Australia 263 and 88 for 2 (Watson 34*, Hussey 18*) trail England 376 (Strauss 69, Bell 53, Flintoff 74, Broad 55, Hilfenhaus 4-109) by 25 runs
As we look forward to Day 5 of the third test, there seems little doubt that the result will have to be a draw. What an unfortunate situation, as this pitch has for once provided a really fair chance for the bowlers. With all the pitches that are tailor-made for batsmen these days, it is great to be reminded of just how exciting a seaming, swinging deck is.
That said, I don’t imagine that England were particularly enjoying proceedings early on Day 4 as they lost Strauss, Collingwood and Bell all within about 20 runs. It was an impressive opening spell from predominantly Hilfenhaus, but also Mitch Johnson. There were certainly some signs that his radar, and his self-belief are coming back. At times he was unplayable, and he hit the body of the batsmen on numerous occasions.
However, as they must surely be saying over in England, cometh the moment, cometh the Freddie; and boy did he deliver. Flintoff (74) and Prior (41) put on a blistering display of calculated attacking batting, which was great to watch. A part of this was perhaps the most uninspiring spell of bowling for Australia’s late inclusion Shane Watson. At one point the usually reserved Michael Atherton referred to his bowling as ‘utter rubbish’, and I felt the former England captain was being kind. Watson just wasn’t up to it.
What an amazing game test cricket is. The ebbs and flows are just astounding. As I laid my head to rest late in the Australian night, Shane Warne and Nasser Hussain were looking forward to the next test, chatting about the likely changes to the Australian team. At that point the Aussies were 5 for 150odd, and were hurtling toward a very rare Ashes loss at Lords.
