546 was enough, wasn't it?!

A brilliant day for English cricket and English sport. When Ponting and Hussey were batting together, it seemed certain that the final day would be necessary but then Flintoff found his script, ran Ponting out and from there England never looked back.

Credit to Michael Hussey, whose century was a masterpiece in discipline, concentration and discretion but unfortunately for him, other than Ponting, no one else was able to stick around.

Swann bowled nicely, ramping up the pressure and it was eventually Harmison who reaped the rewards with three quick wickets to rip through the tail, leaving Swann the honour of taking the match-winning wicket.

Still, room for improvement for England as they look ahead to the South Africa tour - catching/fielding in general wasn't at its best and the middle order has serious problems.

Flintoff waves goodbye to Test cricket but Broad came of age in this match. With him and Adil Rashid coming in after Matthew Prior (who had another superb day) then England's lower order should take care of itself.

For now, though, well done to Strauss and his men- Ashes winners once again.

Surely 546 is enough for England - isn't it?

Brilliant batting from England put them even further in the clear on day three, led by Jonathan Trott and Andrew Strauss.

Trott's century was a marvellous effort and he allowed Flintoff, Broad and Swann to come in and play their shots while he kept things safe at the other end. Swann was in prime touch, although he didn't bowl particularly well later on.

Trott's arrival has been just what England needed and he could have just ended Ian Bell's England career. I certainly wouldn't be taking him to South Africa and he should have ran out Shane Watson early on. On such moments do matches turn and even though 546 is a monumental score, this is the Ashes, the Australians never give in, and England were ordinary with the ball (Broad aside) when they bowled so it's still game on.

If England don't win the Ashes from here, however, they will need to take a long, hard look at themselves. For the record, the highest successful run chase in first-class cricket is 513 but Matt Prior was in the field when an England A side conceded 503 against South Zone five years ago.

Massive day ahead of both sides tomorrow and we can discount the draw - teams just don't bat for 200 overs.

What a day!

Test cricket dying? I don't think so. Today was the sort of day that had a little bit of everything but leaves us with the tantalising prospect of England pushing on tomorrow to try to put the game beyond Australia, something I for one didn't see coming.

But this is why we watch sport, because of its endless ability to fascinate, intrigue and surprise us. Although the pitch is deteriorating, Australia should not have been bowled out for 160.

Credit, however, to Broad and Swann, and Broad in particular who struck regularly and quickly after being introduced to the attack. He was asked if he was the new Flintoff after the day's play - if he keeps on improving, he'll be better than Freddie ever was and today Flintoff was reduced to just the one wicket.

Swann was lucky to have North and Clark dismissed, although I fancy he would have had North sooner or later, but took full advantage of the bounce and turn on offer. The standard of umpiring in this Test has left much to be desired, but the decisions appear to be evening themselves out and let's hope that the match is won by a brilliant spell or innings and we won't be looking back on an all-too-memorable-howler-for-the-wrong-reasons decision that turns things decisively in one team's favour.

Australia will still believe they can win this and three wickets before stumps gave England a nervy moment or two. Fortunately for the home side, Strauss and Trott were not among the batsmen departing as they have been by far and away the best batsmen on show all game.

Australia's day - you bet!

Strauss did the right thing in winning the toss and he actually showed superb discipline before playing a ridiculous sort of short to get out just after lunch. Cook's usual prod outside off stump was about as inevitable as Bell's failure having fought his way to a half-century.

His dismissal imitated Bopara's at Headingley, and incidentally, Bopara was in the runs again for Essex, perhaps proving that while he is a class player, the step up in class was too much for him to cope with.

Collingwood is badly out of touch and it seemed odd that he didn't go and play for Durham last week - maybe because he wouldn't get in the team as they stroll towards a second straight Championship.

Trott looked composed, certainly more composed than Bopara had done and was slightly unfortunate to be run out to a superb piece of fielding from Simon Katich at short leg.

Prior and Flintoff both chased wide balls and have left Broad and the tail a mighty task to haul England as close to 400 as they possibly can.

If Siddle and co. turn up as they did today then it isn't going to happen.

