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Jonathan Liew, writing in the Telegraph, suggests the Aussies are very much on the back foot: particularly skipper Michael Clarke who is showing signs of worry.

Liew writes: "Clarke spends most of his time in the field standing at second slip under a wide-brimmed sunhat, constantly scanning. He has two minor tics.

"The first is a little scrape of his studs on the turf every few balls, almost as if marking out his territory. The second is lifting his sunhat a fraction, adjusting the expensively-coiffured hair beneath, and then replacing it. When things are going well, you would barely notice.

"When things are going badly, the same movements become a little more pronounced. He begins scraping a little harder, adjusting his hair a little more, scanning the field ever more furiously. By the end of Friday's play, he was scuffing the turf so hard dust was flying up to his ankles and running his fingers through his hair so spectacularly he was in danger of tearing it out."