Adelaide: Day 5: And again please

Some days you know you should just stay in bed. The weather here is currently atrocious – howling rain, 40mph winds, fog, sleet – you name it, we’ve probably got it. I had to get up early to do taxi duty to the airport for my folks and initially the plan was to go straight on to the beach for a surf. But considering the wind, the 8m high tide and the fact that it was still dark, I quickly cancelled my certain-death plan for pre-work surf and opted instead to watch England bat out for a draw.

But when you switch on the television and see that Australia require 150 runs off 30+ overs for the win, you know something very bad indeed has gone down. As predicted, England were bowled out on the morning of Day 5 for a miserable 129, setting Australia a target of barely 170 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Despite Langer falling early, followed by Hayden, Ponting and Hussey were unflappable and moved to the target to under 60. Ponting then removed himself, who was quickly followed by Damien Martyn leaving Hussey and the Australian “tail”, if you can really call it that, to knock the remaining runs off.

England are currently applying some good pressure, and it’s conceivable that if they could get the rate up to around 7 or 8, it’s possible we could still hold on for a draw. But it really doesn’t seem very likely.