Day three

As went day two, so went day three, or at least threatened to until a glorious and most welcome shower of rain interrupted proceedings.

The new ball came early for England and, after some dross sent down with the old one, wickets started to fall. First Katich, lbw to a swinging delivery from Anderson - possibly the first one that swung in the entire innings. Michael Hussey's runs at Worcester may have been a false dawn and he edged Anderson to Matt Prior cheaply. Ponting got to 150 before dragging a Monty delivery into his stumps; the first loose shot Ponting played in his knock.

Then lunch and, as yesterday, the batsmen took over. Michael Clarke and Marcus North set about the bowling and, without giving a chance away, took Australia into the lead.

Hope looked lost for England with the older ball not doing anything until their twelfth man stepped in to rescue the situation. Rain played a blinder, halting the Australians in their tracks. The runs completely dried up under Rain's onslaught and, if he can keep this up over the next 24 hours, should save the Test for England.

Make no mistake - Australia are in charge. England will not win this Test and how hard they have to work to secure a draw will depend on the elements and how many more runs the Australians pile on. Even though Clarke went late in the day and if North goes early tomorrow, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson can still put England out of it.

The Australian batsmen just haven't been put under any pressure. They've not been drawn out of their comfort zones and have played the ball into areas they're comfortable playing it. Nobody has had to take a risk and, as a result, runs have flowed and England are very much on the back foot.