Australia's failure to make the most of starts with the bat has the potential to cost them the Ashes after another frustrating day for the tourists' top order.
Australia slumped to 4-113 at stumps on day three at Old Trafford, still needing 162 more runs to make England bat again in the fourth Test.
Rain may well still save Australia, with downpours expected throughout Saturday and into Sunday ahead of a wet weekend in Manchester.
But whether Australia go to the final Test at The Oval 2-1 up, or level at 2-2, issues need to be addressed about their batting.
David Warner's exit for 28 on Friday marked the 20th time in this series that an Australian has been dismissed with a score of between 20 and 49.
In comparison, England's batsmen have only thrown away a similar kind of start on 13 occasions.
Crucially for Australia, Warner, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne account for 11 of those scores between 20 and 49.
Together, the trio have passed 50 three times in 23 completed innings.
"I don't think anyone has felt in at any stage," Usman Khawaja said in the lead up the Old Trafford Test.
"That is England with Dukes balls and weather and conditions.
"Whereas Australia, sometimes you can kind of lock in and and feel like I am in now, I can feel like stretching this for a while.
"Where here it doesn't feel like that. Because the ball is always going enough, nibbling about. You see that pace has dominated this whole fixture in the first three games."
The issue of throwing away starts has been most evident in Old Trafford, where five of Australia's top seven passed 20 but none made a score of beyond 51 as the tourists stumbled to 317.
In England's response, six of their top seven posted half-centuries in a resounding first-innings score of 592.
It's not the first time this has been an issue for Australia, after batsmen blamed themselves for not making big runs during the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle last year.
In that match, Australia were all out for 364 in the first innings when Labuschagne was out for 104 and no-one was left to bat with Smith on day two as he finished unbeaten on 145.
Australia ended up losing that match by an innings and 39 and missed out on a series victory after Sri Lanka hit a score of above 550 in response.
A similar fate could now await at Manchester if rain doesn't step in to save Australia.
