Fifth Test, day three - Aussie legend Shane Warne, now a TV pundit, offers a few words of encouragement to skipper Ricky Ponting, whose side trail by 230 and face an uphill struggle to hang on to the Ashes
Andrew Strauss (front) and Jonathan Trott are given a tremendous ovation by England supporters as they head out to try and build a match-winning lead for their side with their team starting on an overnight 58-3
After surviving a huge caught behind appeal off the bowling of Peter Siddle from the first ball of the morning, Trott shows he has the mental fortitude for Test cricket as he helps Strauss post a century partnership
Strauss is determined to emulate Michael Vaughan in 2005 by winning the Ashes and he starts to lift the scoring rate after reaching his half century as England's lead moves beyond 300
Australia eventually break through when Strauss is caught at slip off part-time spinner Marcus North shortly before lunch but the session ends painfully for Ponting as a shot from Matt Prior hits him in the face
After Prior needlessly runs himself out immediately after lunch, Andrew Flintoff walks out to play his final Test innings and receives a huge ovation from the crowd and a generous welcome from Australia's patched-up skipper
Flintoff treats to a crowd to a few typically powerful, lusty blows but after racing to 22 from only 18 balls he holes out in the deep to become part-time spinner Marcus North's third victim
Flintoff departs to a standing ovation with a Test record of 3,845 runs from 130 innings at an average of 31 - but what can he do with the ball in Australia's second innings?
Flintoff's likely successor as England's number one all-rounder, Stuart Broad, narrowly avoids being run out during a bright and breezy innings of 29 which again underlines his batting potential
Trott is struck on the helmet by a hostile bouncer from Siddle but it fails to disturb the debutant's composure for more than a few seconds and the batsman continues in his unflustered manner
The helmet comes off when Trott, after a 90-run eighth-wicket stand with Graeme Swann, becomes only the third England player in history to make a Test debut century at The Oval
By the time Australia finally get rid of Trott for 119, prompting Strauss to declare, England lead by 545 runs and Ricky Ponting feels the full weight of his burden as Australia captain
Shane Watson plays some aggressive, well-executed strokes, but is almost run out by Ian Bell attempting a very risky single early in his innings
Flintoff produces a typically wholehearted effort with the new ball, ignoring his injured knee to make a diving save off his own bowling, but the Australian openers make a fluent start
Steve Harmison finds the pitch as unresponsive as Australia's pace bowlers did earlier in the day and England waste no time in bringing Graeme Swann's off-spin into the attack
Australia openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich look very solid, batting through the final hour of the day in glorious sunshine with relatively few alarms to reach stumps 80-0 - 466 runs short of the victory total
What are these?
Print Sponsor
E-mail this to a friend 
Bookmark with:
What are these?