Ashes LIVE: Head closing in on century on day three at SCG after Stokes, Labuschagne conflict

The Moore Park forecast today says a top of 26 degrees, but Wednesday and Thursday are looking at 29 and 30 respectively, and that means even hotter out on the pitch.

This week’s weather forecast at the SCG.Credit: Google

A monster heatwave is moving across the country, with the BoM expecting Adelaide and Melbourne to exceed 40 degrees on Wednesday and then hit Canberra and western Sydney later in the week. Even parts of Tasmania are forecast for low to locally severe heatwave conditions.

As Caitlin Fitzsimmons reports:

The sea breeze would be the saving grace in the eastern parts of Sydney, keeping temperatures down to the low 30s for most of the week, although it could hit 39 degrees in the city itself on Saturday.

Suburbs west of Olympic Park were on track for three days in a row in the low 40s. Penrith would be 37 degrees on Wednesday, 41 on Thursday, 41 on Friday and 44 on Saturday, without significantly cooling at night.

A heatwave is expected to hit parts of the country.

Here’s this snippet from Tom Decent’s recap of day two:

It appeared Stokes was unhappy with Labuschagne wanting to get off the field in cloudy conditions as the SCG floodlights were turned on. There was also a suggestion Labuschagne had prevented Stokes from running in to bowl when he wanted to during the final session.

Stokes gave Labuschagne a spray, appearing to say “shut the f--- up” before wrapping his arm around Australia’s No.3. Umpire Ahsan Raza walked towards the pair as Stokes made light contact with Labuschagne, which could catch the attention of the match referee.

“I thought he was going to get him in a headlock there,” said Mark Waugh in commentary for Fox.

With 19 minutes remaining in the day, Stokes got his revenge as Labuschagne edged a ball to Jacob Bethell at gully for 48. Stokes did not give Labuschagne a send-off.

All the juicy details are in the full article here.

If you are Marnus Labuschagne or Ben Strokes, what type of tea are you drinking as you wake up today? What will best serve the temperament for the morning after the night before? Does Marnus pour some calming chamomile for his day (morning, at least?) watching the remainder of Australia’s innings at the SCG? Is Ben more of a bold Irish breakfast type? Two teabags for a bit of extra bite?

OK, I’ll shut the f--- up and stop burying the lead. Travis Head is a hero. A nonchalant, knees-up man of the people. He is unbeaten on 91 and on the path to (even more) greatness. If we are going for England then of course we would be talking about Joe Root, who made his second century in Australia and is within 2000 runs of Sachin Tendulkar’s record. But we are Straya mate, which means Head is our majestic lionheart.

If you asked Head about who the real hero is, though, he might say Michael Neser. Four wickets, including a diving caught-and-bowled to finally dismiss Root for 160 and restrict England to a total of 384. I say “restrict” because it feels like it might not be enough to get it done. But we will see.

Australia resume at 2-166 from 34.1 overs, trailing by 218 runs. First ball at 10am.

Tempers flared late on day two of the SCG Test as Ben Stokes appeared to tell Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne to “shut the f---” up in fading light.Credit: Getty Images