Yeah, the no-ball would have been a get out of jail, really.
Not quite as emphatic a performance by the tail this time round - closing on 332. So - can England’s bowlers take the 20 wickets they need to win the Ashes? Will Swann make the most of the conditions? Are the conditions, in fact, as bowler friendly as we’ve been led to believe, or is it just that England got themselves out?
With great trepidition I looked up his bowling average at the Oval, and was plesently suprised to find it’s 26. I can’t think of a bowler with 200 wickets who inspires less confidence than Harmison.
On the Strauss dismissal, who can say? It was a poor shot, but the bowler has an unfair advantage if he isn’t bowling the full length of the pitch.
Anderson and Flintoff bowling well, and Watson should have been given out LBW.
Before lunch all the commentators here were saying what a belter of a pitch (yesterday). After England become 8 for, the pitch suddenly seems to be spiteful in their eyes. You can only go on what you see and I saw very little movement. (That may have been as Australia didn’t bowl the best).
I am still not convinced the omission of Hauritz is a huge blunder. He would be useful on a spinning pitch but so would the players like North and Clarke.
Lunch now and drizzling. Not a great sign for a result. Australia have done well although England can count themselves unlucky re the LBW Watson.
I have seen nothing that suggests anything apart from a pretty good batting track.
And poor Ricky’s gone for 8 after 15 balls. Bugger.
Broad is on 2-15 in 3 overs. Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to be a defensive bowler?
Make that 3-15 in 3.3!
Make that 4-15. 
Ponting, Hussey, Clarke… gone. I may cry.
Yeah, there aren’t many areas where being an England supporter gives you an edge over your Australian counterparts, but “coping stoically with unaccountable middle-order collapses” is definitely one of them. After a while, you begin to almost relish it, in a masochistic kind of way.
Amazing – at this rate, Australia will be struggling to avoid the follow-on.
North unlucky, but that’s 5 down. Swann does have the happy knack of picking up wickets when starting a new spell.
6 down, and the lead is 233.
7 :D. Check the timestamps on my last three posts. You can see why I described the England team as schizophrenic before this game started.
BROAD FOR GOD.
Wish you had a spinner now? 
I really thought we’d blown it yesterday, but there was obviously plenty in the pitch. 111-7 and England’s 332 is looking good. Enforcing the follow-on would be unbelievable!
Just hope it doesn’t rain all weekend now…
Broad gets his five-for. I get the feeling that quite a few cricket journalists are having to rethink the “Freddie’s Last Hurrah” pieces they were hoping to write and recasting them as “One door closes, another opens” efforts.
And, as an Australian, I breathe a sign of relief that Australia won’t have to follow-on – but we’re still not in a good position even to force a draw in this game.
:: points and laughs ::
…ha ha!!!
But seriously, what a fantastic comeback from England!
There was no chance whatsoever that the follow-on would’ve been enforced on this pitch. Literally none. Strauss would rather have taken part in a threesome with Beefy and Warne.