There were 25,000 spectators present when Paynter (75) and Com-ton (69) resumed their innings this morning in gloriously sunny weather. There was not a cloud in the sky.
The wicket, on which the Australian spin wizards were unable to turn the ball yesterday, appeared to be faster, but despite all their efforts the Australians failed to dispel the threat of a mammoth England score.
Fleetwood-Smith and McCormick opened with the old ball, but a new one was requisitioned later.
McCabe beat Compton with a fast inswinger, which went to the boundary off the edge of the bat.
When his score stood at 88 Paynter presented a chance of being stumped off McCabe, but it was not taken. The batsman celebrated by taking 14 off O'Reilly's first over to reach his century after 180 minutes' batting.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.