Phil Tufnell
Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

That was a pie. Malan was on to it in a flash.

That almost cleaned up Pat Cummins actually! It went through his hands.

Labuschagne can bowl some rubbish but he does seem to take wickets. He's dangerous.

As if to prove my point a long-hop is smashed by Dawid Malan perilously close to Pat Cummins. I'm not sure Cummins saw that. Had he picked it up Malan might have been in trouble.

We're going to have a bit of Marnus Labuschagne's leg-spin. Don't get out to the part-timer...

Daniel Norcross
BBC Test Match Special

It has been a super knock from Dawid Malan. He and Joe Root are just giving England the tiniest of footholds in his game.

50 for Dawid Malanpublished at 49 overs

49 overs

Well batted. Dawid Malan joins his skipper in passing 50.

There's very little celebration, just a nonchalant wave of the bat. I like that. Work to do.

Daniel Norcross
BBC Test Match Special

This is the first time, apart from maybe when Robinson took two wickets in two balls yesterday, that it hasn't been a non-stop pummeling.

Dawid Malan deserves a fifty...

England must be doing something right. Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Lyon came together for a chat before Lyon's latest over. It might be the first time the hosts have had to think all match.

England have passed their first innings total, if you hadn't noticed.

Phil Tufnell
Former England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

There is going rather well at the moment isn't it...

We did tell the listeners to stay with us about four hours ago.

Joe Root has played really well, as has Dawid Malan. They have formed a partnership and it is amazing what a partnership can do to a side.

Image source, Getty Images

That conversion rate this year is the one to get excited about. Root has got to fifty seven times this year and one six of those occasions he's gone onto make a hundred. Can he do the same today?

England fans are going to be waking soon to a strange feeling: hope.

Andy Zaltzman
BBC Test Match Special statistician

Image source, Getty Images

It is Joe Root's 74th score of 50-plus in Test cricket. He has converted 23 into centuries including six of his seven this year.

It is his 17th against Australia and he's got three centuries, but none in Australia.

Root got to his fifty with a boundary - a funny shot, half sweep and half pull. He was almost bowled a ball earlier doing exactly the same thing.

Simon Mann
BBC Test Match Special

That is an emphatic shot from Joe Root. It was a no-nonsense handshake with Dawid Malan as if to say 'that's the first part of my job done' or 'that's a quarter of my job done'.

50 for Joe Rootpublished at 05:41 Greenwich Mean Time 10 December 2021

05:41 GMT 10 December 2021

A fifty for an England batter! After the first innings I did wonder if I'd ever write that.

Of course it's the skipper.

Steven Finn
Former England bowler on BBC Test Match Special

Image source, Getty Images

Cameron Green bowls perfectly over his front foot so his trajectory into the wicket is going to be pretty minging, especially with this bounce.

Simon Mann
BBC Test Match Special

The extra pace and bounce of Cameron Green is just something a little extra for Australia.

Green is tall - very tall - but with his blonde hair and fresh face he's not your classic threatening Aussie. He looks more like a gentle maths student.

Despite the looks there's some nasty spit in his deliveries. Malan squirms as he gets out of the way of one short ball.

Andy Zaltzman
BBC Test Match Special statistician

Image source, Getty Images

To highlight England's acceleration they were 77-2 after 30 overs, and the next 14 overs have brought another 64 runs so just over four and a half an over.

Here's the lanky all-rounder Cameron Green for the first time in the innings. Root and Malan would be really annoyed if they got out to him having seen off the big three quicks.

Simon Mann
BBC Test Match Special

Runs are coming quite freely at the moment.