All out for 644, our highest ever score in Australia.



Aussies need 364 to make us bat again.

Its taken me 10 minutes to stop laughing from that 1st wicket run out. Brilliant! Absolutely fantastic! The highest form of incompetence!

It's lovely to wake up and find we have a whole day (weather permitting) to get their last three batsmen out.

Pah! Len Hutton would have knocked that off on his own. These Aussies are hopeless.



Still 153 needed to avoid the innings defeat on the final day with just three wickets left.

What a day!



Great knock by Prior and the bolwers were superb. Sad to see Colly retire but it's the right time I think, been a big player for England and has helped hugely with our fielding improvements.



Bresnan has done well since he came into the side but I still feel Broad will come back in and Tremlett will keep his place. I think there are 5/6 options to replace Collingwood.

If they go like-for-like then it's got to be Bopara. If they go down the batsman route then Morgan has to be number 1 choice with the likes of Hildreth and Gale close behind. If they go bowling all-rounder then Bresnan has to be top of the list assuming Broad comes back into the side.



Interesting times ahead anyway.

Agreed. Much of the media seems to be painting it as a seamless transition with Bell moving up to 5 and Morgan coming in at 6, which to be honest is what I was thinking myself until recently. However, the biggest single weakness in the current team is the lack of support to the four specialist bowlers, and if Morgan were to replace Collingwood that particular issue would be more of a problem. (Imagine if one of the main bowlers pulled up injured on the first day against India's stellar batting line up?)



Another option would be to move Prior up to 6 and accommodate Broad, Bresnan & Swann at 7,8 & 9. Given the current form of the remaining top order batsmen I think that would be my personal preference. Otherwise I'd think about Adil Rashid as a batting all-rounder, in a similar way that Australia have introduced Steve Smith to their team. (Rashid's career batting average is better than Morgan's.)

I'd forgotten, like the selectors it seems, about Adil Rashid!!

He would be an ideal replacement for Collingwood.

It doesnt appear that England have been inconvenienced by playing 4 bowlers rather than 5. The only time we've struggled to keep the bowlers fresh was in the Aussies first innings in Brisbane and I dont think an extra bowler would have made much difference then.



It must be make or break for Rashid this year. If he really comes on both with bat and ball there could be a strong case for having him in as a 5th bowler. I've always though he has far more batting ability than Broad or Bresnan. Otherwise it seems a case of replacing Collingwood with Morgan and rotating 3 seamers + Swann.



Great to see us on the verge of 3-1 which would reflect the relative strengths of the two teams. I did worry that having secured the ashes we might let them nick a drawn series which would have been a travesty.

I just can't see England picking an alrounder. I think they will look for a batsmen as Collingwood bowls very little these days and they could alwyas use KP if desperate maybe?



Strauss, Cook, Trott, KP, Bell, Prior, Bresnan/Rashid, Broad, Swann, Tremlett, Anderson



Are there enough out and out batsmen in there? Yes we bat down to 9 but there are only 5 frontline batsmen. I don't feel Morgan is a good enough Test player to bat at 6, still a One Day player for me.

As Bumble said, get Bopara in to a winning team at 6 and let him do some damage. He can bowl some Collingwood-esque dibbly dobblers as well if need be.

It's a definate option for me, he was never a no.3 but coming in at 6 could be perfect for him.

I can't see it happening I'd like to see Adil Rashid in there, I think we have a reliable top 6 batsmen, then he and Broad should be reliable enough to chip in with runs and 7 and 8.



The variety it would give to our bowling attack would be fantastic, and it would give us every chance of being able to get on top of teams in all conditions.



I'm unconvinced about Morgan from what I have seen from him, but I think he is next in line - Bopara probably is worth a go if we are replacing a batsman with a batsman though.

If England played Rashid at 7, there's a danger he'd get used in the same way the Australians have mis-handled Steve Smith in the last two Tests.



He'd be expected to make the sort of runs Prior was making at that position while being the "bowler of last resort" IMO.



I have an awful feeling the England selectors see something of Chris Schofield in Rashid and are desperate not to be seen to be rushing him into the Test team. The selection of Tredwell ahead of him to go to Bangladesh was baffling in the extreme.

The difference is that he'd be coming into a winning side rather than a team in turmoil and transition. He's already good enough to bat at 7, ultimately 6 which I don't think is the case with Broad or Bresnan, and eventually to be the primary spinner. I think there's a good opportunity to get him in now, let him get a feel for Test cricket, rather than wait for Swann to get injured and bring him in for a must-win match at the end of a series. I suppose I'm daydreaming a bit there; if Swann gets injured they'll just bring in Monty and stick with four bowlers.



I suspect the Aussie selectors have identified Smith as more of a batsman in the long term - his career First Class average is over forty - but he hasn't fired with the bat yet, and in a struggling side they can't afford that. I'm not sure Smith will ever be a front line spinner. He only had about forty First Class wickets in around twenty matches before the current series; Rashid has over 220 wickets in around sixty matches. He's a much more experienced and seasoned cricketer than Smith despite being only one year older.



The current selectors' track record suggests they'll replace Collingwood with Morgan. They've made a habit of investing time and faith in select individuals, keeping them in and around the squad for a while, having a good look at them in the ODIs & T20s, then promoting them to the Test XI, and admittedly this strategy has served us well. I'm not sure how prominently Bopara might feature in their thinking as he seems to have slipped right down the pecking order since losing his place. I wonder whether they have reservations about his character as well as his erratic run of scores in 2009?



If they do replace Collingwood with a specialist batsman it's going to leave a hell of a scrap for the seam bowling places. I reckon Anderson and (when fit) Broad will get the nod, which will mean only one of Tremlett, Bresnan and Finn can play.

What he said!



Admittedly I've only seen Smith in test cricket, and Rashid in the CC - but he looks a far more accomplished all round player to me, at this stage. I think part of my desire to see Rashid in the side at 6 is personal preference regarding how I like to see a test team setup, I think we'd particularly benefit from such a setup in the sub-continent.

Lap it up....

Heavy showers at the mo according to Athers on Sky

Hope it doesn't last, really starting to need some proper sleep now, I was looking forward to an early night!

Start will prob be delayed but should be play at some point

Looks OK

Bloody rain

All looking very dark and bleak in the background. I'm no expert on the Australian climate, but if that were England I'd have turfed everyone out and gone home by now.



Edit: Scratch that, seem to be removing the covers. Hopefully they can get 3 wickets worth of play in.

1wicket to go,lets get it wrapped up before the rain comes back.

This Steve Smith is swinging like a baseball player





And hes out