Quite a day...

There was plenty of Ashes talk and speculation today despite no actual play on the field.

I was quite amused to see one major news agency running with "Key left out of Lions squad" as in their haste to get the news out there they hadn't read the bit about Kent players not being picked because they are playing in the Twenty20 Cup Finals Day.

Better news for all concerned came in the evening when Flintoff and Anderson were assessed to be fit for The Oval, intensive treatment and rest permitting. England badly missed Flintoff at Headingley and they desperately need him to play.

Do they desperately need Ramprakash to play? Would he even agree to play in what would be a one-off - we may find out in the next few weeks but my money is on Key, Trott and Carberry being in the running to replace Bopara and Bell at The Oval.

Then the decision comes down to who to leave out in place of Flintoff - for me that can only be Harmison. The big man didn't quite do enough for me at Headingley and Onions has looked dangerous all summer, despite a strange reluctance from Strauss to actually bowl him on occasion.

Jamie Dalrymple to captain the Lions probably took everyone a little by surprise, but with the ECB unable to pick from six counties, then there weren't too many other options. I like the choice of Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett - two men who could well be leading the attack by 2013, when the Australians next visit.

Early days yet, but Woakes is showing the sort of promise that will lead people to burden him with the 'next Flintoff' tag in years to come. Let's just hope his knees are made of sterner stuff.

1-1 with all to play for at The Oval

It took England more than two days but they finally won a session this morning and some clean hitting from Broad (dropped thrice, remember) and Swann was refreshing to see and gave the England fans something to cheer about.

It did merely delay the inevitable and credit to Australia for absolutely outplaying England in all departments and they go to The Oval knowing that a draw is enough for them to retain the Ashes.

Not that they will be thinking of the draw - of course they won't but it is up to England to force the pace. They can start off by sorting a batting order that simply isn't working.

Ravi Bopara surely cannot be persisted with any longer and Robert Key, Stephen Moore or Joe Denly are the favourites to come in and even Ian Bell's place is in danger - he could be replaced by Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott and Andrew Flintoff's latest knee scan is crucial. He is so crucial to this England side that if he isn't going to play, then Australia will be even heavier favourites than they already are to take the series.

And England's batting problems also highlight just how much they rely on Pietersen and Strauss.

They will also have to bowl better at The Oval than they did here and although England have problems to solve, so too do Australia. The difference is that they are good problems to have.

Does Lee get back in the side? If Hauritz comes back, who does he come back for? The two-day game against the Lions at Canterbury may give us some clue as to their thinking and I suppose England will be thinking that they can at least play no worse than they did here.

Surely?

Australia on the brink of a win

The extra half an hour tonight might have been enough for them but they decided against taking it. After all, there are still three full days to go but it is now almost certain that the two teams will be headed for the Oval with the series score at 1-1.

Marcus North and Michael Clarke played quite beautifully during their innings and after a poor start with the ball, Onions and Swann put in a better effort just before lunch and Broad reaped the rewards with his best ever bowling effort.

The plan to bounce out the Australians worked, although whether that was down to luck more than judgement is open to debate.

England actually started okay before losing five wickets for 20 runs, a collapse reminiscent of Jamaica earlier in the year.

That loss ended up effectively sealing the series and they will need to use all of their skill, resolve and determination if it isn't to have the same result this time around.

What a day

Right from when Hilfenhaus had Strauss trapped in front from the first ball of the day you knew it was going to be Australia's day, even though he didn't get that particular decision.

England were comprehensively outplayed and England will have to pull off an Ashes performance right up there with Headingley '81 if they are to get anything out of the game.

Prior and Cook in patches apart, the batting display was simply woeful and some of the bowling was abject. Harmison can be pleased with his day's work with ball in hand and can count himself unlucky that Clarke escaped after gloving the ball to Prior.

Clearly, it's Clarke's series given how he managed to let the ball hit his stumps at Edgbaston and got away with it.

Broad, who has come under much criticism in the build-up, performed well and to pick up both Ponting and Hussey in a session is no mean feat.

