England get into the swing of things but Australia push ahead in rain interrupted Day Three of First Test.
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England finally found the swing they had been relying on to take wickets heading into the series and James Anderson produced two beauties to remove Simon Katich for 122 and Michael Hussey for just 3 - leaving Australia 3/325 with still some work to do for a 1st innings lead.
But Ricky Ponting coasted to another Test Match 150 (the 13th time he's passed that score) before giving Monty Panesar and the English spinners their only wicket of the Test - and a cheap inside edge at that.
Then Michael Clarke and Marcus North continued to build on the Australian innings formed on the foundation of the Katich/Ponting partnership and despite Clarke going late in an interrupted last session for 83 - the tourists are 44 runs ahead with 5 wickets in hand.
North is not out on 54 and Brad Haddin is also unbeaten on 4 as Australia look to bat well into Day Four and are firming as the only team that looks capable of winning this match.
However the draw is the clear favourite with rain forecast for the last two days play.
Australia will resume at 5/479 on Day Four - 44 runs ahead of England.
DAY THREE HONOURS: AUSTRALIA
Here's The Ashes Video Blog from Day Three with Question #04:
Close of play Day Three:
ENGLAND 7/336 (K Pietersen 69, P Collingwood 64, M Prior 56, G Swann 47* A Flintoff 37, R Bopara 35, A Strauss 30; M Johnson 3/87, N Hauritz 3/95, B Hilfenhaus 2/77, P Siddle 2/121) v AUSTRALIA 5/479 (R Ponting 150, S Katich 122, M Clarke 83, M North 54*, P Hughes 36; J Anderson 2/80).
@ Cardiff, Wales, July 8-12, 2009.
AUSTRALIA:
Simon KATICH, Phillip HUGHES, Ricky PONTING (c), Michael HUSSEY, Michael CLARKE, Marcus NORTH, Brad HADDIN, Mitchell JOHNSON, Nathan HAURITZ, Peter SIDDLE, Ben HILFENHAUS. 12th Man: Stuart CLARK.
V
ENGLAND:
Andrew STRAUSS (c), Alistair COOK, Ravi BOPARA, Kevin PIETERSEN, Paul COLLINGWOOD, Andrew FLINTOFF, Matt PRIOR, Stuart BROAD, Graeme SWANN, James ANDERSON, Monty PANESAR. 12th Men: Young Fit Fielders who will never play Test Cricket.
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Follow the 2009 Ashes Test Series with me on YouTube or via Twitter.
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