Paul Smith's autobiography "Wasted?" is a good read. When he was at Warwickshire he came home one day and found Keith Pipers car parked outside his house....Piper was inside doing his missus. Better than the John Terry and Wayne Bridge story. There's also a story in there about Smith joining the Mile High club with a girl in the toilets on a plane on the way to a Warwickshire pre season tour. I always liked Smith....could have been worth a shot with England, a bit of a Flintoffesque player, his effectiveness was better than his averages suggested, he was fast and got important wickets, and he could change a game in half an hour of batting.

So what's the strategy for tonight then? I'd try to rattle up another hundred quickly with Bell and Pietersen, and then declare. Even if they get over 400 (a day and a half) we could rattle off the rest in an hour or two.

I'd have a thrash for an hour..

Kinky.

The Aussie look absolutely shocking. England are just Embarrassing them, big time. And best of all there s no sign of rain! 600 is up.

Not much for the quicks yet.
Let's see what Swann can do.

Vital last wckt taken by KP i'd keep the old ball for few more overs and let Swann get at North and co.

IMO Strauss is going to regret that wasted hour this morning if the weather closes in.

Maybe, but IMV he should be regretting some of his cautious field settings, something that he's been guilty of before.

Awesome.

Night boys & girls

Brilliant.
What a team performance, all the key men came to the party.
Men against boys.
Looks like Strauss' decision to bat on was totally vindicated.
Bring on Perth.

well that makes it incredibly hard for them to win the Ashes back now. They need to win two from three against a side that they have only bowled out once so far....

Magnificent.

Superb Post 'lunch' pic from KP plixi.com/p/61469705

Superb Post 'lunch' pic from KP plixi.com/p/61469705

Quality performance this is an Aussie side full of genuine fear and i'm loving it ,just gutted for Broad.

Geoffrey's view


2nd Test, day five, Adelaide. England (620/5d) beat Australia (245 & 304) by an innings and 71 runs
It was a fantastic performance by England and fully deserved, as they have outplayed Australia in all departments.
They had a quiet belief that they were the better team, and they played better cricket. Our batsmen were patient, disciplined and ruthless when they got in, and most importantly did not give it away with bad shots.
James Anderson swung the new ball, which was a huge factor in getting early wickets in the Australian first innings and in the second innings with the second new ball. On a dry turning pitch Graeme Swann was always going to bowl them out. I have played in Adelaide many times and never seen it turn as much in a Test match as it did in this one.
The Australian batsmen only seem to know one way to play and that is to score runs. In trying to save the match, Mike Hussey’s shot was appalling and let England into the tail very early on. The tables have turned from four years ago when we were in disarray and our selections were poor. Now it is the Australians' turn to take some pain and grief, because they have got some big question marks about a few of their players and whether they should be picked for the third Test in Perth.
Remember, they gave us plenty of stick four years ago, so don’t shed any tears for them.
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Stat of the day: England were the first team to beat Australia by an innings on their own soil since the West Indies did it in 1993.
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Quote ="flipper"Superb Post 'lunch' pic from KP plixi.com/p/61469705'" Is that Moses I can see between the waves at the back?

Quote ="flipper"Superb Post 'lunch' pic from KP plixi.com/p/61469705'" Is that Moses I can see between the waves at the back?

Brilliant performace. Loved Pontings wicket great catch from Colly.

Micky Arthur says send for [url=http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/arthur-says-marsh-is-the-man-to-replace-katich-20101208-18pw0.html?Marsh[/url - Rod?

Apparently Richie Benaud has commented that he's disappointed with the whole clamour to bring back Warne, primarily because he wasn't approached to make a comeback first

Aussie squad smacks of panic as they bring in yet another SLA bowler, this time with even less experience than Doherty: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 274782.stm

Aussie squad smacks of panic as they bring in yet another SLA bowler, this time with even less experience than Doherty: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket ... 274782.stm

Well, nobody put their name up in lights to replace Broad in the Victoria game so I'm guessing they'll go like for like in terms of style and bring in Tremlett.

It's looking like that.
Let's hope for England's sake that he (a) lasts the 5 days & (b) does the business with the ball.
For this one it will be early mornings to watch the last session rather than late nights to catch the pre-lunch session.

what time starts will it be?

From 2am on Sky, times of play should be 2.30 - 4.30, 5.10 - 7.10, 7.30 - 9.30