Ashes 2nd Test Day 3 - A test match for the ages

"I'm Andrew Flintoff, and this is the way I play."
-Andrew Flintoff

That line sums up the day today as one man battled a legend at the peak of his powers and leaden-footed batting from his mates, and ended up establishing arguably the most dominating individual performance since Botham’s test in 1981. If there was a player England can’t afford for to tread on stray cherries on the field, it would be this man. And if England does go on to win the Ashes from here, the most defining moments of the summer could well be the over Flintoff bowled to Langer and Ponting to turn a spirited run-chase at 47/0 into a fight for survival at 47/2.

England began the day at 25/1 facing up to a bowler who took his 100^th wicket on English soil in the same way he took his first. And things quickly got worse as Lee discovered the fire missing in his first innings effort and blew away Trescothick, Vaughan and Hoggard after England had added only 6 runs. From then on, it was the Warne show as he turned back the clock and displayed the blinding genius that people thought was eroded due to the ravages of age. At one stage England were tottering at 75-6 and in very real danger of handing the match back to the Aussies .Then cometh the man who battled Warne, Lee and a suspected dislocated shoulder to single handedly set a total which would require some batting from the Aussies to overhaul. The Aussies were more circumspect in their approach when they started out and got the chase off to a good start with Hayden and Langer slowly playing themselves in. At 47/0 there must have been a few flutters in the England camp. But a toss of the ball to Flintoff and in a flash of an over, the match turned on its head and the Aussies never got back from there. If there was evidence needed of the Aussie bemusement, it was seen in Adam Gilchrist’s shocking shimmy down the pitch to Giles and hit the ball down mid-on’s throat off only the fourth ball he faced. Flintoff’s desperation to win this match was none the more evident when during the England innings he went down the pitch to give Simon Jones an earful after the no. 11 had swished at one outside off. That final wicket partnership of 51 proved to be the turning point of this match.

Shane Warne, who was out there at the end of the day at 20 not out, I’m sure, would not be begrudged by the state of affairs. After all he’s played so many Ashes series where the opponents have lost the match in the mind even before it started. A willing opponent this time gives him the chance of a perfect story he would like to script for his swansong Ashes campaign…just like the end of a long running soap opera. Final shot…

"Whoever writes my scripts seems to be doing it right - 599 going into Old Trafford, which is a very special place for me. And my parents are coming over, which was always planned. So I hope to get at least one wicket there for the 600."
-Shane Warne