If England win, I think it'll be down to swann. Back in 05 I know lots of the talk was about how Flintoff did, but I really felt the best performance was from Giles: Consistent good scores and reliable bowling.
Hmm, 2-1 England

Kestas, I didn't know you were an England fan! Is that tough, living in Oz?

Hopefully England can regroup over lunch, Otis Gibson should have a good old shout at Broad and Anderson. Definitely looking forward to seeing Fred get stuck into Katich and Hughes, although I think Monty's going to have a massive role to play in this test, especially to the lefties - I reckon he should have been brought on before Swann.

BUT I still think it will be 3-1 to the Aussies (sadly) - and the lack of centuries in England's first innings demonstrates why.

Looks like Flintoff is on his game, England looking better after lunch, but not sure if it'll last

Dave: Its the aussie fanbase more than anything, they're all arrogant and never get into the game (in my experience), it's just no fun supporting Australia in cricket (I've lived in the UK longer than Aus anyway)
Im surprised you think Aus 3-1, there were no centuries but it wasn't a bad performance (and they could have done better). I agree with fig I think it'll be close but England will get the best of it

Looking forward to seeing Shane Warne in the commentators box by the way

Yess! Now just hope Ponting doesn't get dug in

I reckon we need to restict them to 300 or under to have a good chance - and we can't rely on Freddie to get all 10..

I just think our top and middle order batting is too frail, especially when compared to Australia's. It might well be 2-1, but that's more weather dependent IMO. Although it does help us no end that Brett Lee's injured, which, purely for cricket reasons, is a real shame.

Fred is bowling rather well at the moment though!

129-1, starting to get out of hand :-(

Please would someone explain to me why Panasar is back in the team?

Consistency, and I think they want to protect Rashid - the last thin he needs is to be flayed around the ground by the Aussies.

Monty *should* be able to perform on this pitch - at least with Monty & Swanny it'll be mid-afternoon tomorrow before we're behind.....

Because Monty is still effective on a turning pitch! I guarantee he won't play again this series. It's just a shame the Mushtaq's efforts with him still haven't borne fruit - he still lacks the variation required (and he needs to learn to change the flight - something which has annoyed me for ages as it's one of the easiest things for a spinner to change) to be a world class bowler.

I predict an Aussie win in the series, but with at least 2 draws too.

And there's the first century of this Ashes series - I wouldn't have pegged Katich to get it though! And there's the second... oh crap!

depth charge