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...well, the last one at least.

Key questions:

1) Will the Aussies finally make a decent first innings score ?

2) Will Pietersen finally take a catch in the series (6/6 dropped) ?

3) Which of the keepers will make the least mistakes this time ?

4) Will Warne and Mcgrath both come good at the same time when it counts most and on the flip side how badly missed will Jones be ?

5) Will the weather be a factor (hope not, but it is sept) ?

6) How important will the toss prove to be ?

7) Will Ponting stop whinging about substitute fielders long enough to take some responsibility for his questionable tactical captaincy ?

These and many more questions to be answered in the coming 5 days - I for one can't wait. Beer and nibbles on standby. Enjoy everyone, best of luck to both sides and may the best team win.

Quote of the day Ricky Ponting - "It would be unfair if it was my fault we lost". - Well it's a good thing for him that his thoughts won't be sidetracked by such a thing as accountability. I'm sure Sven couldn't agree more.

Just a quick comment on your last point about Ponting then I think that win or lose somebody will go and I think that might be John Buchanan.

He is and I'll be polite here, a bit unconventional and I think you get away with that when your team is winning but when they aren't people start to question those ways.

His contract is up as well at the end of the series.

Valid point made Eduardo, and for sure when a team has been as successful as Australia has in dominating the game for so long, people and the press in particular tend not to be overly critical of a winning formula. Before Allan Border was given the captaincy and allowed the time and resources to build a world class team around him, I can remember the ridicule and critique the Australian press threw at the selectors, management and team at that time.

You seem to have your ears closer to the ground than I do when it come to Buchanan as I was not aware that there are calls back in Oz for him to go at the end of the series. With regards to Ponting, I do not foresee a knee jerk reaction to his future as an Australian cricketer as he is a world class batsmen but I do feel his captaincy has been put into question, in particular his early willingness to set his field back and not maintain the aggressive attacking approach which has been the strategy that Vaughan has adopted throughout the series. Also he has often turned to Warne far too late in an England innings and allowed the batsmen to get off to a flyer scoring around 100 at a rate of almost five an over before tipping him the ball. He could be a little more proactive and a little less reactive when it comes to mixing things up and creating chances, rather than waiting for them to happen.

Deuce is the man to talk to about that.

Well, I reacon our Aussie friends are going to wake up in a few hours time and feel that Australia are ahead on points after day one. Another superb display of spin bowling by the worlds best bowler showed again just what a class act he is. Twice when England seemed in command of the game he single handedly took back control of proceedings with a string of wickets. His contribution of 34 overs 5 for 118 was immense, although ideally he would rather have not been needed to bowl that many overs on the first day of a five day test match. I bet they had an ice pack at the ready for him.

Strauss (129) and Flintoff (72) saved the day for England with a timely 143 run partnership, and for once in this series I cannot remember the Aussies making a single mistake in the field. The only outfield mistake of the day coming from umpire Rudi Koertzen for giving Collingwood out LBW when the ball clearly struck his foot outside the line of off stump. I'd say the games set up nicely for tommorrow, but we need to get passed 350 and as close to 400 as we possibly can to give our bowlers something to work with, especially as we are now without Simon Jones.

Australia are definitely well ahead.

As for Rudi Keotzens lbw then I thought it was out in real time and I suspect most others did as well.

I don't blame him for that one.

It is a very good pitch, a lightning fast outfield and was a nice sunny day and I think 450 is only about par and England will fall well short of that.

Tomorrow and Saturday may well be overcast so Australia might not get the best of the conditions but remember England are a bowler short this time. I also have the feeling that several of the Aussie batsmen are due a score (Hayden, Langer, Martyn & Gilchrist) and this is the place to get it.

Lets hope they don't but I have a feeling they will.

we'll do well to score 400 but lets not forget the aussies haven't been over 400 at any point in this series and they are likely to be batting in overcast and rain interrupted conditions for the next two days which is never easy.

I think everyones been saying such and such are due a big score (me included) but none of them have, apart from one ponting effort.

I noticed Warne was in some discomfort at the end, which is understandable after 30 odd overs, but how will this affect him, for the rest of the game? maybe the effort of bowling those googlies was too much
none of the other aussie bowlers are any real threat

suffice to say after what this series has given us so far it's gonna go to the wire, i'm just glad I managed to get a ticket and see part of this series

Some cricket legends like Ian Chappell are calling for his head from what I've read.In their eyes all his electronic analysis has been exposed as a joke
because the opposition this time had some quality about them

Sound batting,bowling,fielding and aggressive risk taking captaincy wins matches.These have been sadly lacking-too much analysis and not enough common sense

Picking fast bowlers on past performances that have been out of form/cannon fodder in a hope of them coming good in an ashes series is foolhardy

Bringing a back up leg spinner who had his best year ever(60 wickets) last year and not playing him at least once in tandem with Warne is bizarre

Buchanan gets a lot of plaudits for his imposing win/loss/draw record with Australia but the real truth is the record is only as good as the opposition
they've been anything but outstanding.In particular the dirth of quality bowling attacks

Any coach with players like mcgrath,warne,gilchrist & the waugh brothers
would have to be blind freddy not to beat most of the cricket teams in the world over the past 10 years

cheers
B....OZ