[RRRRICK]

I was actually surprised when the commentators were saying Australia would need a lead of 200 - 250 to have a chance.
When oz followed on I was thinking 150 was even money. As it turned out it may well have been enough.

In Vaughn's defense given the way his bowlers were going a win by Innings was very possible or at worse a smallish 50 - 60 chase. 129 is one of those numbers where losing a few early can give the batsman a little bit of a wobble.

Don't get me wrong we would rather eat hot coals then see England regain the ashes, but, it is awesome to see that one of the greatest rivalries in sport is now a fair dinkum contest again.

If England get up we will take our hats off to them and the better team will have won. But we hope that Australia at the very least show up to play from the first ball at the Oval, instead of fighting back from near hopeless positions on day 3 - 4.

If I had to pick one key factor to Englands success I would have to say the negating of Adam Gilchrist.

On several occasions in recent years when the oz top order has collapsed Gilly has been there to pick up the pieces.

He turns 5/150 into 400 - 450 and does it in quick time.

Obviously the England bowlers haven't given him any oppotunity to play himself in and get going. England have done ther homework and have recognised that Gilchrist is the key and they understand that he's suspect early in his innings and is prone to playing terrible shots in his first 25 balls. If you look at any of his big innings he almost always survives one or two sketchy shots early but once he finds the middle he destroys bowling.

I thought the series we lost in India in '03 would be a tough one to top but this is just on a different planet.

In that series there were lulls, there were sessions where the game just ticked on. Here every session is like a round of a boxing match with punches flying.

Brilliant stuff I wish it didn't have to end