England 136 and 3 for 98 (Cook 40*, Bell 20*) need another 463 runs to beat Australia 295 and 7 for 401 dec
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
England's task to save the Gabba Test looked insurmountable, but if they could draw sustenance from anywhere it was from the Brisbane Test three years ago. They batted for ten-and-a-half hours, Alastair Cook made an unbeaten double hundred and the series shifted irrevocably in their favour.
Brisbane's humidity levels were high, despite a violent storm the previous evening, but anticipation of an England backs-to-the-wall response was yet to build up. After three days of capacity crowds, the Gabba was half full, amplifying the sense of a job almost done. The task seemed too great, two days remained: lightning had already struck (literally and metaphorically) and surely it was not about to strike again.
Cook, though, is designed for the long game. Endurance defines him. He batted throughout the morning, patient and unflustered, intent purely on survival, and scoring occasionally by happenstance.
But such is Australia's dominant position that one wicket made it incontestably their morning, especially as that wicket was Kevin Pietersen, who once again looked focused on the job, but whose 100th Test has failed to be munificent. He made 26 before he fell to the first over after the drinks interval, leaving Cook and Ian Bell to negotiate the rest of the session.
Pietersen's swivel pull against Mitchell Johnson felt smooth enough but all he did was pick out the fielder at fine leg. Pietersen, whose knowledge of first-class players is not encyclopaedic (he once played a match with Hampshire's Chris Wood without knowing who he was) could be forgiven for not knowing that the catcher in question was Chris Sabburg, specialist fielder and smiter for Brisbane Heat.
It was only the second ball Pietersen had faced from Johnson on the third morning and his determination to assert himself proved to be his downfall. It was a well-directed short ball at his body and he got underneath it.
Sabburg, his job done, immediately left the field, replaced his orange substitutes' bib and yanked his sunnies over his ginger hair, a look of total satisfaction on his face. It was the finest substitute's intervention in an Ashes Test since Gary Pratt ran out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge.
Australia introduced Shane Watson for the first time in the Test just before lunch and, although his nagging, wicket-to-wicket approach has been known to trouble Cook, it invited fears as to whether his damaged calf would stand the strain. Ryan Harris slid into the boundary boards in a failed attempt to stop Bell's straight hit against Steve Smith crossing the boundary; an unnecessary risk by Harris in the circumstances. He rose to his feet and Australia breathed easily.
They were more likely to look to Nathan Lyon's offspin. His ability to get overspin makes him dangerous at the Gabba and likewise in Perth, too, later in the series. One ball reached Cook on the full and he made a hash of trying to hit it through midwicket as it deflected off his thigh. In the great scheme of things, it mattered not a jot.
Cook fights, but England lose KP
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Cook fights, but England lose KP
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Cook fights, but England lose KP
