By JOSH ALSTON, SENIOR SPORT REPORTER, AUSTRALIA

Updated: 20:18 EST, 26 December 2025

Over 22: Australia 5-87 (lead by 127)

England roar back into the match with two quick wickets, but Australia are not going into their shells, Carey opens his account with a boundary

WICKET: Khawaja 0 c (sub) Pope b Tongue

Daily Mail Chief Cricket Correspondent Lawrence Booth in Melbourne

England are not giving up here at the MCG! First Brydon Carse is reminded of the benefit of pitching it up, trimming Travis Head’s off bail with a beauty. Then Usman Khawaja takes his eye off a short ball from Josh Tongue and is caught at fine leg by the forgotten Ollie Pope, on as a substitute fielder for Gus Atkinson. Australia are 83 for five, a lead of 125.

Over 21: Australia 4-82 (lead by 122)WICKET: Head 46 b Carse

Enormous wicket for England, Carse bowls fuller with the wobbled seam and crashes Head’s castle before he can reach 50

Over 20: Australia 3-79 (lead by 121)

England’s fielding is getting loose now, almost surrendering a rare seven runs. Fatigue on day two of a Test match is a worry, but England has also been struck down by bad luck on the injury front. Early reports suggest Atkinson is not only out for the Test, but for the final match in Sydney as well.

Over 19: Australia 3-73 (lead by 115)

James Brayshaw

‘Travis Head on 43 now and doing Travis Head things.’

Over 18: Australia 2-68 (lead by 110)

Steve Smith in the middle now and he is not waiting to get his eye in, attacking Tongue right away in the pursuit of quick runs

WICKET: Labuschagne 8 c Root b Tongue

We’ve put the mockers on him! Just after saying Labuschagne is looking comfortable, he gets the edge and is caught by Joe Root. The Aussie is not convinced it carried, but the video review shows there are ‘clearly fingers under the ball’ and Labuschagne has to go

Daily Mail Chief Cricket Correspondent Lawrence Booth in Melbourne

Josh Tongue has taken care of Marnus Labuschagne in this game for scores of six and eight, which may explain Labuschagne’s reluctance to leave the field. The catch by Joe Root was a clean one, though, and Australia’s No 3 now has 174 runs in this series at an average below 25.

Over 17: Australia 2-61 (lead by 103)

That lead is up and over 100 for the Australians now. Outside of a couple of tricky deliveries and streaky shots, Head and Labuschagne are starting to look pretty comfortable now

Over 16: Australia 2-57 (lead by 99)

Tongue bowls a maiden over, but he is going to need wickets. This bowling spell from Tongue and Stokes will go a long way toward the final result

Over 15: Australia 2-57 (lead by 99)

Stokes can’t believe it. He does everything right, catches the edge of Travis Head and it sails through a vacant spot in the slips for four runs

Stuart Broad

‘It’s a tough watch actually, knowing him as well as I do. I can see how much it means to him, things haven’t gone his way, he would just want to grab this ball and say “Alright, I’m going to do this myself”.’

Over 14: Australia 2-51 (lead by 93)

Drinks on the field now after the first hour of play. Normally two wickets would have England in front, but the Aussies have kept the scoreboard ticking over which hands them the honours so far. This wicket has shown that anything over 100 might be hard to chase down and Australia almost has that already, with eight wickets in hand. England need more wickets – and in a hurry

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