England begin day three desperate to polish off Australia and Steve Harmison removes centurion Andrew Symonds early on But Shane Warne piles on the misery with a succession of expansive shots to take Australia past 400 Warne is stranded on 40 as Sajid Mahmood takes two wickets to end with 4-100 with Australia all out for 419, 260 ahead Glenn McGrath makes life tough for the openers and is unlucky not to have Alastair Cook lbw as England lunch on 28-0 Cook's luck runs out shortly after lunch when an inside edge off Stuart Clark sends him packing for 20 It gets worse for England when McGrath traps Ian Bell leg-before and Kevin Pietersen comes in at four instead of five But Pietersen does not last long and is bowled through the gate by Clark to leave the tourists reeling on 49-3 Brett Lee piles on the agony by removing Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss either side of tea to leave England teetering And when Andrew Flintoff is trapped leg before by Clark, the writing is on the wall for England who slump to 108-6 As the wickets tumble, England's fans remain upbeat, touting this enormous cut-out of Monty Panesar Warne gets in on the act with a flipper to trap Mahmood lbw for a duck and the Aussies can smell a quick victory Harmison offers a brief resistance before going the same way as Mahmood - he becomes Warne's 999th international victim Panesar receives a warm reception as he enters the arena and does not disappoint with an entertaining knock But the newly appointed 'Beard of the Year' winner's stay at the crease is ended when he fends Lee to Michael Clarke And when a Lee yorker beats Matthew Hoggard's defence, the game is over - England lose by an innings and 99 runs In a scene reminiscent of Edgbaston 15 months ago, only this time reversed, Flintoff and Lee come together But the focus is on Warne who ends with match figures of 7-85, 40 runs and a catch thrown in for good measure It is a fitting finale for Warne in his last Test match at his home ground, will McGrath now emulate that feat at Sydney?
|