It's nip and tuck in this game so far. Despite England's failure to manage reach even 300 this morning, they are still in this game.
Collingwood went early, caught behind, Read soon followed that, having never looked like getting in. Mahmood went first ball, completely flummoxed by a Lee thunderbolt. Harmison hung around with Freddie who got within 11 of his century. After Harmison was out Freddie rather threw it away when faced with just Panesar and Anderson to bat with. England closed on 291 all out.
Australia set off like the proverbial, Langer especially. He was strangled down the legside by Anderson, but Ponting and Hayden looked really set to grind England into the dust when, completely out of the blue, Hayden flashed at a wide ball from Harmison and was caught of the toe end in the slips. Not long after Ponting pushed the ball straight to Anderson at mid on, set off and Anderson hit direct with a rocket throw. I could tell from my position at deep mid wicket that it was out, and England's body language said the same. Sure enough the 3rd umpire confirmed us all correct and Ponting was on his way. After tea the rain clouds threatened us several times but seemed to pass around the ground. Then, just as a dark bunch of clouds promised us a heavy shower , Harmison produced a lifter to remove Clarke. Before Symonds could even reach the wicket the umpires were on their way off. The covers soon followed and for about half an hour the drizzle set in. Then as it cleared the umpires came out and were very decisive for once. The covers were slowly (in my opinion) removed and play resumed with 11 overs or 55 minutes to finish the day. Despite tight bowling from Harmison and Anderson England could not force another wicket, despite a poor shot from Symonds in the last over, bowled by Panesar. Having just lofted him over the infield for 4, he tried to repeat the shot, a skewed the ball just over points head. It's that sort of headstrong behaviour in a crucial point in a test match that will prevent him from becoming genuine test all rounder.
With Australia on 188-4 at close, tomorrow looks set to be a good day with all to play for. Unfortunately we don't have tickets due to a mix up over tickets. But we will try to get some from the touts outside in the morning. Failing that we'll just have to watch it on the TV. We've got tickets for day 4 and day 5 should be OK, so lets hope it goes to the wire!