Tomorrow we're going to win the Ashes

Another big crowd at the MCG today

Melbourne Day 3: Australia 98 & 169 for 6, England 513 all out. England need 4 more wickets to win.

On a perfect summer's day in Melbourne, we turned up expecting another day full of runs on what was now a very flat wicket. We were wrong - 11 wickets fell in the day for 238 runs.

England's first innings was over by lunch, with Jonathan Trott continuing yesterday's fine form to reach a magnificent 168 not out. This guy really loves scoring runs against Australia (and we love watching him do it). Matt Prior and Graeme Swann both hit out to good effect, though Prior will have been disappointed to fall 15 runs short of a hundred. After Swann's dismissal, the tail again folded meekly to the Aussie quicks, of whom Peter Siddle emerged with huge credit on his home ground, finishing with 6 wickets. In contrast, Ryan Harris managed to sustain a stress fracture of his foot while running up to bowl - a most unusual achievement. With Mitchell Johnson back to his old wayward self, this will present another selection headache for Australia ahead of the 5th Test in Sydney.

Australia got off to a flyer in their second innings with both Shane Watson and Phil Hughes playing with unexpected freedom given the situation of their team. The 50 came up in less than 10 overs, before Watson did England a huge favour by calling for a suicidal single and running out his opening partner. Strange, he hasn't done that since Adelaide. After that Swann and Bresnan kept things much tighter but Watson and Ponting battled through various scares to advance Australia's score to 99 - thus passing their first innings total for the loss of only one wicket.


A Barmy Army wicket for Jimmy

At this point it all went completely pear-shaped for the Aussies, as the unlikely figure of Tim Bresnan removed Watson, Ponting and the bogeyman Hussey in quick succession. Ponting's dismissal was particularly sweet for Jimmy Savile and the Barmy Army who were half way through their anthem when the Australian skipper's stumps were shattered. Poor Ricky has had a wretched match here after the temporary high of Perth. Even his wallet is lighter following a hefty fine imposed for his misbehaviour on the field yesterday. Whether he will still be captain in Sydney is - not surprisingly - the subject of mounting media speculation here.

Thereafter, England's bowlers exerted a stranglehold which was so strong that Australia scored at a rate of barely 2 runs an over. Further wickets for Swann and Anderson emphasised England's superiority, leaving Australia's innings in renewed disarray at 169 for 6 at the close.

This means that England only need 4 more wickets tomorrow to win this match and retain the Ashes. In practice, they will probably only need to take 3 wickets, given that the injury to Ryan Harris makes it unlikely that he will bat - particularly in a lost cause. With Australia's tail already exposed, it could all be over very quickly in the morning.