Make no mistake though, if the two sides go to The Oval and the score isn't 1-1, then we'll have witnessed something extraordinary.

Trott and Sidebottom

Sounds like a comedy double-act, doesn't it? They'll be hoping that they have the last laughs at Headingley though.

Trott is a player I've admired for a long while, ever since he carted the Somerset bowlers to all parts in compiling a fine century in a Pro40 match down at Taunton back in 2005 and he deserves a call-up, not least because he's outscored Warwickshire team-mate Ian Bell this season.

He probably won't play, if truth be told, as history dictates that the ECB will persist with Bopara for the whole series and are unlikely to shift Bell after just one Test but should Flintoff not come through and the pitch look like a minefield, then an extra batsman might come in handy.

One thing is for sure, if Flintoff isn't fit, then no way will Broad be dropped and that is possibly Sidebottom's only way into the side. Harmison in for Flintoff would make some sense, although it would leave a long tail but Swann should be capable enough to bat at eight and in any case, your batsmen should have by then done their jobs.

You shouldn't really be worrying about what your number eight-11 offer with the bat - they are bowlers and there are no longer any players out there who simply cannot bat.

For all the interest in England naming a 14-man squad, expect that to die down and don't be surprised if they eventually go in unchanged.

So it's a draw

And we all move on to Headingley with England 1-0 up. Clarke played quite beautifully, taking full advantage of some outrageous fortune and the partnership he struck up with North saved the match.

Bopara's bowling just about matched his batting during the series while Broad was impressive but England still struggle if the ball doesn't swing.

But, it is Australia who have to make the running and how will they accommodate Brett Lee into the side? Or Stuart Clark?

England come out fighting

That was one long commentary stint, but what a start - two wickets in two balls from Onion set the tone of the day and from there until Bopara dropped Hilfenhaus and Cook edged a wide one, England were in dominant form.

Have Australia been taking tips from Pakistan? 77 runs and seven wickets in one session must have been a touch embarrassing for them but England loved it, and bowled beautifully, exploiting every inch of the conditions.

In Anderson and Onions, they have two superb swing bowlers and if it is swinging as it was today then Flintoff has to take a back seat.

Some might say that it's time for Bopara to take a back seat as well. We just knew he would get to 20-odd and get out - it's what he does and after that drop, which was an absolute sitter, and some pretty poor fielding all series, one wonders how long before someone else gets a go.

Cook played a poor shot but at least he has some runs in the bank behind him and he is the vice-captain.

If we get any meaningful play over the weekend, Strauss must not get out. Bell struggles to lead a batting effort but it is something Strauss is superb at. If Strauss falls early, don't expect England to pull out much of a lead.

Australia on the charge

And so they have to be, given that they are 1-0 down and the forecast for the next two weeks is not good.

The decision to drop Hughes and pick Watson and then play him as an opener was a bold one and one that has so far paid off. He played quite beautifully in what little play there was and the way Australia batted put me in mind of how England batted at the same venue four years ago.

Swann might be a little disappointed not to have had more than two overs, but I can see the logic in getting Anderson back on to get at Ponting, and he twice inside-edged and on another day, might have chopped on.

So too, might Watson early on in his innings, but this was comprehensively Australia's day.

A fine finish from England

So often, England have let opponents get too close before finishing them off, or indeed let them slip away but once Flintoff struck in his first over to remove Haddin, you just had the sense that this set of 11 men was not going to let it slip.

Flintoff was at his best, inspirational and hostile and even Clarke had few answers so what chance did Hauritz and Siddle have?

Flintoff will be rightly lauded but I thought Swann bowled beautifully. Despite the confidence with which Clarke had been playing him yesterday, he still wanted to flight the ball and beat him with a superb piece of bowling - a delivery which spun, drifted, gripped, bounced and turned.

It was almost job done and although Mitchell Johnson looked like a man on a mission - one day he will score a match-winning innings of substance for his side - his task was just too big.

England go 1-0 up, and for the first time since 1997 and the even longer wait since 1934 for a win at Lord's over Australia has also been ended.

