England lead by 104 after the customary batting failures at the top of the order.
In order to save the match, they need the remaining wickets to bat Australia out of the game - and that is as much a time issue as anything else.
In my view, if England do not add another 100 and bat to use up as much of the remaining time as is possible - defeat stares them in the face.
England's last six wickets will need to be scoring regularly at the same time as guaranteeing that they are at the wicket for at least three hours.
If England can get 220 ahead, they will hope to bowl the Aussies out but then that is where an England victory becomes extremely improbable.
Time constraints would make it nigh on impossible for the England attack to bowl Australia out - and we must remember that, in real terms, this is not a decaying fifth day wicket.
So much time has been taken out of the game by rain that it is more like a fourth day track.
If I were Joe Root, I think that I would bid to save the game rather than to win it. We cannot afford to go two down in the series. For me a draw seems the most likely outcome with an Aussie win the second most likely.
It promises to be another awesome day of test cricket.
(How poor the T20 games which have immediately followed the main broadcasts seem in comparison to real cricket.)
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