Three Lions continue to hemorrhage runs at the Gabba.
The misery for the England side continued in the afternoon session as they watched their deficit grow to 458 thanks largely to a sizzling partnership between David Warner and Michael Clarke.
The pair helped the score move along to 299-5 in Australia’s second innings, with Warner reaching 124, his first Ashes ton, while Clarke also made triple figures, the 25th time he has done so in his stellar career.
Click here to see highlights of David Warner’s century.
Click here to see the highlights of Michael Clarke’s century.
Australia put the foot down on the scoring rate after lunch as they looked to take on Joe Root and Graeme Swann.
Clarke reached his 29th fifty from 98 Test matches as he and his partner continued to done out on a pedestrian bowling attack.
Warner moved from moved to 99 thanks to streaky edge from the bowling of James Anderson coming around the wicket, as the ball streaked away to the boundary.
The four took the partnership to 102 as a smile came to Warner’s face as the crowd sensed the first milestone for the Australians in the series.
As if it was written in the storybooks, Warner danced down the wicket and belted Joe Root through extra-cover to reach his fourth Test ton in 23 games.
After the milestone, Warner and Clarke really turned on the jets, as they took aim at Swann in particular with 16 coming off one over.
Warner and Clarke’s 150 partnership came off 166 balls, testament to their aggressive stance.
However, Warner’s innings was finally over after he edged Broad through to Matt Prior after reaching 124, with the opener looking disappointed he was not able to make an even bigger score.
Despite that, his innings helped propel his side be in front by 392 as Steve Smith came to the crease, with the run-rate hovering around a run a ball for much of the session.
Clarke took his run total at the Gabba past 1000, with an average of a staggering 111, thanks to a nice on-drive, as he moved to 14 runs shy of his own ton.
Chris Tremlett struck again as he dismissed Steve Smith for a duck as he earned a fine edge through the ‘keeper.
But at more than 400 runs behind, Smith’s failure with the bat hardly provoked a celebration from the English side.
With the sessions closing in on tea, Alastair Cook elected to review a not out call for a possible LBW call, with replays showing it would hit leg-stump, but not by enough as the third umpire refereed back to the on-field decision.
Swann slumped over in disbelief the call had been turned down, as he tough day in the field continued.
Clarke eventually departed as he took a wild swing across the line from Swann, with the Australian captain missing everything.
After his horror Test match to date, Swann looked as relieved to have Clarke’s wicket in his figures as he has for any in his career, as the lead ballooned to more than 450.
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