Can Australia win at Edgbaston? The stats are in
My colleague Andrew Wu has looked at the numbers and what they tell us about Australia’s chances tonight.
Spoiler alert: nothing great.
The first Test is going down to the wire.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
The odds are heavily stacked in England’s favour, especially when you consider both Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are already out, and that the treacherous conditions will work in their favour with the ball whenever the skies clear and play resumes.
You can ready Wuey’s full analysis here.
Rain will delay start of play
It is currently raining in Birmingham. It has been all morning. Play was supposed to resume at 8pm AEST but that’s not looking very likely at all.
Malcolm Conn gave our national news blog an update on conditions a couple of hours ago, saying players awoke to steady rain and full cloud cover, which would linger until the afternoon, and that a result could be doubtful.
That would be less than ideal for all involved – especially those of us who were looking forward to some elite-tier cricket this evening, followed by a non-ridiculous bedtime.
Might have to fire up the moka pot.
G’day everyone
Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the fifth and final day of the opening Ashes Test match at Edgbaston (and associated weather events).
I’m Vince Rugari, reporting live from the Leichhardt bureau.
It’s delicately poised with Australia 3-107 chasing another 174 runs for victory, with Usman Khawaja (34) and Scott Boland 13) at the crease – and if they can pull it off, it’d be their highest ever successful run chase.
We are in for a cracker, folks – or we would be, if things were slightly more promising on the weather front. We’ll have more on that in a moment.
