That’ll be two cheers from fredescu then. In an interesting echo of yesterday, when Strauss was given not out when he was and then Collingwood given out when he wasn’t, today Giles was given not out when he was and then out when he wasn’t.
54 runs in just over an hour, highly respectable performance even if Geraint Jones wasn’t responsible for many of them. Weather looks like being OK for today after all, so we may have to wait a little longer for the rain to help us out. 
Indeed. Australia to win by 7 runs! 
Good start by Australia. Langer was just dropped at slip. Tough catch though. Collingwood isn’t looking too bad, but better him than Jones.
112-0 at tea. At this rate Oz should be closing in on England’s total by the second session tomorrow. No need for panic Up Over but I don’t know that I like our chances of a 3-1 series victory…!
Kudos to Warne for sweating out six of the opposition when there wasn’t that much going for him, but it’s annoying to see how much help the England batting gave him.
Very surprisingly the Autralians have stopped play due to bad light.
Like it better now? (Australia 9 wickets down and still 10 behind)
I feel sorry for the Aussies having to bat on in the gloom while trying to put on a decent run score - but most of the errors seem to have been made by the England field
Autralia are all out 367, 6 behind the England total.
Flintoff taking 5 wickets.
England today take 8 wickets for 90 runs. If Australia bowl anything like England did today there could be problems for England. England will have bat well today.
Strauss gone early. Doh!
The Poms in the crowd are putting up umbrellas, the Aussies taking off their shirts to con the umpires about the light
…Bugger, they’ve gone off
(oh well I can catch some of the Grand Prix on t’other side)
Bad light can be even worse for the fielding side, as exemplified by the match England famously won in Pakistan a few years back - the Paks were losing, badly, but wasted as much time as possible on the last day hoping the umpires would take them off for the light. The (neutral) umpires instead let it be on the home side’s own head and IIRC Thorpe and Hick saw England home in the murk of a Pakistani evening.
Still don’t expect England to win this one but with one day to go the chances of a draw are good. BUT. We still discount Warne at our peril!
I don’t think Australia, even with Warne, can get nine wickets in half a day. The difference between the two sides has been the depth in bowling. Flintoff and Jones have been the stars, but Harmison and Hoggard both have averages of 30ish for the series. Take Warne out of the equation and Australia would be also rans. Congratulations on the series win England. Well deserved.
Agreed as to the substance, but I’m still not counting anything until we get safely through to tea… The extent to which Warne has been able to bully, bluster and bluff his way to 30-odd wickets in the series is astonishing. And that’s no faint praise nor yet a complaint, because it’s a measure of the genius of the man that he’s able to get away with it. And he’s batted out of his skin too.
I well remember Fred Trueman, early in Warne’s career, predicting confidently that “he’ll take five 'undred Test wickets”. That was the stuff of science fiction in those days, and the astonishing thing is how short he sold Warne! If only this spelled a revival of leg-spin generally, but individuals who can turn the ball a yard and combine that with line and length are rare. I used to consider it a shame I was born far too late to see O’Reilley bowl. Instead, I’ve been lucky enough to see Warne.
Well done - looks like you may just have put the curse on it!
(127-5, Flintoff c&b Warne for 8 - at least it’s not going to be dull…)
Holy crap on a stick. What are the odds on Pietersen and Collingwood hanging on for long enough? 
I should have known better than to expect a slow day of defensive batting by England cut short by bad light, given the way the series has played out so far.
Pietersen can’t possibly hang on if he keeps going the way he is. Dropped twice and looking very uncomfortable against Lee’s pace and bounce. I’ve not seen much of Collingwood, but we know Geraint Jones can bat like a trooper. They only need to hang on for a session.
What an amazing series.
Pieterson just hammered Lee for 16 off one over. Lee was bowling at over 95mph.
England now on 160-5. Pieterson on 68, Collingwood yet to score.
I just read this. Australian banner seen at yesterday’s match: “It ain’t over till the fat man spins”.
Uncomfortable enough to have hit him out of the attack with a flurry of fours and sixes. Still impossible to say this game is over one way or the other. Amazing series, indeed.
Dude, see post #69.
Oops missed that.
Collingwood has gone, caught off the bowling of Warne.
186-6.
Tait comes on, gets smacked around, but bowled Geraint Jones!
199-7.
Righty - we’ve made it to tea, with a lead of 227 (fantastic ton from Pieterson).
I think we’re there now - a few more overs after tea should see us home, but I can see this turning into the ultimate Twenty20 finish - 200 runs needed off 20 overs, with Gilchrist smacking it all over the ground.
Still… Pieterson dropped three times, looks like someone’s smiling on us :eek: