England lost both of their opening games under dark skies at Edgbaston as Australia took the initiative on day three of the intriguing First Ashes Test.

England lost consecutively to Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in extremely difficult batting conditions in a small afternoon session awkwardly between two heavy downpours.

That leaves the home team 28 behind with a score of 2, a slim lead of 35 with everything still to play.

The hosts regrouped impressively with the ball in the morning, knocking out the last five Australians in 75 runs to take the lead seven times.

There will be a yard inspection at 5pm.

Big screens began showing highlights from Stokes’ famous innings at Headingley in 2019, but hardly anyone watched it anymore.

The rain has stopped, but it’s still falling here, in Birmingham.

Here’s a look at Australia’s bowling figures to date. No wonder Pat Cummins is leading.

Even the ground personnel fled in Edgbaston.

It’s shoving down properly and things actually look pretty grim. Just over two hours until the scheduled end of the game, which could be day three.

It will take some time for the groundskeepers to clear the water from the surface after the rain stops, and according to some forecasts, that won’t last for at least 45 minutes.

Scott Boland knocked out Zak Crawley for the second time in the game with a serve that moved away from the right-hander. Britain now has a rebuilding job on their hands.

Ben Duckett loves the feeling of bowling but he’s going to be a little upset about this layoff. Ground personnel are thinking about removing the visors, here’s a promising sign:

England scored just one goal in that short span of time and conceded two goals. The ball moved through the air and flew off the court, making this one of the most difficult moments to hit the ball in the test cricket match.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have been closely bowled by Pat Cummins and Scott Boland, meaning Joe Root and Ollie Pope need to rebuild.