“It’s almost the perfect number,280,two teams really fancy their chances,and ultimately we’re here for entertainment aren’t we,and hopefully we’ll get a lot of that tomorrow.”

This time around,he was given an opening by Ollie Robinson,who found just enough lateral movement to take David Warner’s outside edge at the end of a staunch opening stand. Warner had,as in the first innings at the Oval against India,played sensibly and positively,but could not beat his age.

Marnus Labuschagne,so assured in England in 2019,is now mired in an unscheduled fishing expedition. Broad’s away swing,combined with the threat of moving the ball back,have Labuschagne playing at balls that he can only edge. Upon doing so again,Broad reacted as though he expected it,Labuschagne as though in a state of shock.

That cleared the way for Steve Smith,who was to be beaten by Broad in the fashion that Ponting was defeated by Andrew Flintoff in 2005,confounded by subtle movement and perfect line to offer another edge behind.

Broad spoke thoughtfully afterwards about how both Labuschagne and Smith create different problems for bowlers,compelling a different kind of response. But after 10 years bowling to Smith and five to Labuschagne,Broad has a deep kitbag. Nevertheless,his excitement at getting Smith was obvious,as England’s supporters threatened to cause the stadium’s collapse with a wall of noise.

Australia’s precarious position partly undid the world-class work of Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon earlier in the day,turning England back from a blistering start led by Joe Root. Cummins has never bowled a better yorker than the one that screeched under Ollie Pope;Lyon was deceptive enough to have Root stumped for the first time in his career.

Cummins returned for a post-lunch spell that earned him the wicket of Ben Stokes,lbw from around the wicket,and for a time it looked like Australia would be chasing little more than 240. England’s tail,however,added runs for the second time in the match,48 shared between their last three.

Those runs,handy at the time,looked priceless in the final half-hour,as Usman Khawaja and night watcher Scott Boland fought gamely to stumps,still 174 runs adrift of victory. A game of this quality deserves a worthy finish,and it is clear this is a series that has already captured public imagination in two countries.

A little over a year ago,England put the exclamation point on the start of theirBazball era by monstering a similar chase at Trent Bridge.

But for Australia,the search for those runs will also be a quest to ward off the ghosts of chases past,just as surely as they were summoned with dramatic effect by an old and familiar foe in Broad.

Watch every ball of the 2023 Ashes series live and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now.

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