10.40am Players back in the middle, the sun is breaking through. Pete: "So do Australia head out trying to secure the draw? It's not something they're good at applying themselves towards." Well, they earned a hard-fought one in India earlier this year

Tom: "Overcast conditions can change a game in England but mean nothing in Australia with the Kooka ball - not worth mentioning! "

10.37am Pfitzy: "Anderson and Broad will be licking their lips if there is a bit of cloud around. New ball in hand, and I reckon Smith will be batting before drinks to save the game."

Andrew Price: "Good time to remember Gooch carrying his bat against the WI at Headingly in 1991. One of the least appreciate, great innings of all time. A big score, in a low scoring game, against a true fast attack. Criminally under appreciated." Not sure it was under appreciated. Ranked the greatest innings of all time under a lot of metrics!

Cook walked on a few moments ago, and now he walks off to another ovation having carried his bat - the highest ever score to do so. Cummins finishes for four wickets, a good effort after his illness. But, given the overcast conditions, probably not the worst thing for England. Get bowling.

Moose: "You would have to say, Australia's Day by far today. Dominating"

Cook walks out to resume once again (alongside James Anderson). Will be Pat Cummins with the ball

10.25am Nearly ready to resume. Michael Jones: "Went to bed at 300/5 last night, assuming that England were heading for something close to parity on first innings. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined they'd still be batting at stumps. Also noted that Cook would need 240-odd to pass Lara's aggregate in this innings, but never expected that to happen either!"

10.20am maro: "As a Kiwi who's been living in dear old Blighty for 20 years, can I just say how much more interested I am in following the Ashes than the glut of white-ball dross the Black Caps and their administrators are serving up this year? Even at 5-0 (okay, 4-1 if the stars align), you don't know how lucky you are. Mind you, following the Ashes through the night does generally entail getting up half an hour before you go to bed."

Rob: "Evening Gnasher. Can we have an update on the Christmas present from Miller topic from yesterday please. Did he bring you a bag of humbugs as promised at 71.1" Yes, they've just arrived. Nicely wrapped

10.15am Job Michael : "On the topic of 2005 ashes, would you say it wins the title for THE best test series ever considering all factors : dethroning a team at the top of their game, excellent quality of cricket and how close it was? Any other series that comes close?" Yes, has to be up there. I'm sure there's a few suggestions of other series that push it but '05 was epic

Just a few spots of rain in the air at the MCG

10.10am Darren Lehmann gave his backing to Jackson Bird after play yesterday, but Mitchell Starc's absence has been significant, a topic Mike Hussey spoke about with Mel Farrell.

SRK: "@Pranjal: I'd consider England heavy favourites for a win here. Australia's batting temperament on slow pitches is still a concern, and they're a good chance of being bowled out for 350 in 100 overs, giving England a chase of less than 200 in about 70 overs."

Nigel Speight: "Checking out that 1889 Tancred bat-carrying test, you can see how much slower the bowling rate is in tests 128 years on. In the England innings, the top six all faced more than one ball per minute."

Priyank: "Carrying on from Benny's "useless stat", if the average number of runs scored from centuries is computed (Total Runs from Centuries / No, of Centuries), its The Don way out ahead of others, followed by Sehwag. Proof that once they got going... they really got stuck in! Which The Don did more often than not ofcourse! Tendulkar drops to 22nd spot!"

10.00am Job Michael : "Couldn't follow the Cook innings due to work over the last few days. Finally caught up with it in the airport and every time there was a straight drive I made approving grunts waking up a few sleepy travellers. Looking forward to getting home and watching today's play just like old times. Gotta love test cricket." Ah, the slightly inappropriate grunt. We've all been there. You should ask Andrew Miller about the time we shared a flight to India and were watching highlights of the 2005 Ashes...when Simon Jones bowled Michael Clarke at Old Trafford there was a collective yelp from Row 37

Pranjal Raj: "Sorry for playing spoil sport here, but there's 2 innings left. It's hard to imagine England getting Aussies bowled out for anything less than 350-400 and not letting them play more than 120-130 overs. Cook was awesome but Aussies not just out yet" Excellent spoil-sporting. But, yes, won't be easy to bowl Australia out.

Sam: "Another 8-15 for Broad, anyone?"

9.55am Benny: "Another (useless) stat! If Cook scores 6 more runs he will overtake Gavaskar and get into the top 10 of runs scored from centuries (and Gavankar scored 2 more than him) Link" Impressive stuff from you all this morning

MS: "For those complaining it's too little too late, England have lost how many away tests in a row? If you're a fan of the team and can't see the value of breaking that run, what's the point?"

