwatchman means Cameron Green is at No 8 and Beau Webster at No 9.

You get the feeling the lack of a review is going to bite England before this innings is over.

That LBW shout wasn’t worth kicking upstairs, but it was close.

Second new ball? What second new ball?

The wickie has just punished Carse with two sweet boundaries in a row to the off side, both of them struck very hard out of the middle of the bat.

He follows that with a great drive down the ground, forcing poor Ben Stokes to chase it all the way to the rope to cut it off.