Woakes’ four-for holds together the day for England

Coming into this match on 598, Broad trapped Usman Khawaja lbw before bouncing out Travis Head five balls after tea to reach his milestone. His 18 dismissals this series have seen him emerge as the banker in a changing attack – he is the only England bowler to have been selected in all four matches – covering for the fact that Anderson has struggled, coming in with just three wickets. That the 40-year-old was without success today was merely down to luck, beating the bat on numerous occasions, along with the odd inside edge that evaded stumps.

Woakes’ display, however, held together the day for England. Having made a strong impression in last week’s victory at Headingley to cut down Australia’s lead to 2-1, the Warwickshire allrounder took over as leader of the attack. David Warner, off the back of an engaging start, was snicked off for 32, before clipping the wings of Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green and Alex Carey all with the capacity to score quickly.

Indeed it was the wicket of Marsh that was most crucial: having reached 51, the Western Australia batter was squared up for an edge, which was brilliantly taken by Jonny Bairstow. The wicketkeeper, who had an untidy day behind the stumps, stuck out a right hand after veering to his left, pouching the ball at full-stretch. It was the first time Marsh passed fifty against England and did not make it to three figures.