For England, the rest between the two matches will enable Flintoff and Pietersen time to rest and then see where they are with their injuries while Australia would probably love the opportunity to field about 20 men against Northamptonshire, such are the issues they must contend with.

Note to the Australian camp: Chris Rogers (Derbyshire) and David Hussey (Nottinghamshire) aren't too far away if they need some back-up while for England, KP could feasibly be replaced by any one of Bell, Moore, Key, Denly, or Hildreth.

It could be an interesting next week or so, but roll on Edgbaston in ten days time.

The game is still alive

And that is something that at 128 for five, we didn't expect ourselves to be saying at this point.

All credit to Australia, and particularly Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin, for they batted quite beautifully in the face of both some superb, hostile bowling and after the controversy surrounding the wickets of Katich, Hughes and Hussey.

On another day, or in fact after October when the review system returns, all three may have been allowed to carry on but they weren't, and Australia's response was brilliant.

England were perhaps guilty of a touch of complacency in the afternoon as they appeared happy to let things drift and that was a dangerous situation to get into, given the speed at which the two men from New South Wales were batting.

Strauss pulled his men together ready for the new ball and there was a marked improvement.

Now, 521 may still seem a long way off, but having already got to 313, Australia are over halfway there and I'm not backing against a tight finish - England's lack of ruthlessness over the years hasn't disappeared.

Unless it rains tomorrow, we'll either be talking about the greatest run chase, or England breaking that Lord's record against Australia.

Can't wait.

Brisbane in reverse...

...can England make it pay?

Brisbane 2006, and Ponting opted not to enforce the follow-on with Australia a long way clear. Quick batting then asked England to chase 648, which they failed, falling well short on 377 in 100.1 overs.

Australia may still believe they can still win this one at Lord's but they will have to smash the existing world record Test run chase record to do so and who knows, England may still bat for another 30 minutes tomorrow and push the target up towards 600.

Cricketers go on and on about momentum but you could almost see it shifting during the afternoon session. In a parallel universe somewhere, Ponting hits the stumps to run out Pietersen, catches Bopara shortly afterwards and England stumble from 90 for four to 180 all out, and the Australians are 50 without loss by stumps.

Back to reality, or our reality, in any case, and although Pietersen and Bopara had to battle exceptionally hard in that middle session, it opened up the door for the fireworks to come from Collingwood, Prior and Flintoff which thrilled the crowd and put England in the clear.

Earlier in the day, though, it seems that the lessons of the winter haven't been learnt. Consistent and planned short-pitched bowling will not dismiss tail-enders and it took Graham Onions, a man who wasn't in the West Indies, to get rid of the far-from-useless Siddle and Hauritz by pitching the ball up and inviting the drive.

Credit also to Hauritz who took three wickets with an injured finger but if he is to go down as a true hero in the match, it will be with the bat.

The match will go one of two ways from here - either we have a Brisbane 2006 scenario, and England win by plenty, or it goes down to the wire as we saw in Cardiff.

Mind, if the pitch flattens and the sun comes out, don't completely rule out a Perth 2007 situation when South Africa eased their way to 414 and a victory. All results are just about possible, just that some are more plausible than others. Game on!

Wickets, everybody hand in your wickets, please...

Well the pattern of the day was set when Strauss was bowled second ball. Never can someone have been given such an ovation for what was, on the day, a two-ball duck. He'd earnt it yesterday but the real stars of the morning were Anderson and Onions, for they batted with such freedom and a sense of fun.

It was no fun for the Australians and you could sense the frustration building as after three wickets in as many overs, England put on 47 for the last wicket and reached that figure of 400. Even though that figure did them little good in Cardiff, this was different.

For a start, they found a ball that swung and straightaway Anderson had Hughes caught down the leg-side and although Ponting didn't hit the ball, so shouldn't have been out caught, he was trapped in front, so should have been out leg before.

Hussey and Katich began to rebuild and it was comprehensively Australia's middle session, in between the rain breaks.

Then they did something rather strange. Almost English, one might say. They started losing wickets as if they were going out of fashion. Hussey did a Strauss while Katich, North, Johnson and Haddin all made a mess of playing cross-batted shots and Clarke, the man I thought would hit a century, made one before chipping Anderson to Cook at midwicket.

