THE ASHES NOTEBOOK: Can Ange Postecoglou convince Harry Kane to stay by bonding over cricket?

Day three of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s was brought to an early end by rain, although Australia still managed to rack up a sizeable 221-run lead over England, finishing the day on 120 for three.

After England lost three quick, cheap wickets on Thursday night, the collapse continued as captain Ben Stokes sent a leading edge into the slip cordon to be snaffled by Cameron Green off Mitchell Starc. 

Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow soon followed, with Australia mopping up the tail to bowl the hosts out for 325, with the Aussies 91 ahead after the first innings. 

Despite the loss off David Warner to Josh Tongue and Marnus Labuschagne to Jimmy Anderson, Australia found themselves in a dominant position thanks to Usman Khawaja at stumps and head into day four on top. 

Here, Mail Sport’s RICHARD GIBSON takes you through some of the stories you might have missed from Lord’s on day three of the second Ashes Test. 

Australia dominated day three of the Ashes second Test and closed with a 221-run advantage

Skipper Ben Stokes as dismissed off his second ball of the day to leave England in a lurch

Can Postecoglou woo Kane with cricket? 

Perhaps Ange Postecoglou can bond with Harry Kane over a love of cricket in his attempts to persuade the England captain to remain with Tottenham this summer.

Ex-Australia head coach Postecoglou spent his final day before officially taking over at the north London club by dropping in at Lord’s to support his fellow countrymen in their quest to retain the Ashes.

Kane, whose future has been thrown into doubt ahead of next month’s Premier League kick-off, is also a big fan of the sport.

Last November, Kane sent Jos Buttler’s World Cup-winning team a good luck video message before the Twenty20 final win over Pakistan in Melbourne.

Ten months ago, he took on then team-mate Matt Doherty in a six-hitting contest at Lord’s before a London Spirit match, and he was a ringleader in the regular cricket knockabouts in the Spurs gym before former boss Antonio Conte put a stop to them.

Ange Postecoglou was at Lord’s for day three of the second Ashes Test on Friday

Sky favour the batters, the BBC the bowlers 

There is a huge disparity in the make-ups of the respective commentary teams of Sky Sports and Test Match Special.

In contrast to Sky, who favour batsmen when it comes to punditry, featuring Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Andrew Strauss, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Ricky Ponting and Mark Taylor in their number, the BBC radio crew are bowler-heavy.

In addition to Beeb cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, who made one Ashes appearance during a three-cap Test career, they have included former England spinner Phil Tufnell and Australian pace bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie across the first two matches of this series.

The one anomaly in the TMS camp is 2005 Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan.

Maxwell comes down with a bout of the Blofelds 

Veteran Australian broadcaster Jim Maxwell suffered a bout of the Blofelds on Friday when he repeatedly got Josh Hazlewood’s name wrong in calling the action during the morning session.

Part of Henry Blofeld’s charm was occasional lapses on names and Maxwell called the Australia seamer Hazelbrook three times before apologising to listeners.

Maxwell explained his humorous faux pas had been a result of his mind wandering 60 miles west of Sydney and into the Blue Mountains, where the town of Hazelbrook, with its 5,000 population, is situated.

Australian broadcaster Jim Maxwell frequently got Josh Hazlewood’s (centre left) name wrong

England unable to stomach 10oz sirloin steaks 

The Famous Lord’s lunch had chargrilled 10oz sirloin steak on the players’ menu on Friday but England were not able to stomach theirs in good humour following a torrid morning session in which they lost six wickets for 47 runs.

Also among the posh nosh items served up to both teams was five spice steamed cod with hispi cabbage and enoki mushrooms.

Langer’s Amazon admission 

An intriguing admission from ex-Australia coach Justin Langer, who is at Lord’s – his ‘favourite place on earth’ – as a fan this week.

It was only post filming, Langer says, that he was told that The Test – the Amazon-produced documentary that chronicled the Australian team’s redemption from the ball-tampering scandal of 2018 – was being put together.

Former Australian opener and coach admitted that Lord’s was his favourite place on earth

Durham’s Murphy plans kiboshed by Lyon’s calf 

Durham’s chances of fielding Todd Murphy as an overseas player in July appear to have been kiboshed by Nathan Lyon’s calf strain.

Murphy, 22, had his early season deal with the north-east club delayed by a couple of injury niggles and they had hoped to revisit things once the Ashes were in full swing.

However, any chances of him leaving Australia’s Ashes squad early appear over with fellow off-spinner Lyon’s own series almost certainly over.