Cook could end up being the highest-scoring bat carrier in Test history. He's had a bit more to do than Bernard Tancred, the first bloke to achieve the feat in 1889

9.45am Shams Imam: "Cook has the lowest average in the top 10 run scorers, but is the only opener. The next closest regular opener is more than 3300 runs away. Given he has player a bulk of his innings in England where conditions are usually seam/swing friendlier than most other countries, it is quite an achievement!" Gavasker opened in most of his Test career

Arch: "Going off Daniel's earlier stat, if Cook carries his bat not only will he have the highest score of anyone to do so, but England will also have scored the highest innings total to have an opener not out at the end. Getting deep with the useless stats now" Nothing wrong with a bit of deep-statting

9.40am Do we need to talk about pitches? Dan Brettig believes so.

Leigh: "In an alternative universe Cook was out for 1 to Jackson Bird in the second over. 1.3 Bird to Cook, no run, not far from the fourth drag-on of the day! Short of a length outside off, he goes for the pull and gets a bottom edge between his legs. Risky shot on this pitch. I'm going to that universe."

Hari Haran: "Gnasher, do you welcome everyone so early because you are afraid of dozing off before the match starts ? Alan used to the good morning bit only 30 mins prior to the start." I couldn't possibly comment!

9.30am Hello everyone, welcome to the fourth day's play from the MCG. Alastair Cook will resume - unless England declare overnight, of course - on a monumental 244 which has lifted English spirits, restored pride and forged a position from where they can push for victory over the next two days. As the man himself has admitted it has come too late in the series, but that should not diminished what has been an exemplary innings. And it's one in which he has passed three other legends of the game in the run-scoring charts and cracked a host of other milestones as well. Cook was also in good form at the post-match press conference.

Mark: "I have enjoyed these last two days *so* much. Bat on. Farm strike. Aim for 180 lead? Interesting that, despite the stick that he has got, both Stuart Broad's bowling and batting averages against Australia are actually better than his career averages, even if only marginally. Wouldn't he just love to be a match-winner for England today."

Daniel: "I don't know if this has already been pointed out (or if it's of any interest) but, if Cook manages to carry his bat, he'll have scored more runs in order to do so than any other man to have achieved the same feat. Certainly more than Atherton's measly 94*."

6.05pm Brydon Coverdale is putting the finishing touches to his magnum opus of a match report. And tune in later for all the updates from the ground with Dan Brettig, George Dobell and Melinda Farrell. It's building towards a gripping fourth day. Until then, goodnight evening/morning!

Mustafa Moudi: "Fun Fact: 31 years ago Geoff Marsh and Chris Broad played on this ground and that match too started on boxing day. England ended up winning that game by an inning. Today, Their Sons are playing on the same ground and almost the same result is expected for this match too" We shall see about that latter point, but England haven't been this well placed in a Test in Australia for seven long years...

6.01pm Alastair Cook reaches the close on 244 not out, a monumental performance that has earned a standing ovation from the MCG, and handshakes all round from the Aussies. It has been a sensational showcase of mental fortitude, laced with some of the most exemplary off-side strokeplay of his career. And, on his watch, England have chiselled out a commanding lead of 164, with potentially more to come tomorrow, if Joe Root opts against a declaration.

Chandika: "Cook went pass Mahela, Chanderpaul and Lara in a single innings"... now that's a feat to underline the magnitude of his performance

Cook is just one run adrift of Brian Lara in the all-time run charts...

Huzefa: "The happiest folks on the ground right now would be Warner and Bancroft. They won't have to bat today." Fair point

"We love you, Jackson, we do!" Ahh, that's nice

Dan: "In fairness to Bird, he hasn't been bowling to the left and to the right, he's just been bowling mid-120's on a flat pitch" Valid

Kartik M Gada: "Suddenly, Cook's 2017 full-year average is above 47! He has exonerated his entire year's performance in the final days of the year! Until today, 2017 was a bad year for Cook, but no more. " And yet, he has two double hundreds in a calendar year, the first Englishman since Wally Hammond. Go figure...

Jackson Bird has been getting the bird from the Barmy Army all afternoon, and now he's being called upon to finish off the innings. And out comes the "to the left, to the right" song in homage...

Mahneel: "Tuned into cricinfo to see loads of comments on the catch. Dissappointed to see theres only few." Sorry. Life is too short etc