It left England comfortably on top but once the floodlights were turned on for the first time during a Test in England, we had the bizarre situation of the batsmen being offered the light because effectively, the floodlights were doing their job - i.e enhancing the natural light.

To paraphrase the footballing quote about Germany - cricket's a funny old game with rules that nobody seems to understand but at the end of it all, the Australians always win.

At least this time England are making them work for it.

Strauss turns the tables....

...I was going to put England, but the way that the middle order decided the time was right to get in, hit a few fours, and then get out, meant that with seven wickets down, Australia can take positives from an opening day where more than 50 boundaries were scored.

Yes, Strauss was missed twice during his innings, but at least his first chance left Australia without a specialist spinner for most of the day. Not that that stopped Collingwood gifting Michael Clarke his wicket away and Strauss's face was a picture.

At least he didn't let that, or the other tame dismissals, get to him and carried on his own serene way, as if he, and he alone would carry England's challenge (just like Vaughan, another man who enjoyed Lord's, did in 2002/3). "Anything you can do in Cardiff, Ricky, I can do better at Lord's," one imagined Strauss saying if the Ashes was remade as a comic strip.

With Pietersen's Achilles tendon being softened with each new cortisone injection, Bopara seemingly only able to score runs against the West Indies, and Flintoff being, well, Flintoff, don't rule out another return for Ian Bell before the series is out. He scored another century today to remind the other Englishmen, Strauss apart, that pretty 20s and 30s are of no use to any side save perhaps the Kolkata Knight Riders or the Mumbai Champs.

Come to think of it, why does it not seem such a giant leap to a hazy vision of Bopara, KP and Flintoff flitting their way across the globe in pursuit of the Twenty20 dollar?

Strauss and Ponting, meanwhile, will be the ones scoring the runs where it really matters.

What a finish!

Brilliant finish to a brilliant Test match. Despite England doing their best to undermine it yesterday, that proved that Test cricket is still pure sporting theatre.

A truly Chanderpaul-esque innings from Collingwood and he almost deserved to be there at the end but who would have put money on Anderson and Panesar seeing out 69 balls to claim the draw?

Not me, I expected England to collapse and be all out well before the close. I was pleased to be proved wrong, and at least one thing is for sure - there now can't be a 5-0 whitewash this time around.

Shocking Saturday

At a time when the primacy of Test cricket is being called into question in some quarters, England offered a poor advert for the game this morning and can find no injustice in the match position they find themselves in.

The way in which they floundered around almost aimlessly, seeming not to care in the morning session was desperate. There is no shame in being outclassed by an obviously better team but to do it by showing hardly any willing did them no favours. The endless conferences between overs appeared to be little more than a glorifed rain dance as they tried to desperately buy themselves time by delaying Ponting's declaration.

Unfortunately for them, Ponting was one step ahead of the game and by declaring 30 minutes before the rain came, he gave his bowlers the chance to strangle England and they did exactly that by dismissing Cook and Bopara, ironically two of the fielders who had at least looked like they were interested earlier in the day.

This day could go down in cricket history as England's shocking Saturday - not only were the men embarrassed but the all-conquering Women slipped to 59 for five before a late rally and some rain saved some face.

They hold the Ashes remember, and are more likely to recover than their male counterparts so I'll hold back on a judgement but in Cardiff, I will go as far as to say England's chances of regaining the Ashes have already disappeared.

A frustrating day...

...for the English, anyway. Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich continued where they left off yesterday and when they were dismissed, Marcus North and Michael Clarke merely carried on to give the English bowlers a sense of deja vu.

Anderson was impressive with the new ball although he could have made Ponting play a bit more before he got his reward with the wickets of Katich and Hussey.

Swann was anonymous with the ball today and even Panesar knew he was a lucky boy to remove the Australian captain. Broad never stopped trying and credit to him for surprising Clarke with a short ball late in the day.

With more rain scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday, Australia might look for quick runs in the morning to bat England out of the game. England would do well to ignore the weather forecast and come to terms that they are now in a battle to save the game.