4 for 196. I can live with that. What we need now is a good effort tomorrow; 300 should be the target.

Yeah well done Aussies, they showed how to play properly!

Bad crowd booing Ricky Ponting like that. It really spoils the game - MUPPETS!!!

http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/newsdetails.php?newsId=393

I think the booing was heightened because of the ECB telling them not to boo, they should keep out of it. Top quality innings by a top batter shame he plays for the aussies.

Lovely bit of cricket from young Clarke, always a pleasure to see that boy in action.

Current scenes at Headingley:

Wonder how it would have panned out if the England team hadn't been woken up in their hotel by some aussie wanker at 4:30am on the first day of the test ...
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/...756198693.html

Yes, quite. The British and Aussie media are feasting on the disgraceful behaviour of the England supporters by booing Pricky Ponting while this is just downright over the top. Not very "in the spirit of the game" is it?

That's not a prank, it's just plain stupid and totally unsporting. The Fanatics should identify the idiot who did this so he can be sent home on the next plane. Having said that, I don't think it made any difference.

Strauss himself denied that the fire alarm fiasco had any effect on the day's result, and I doubt that the Poms lost much sleep, since they'd have to rise early for match preparations anyway. I hardly think they were were planning to lie in until 9am. The truth is that they were simply annihilated by a superior team playing superior cricket.

But one batting collapse does not rule them out. They've held Australia down throughout the entire series until now, and there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't win at the Oval. Their bowling attack has been more consistent than ours, and generally stronger. We still have no answer for their swing ball, and if it moves aggressively in the final Test, we'll lose the urn for sure.

The Oval isn't much of a swinger normally. There is no way that Aus will drop Clark now and his line and length has set up this match beautifully. Who needs swing when you have that type of control? His control has enabled Johnson to go out firing without worrying about being economical. Friday was all about Clark's control which set up Siddle's 5 for. I struggle to see how England will peg this series back now, unless we can somehow get KP or Freddy back for th final test, there's no bite either in our bowling or in our batting at the moment

Looks like the fire alarm fiasco might not be as cut and dried as it first appeared:
Source.

Fire alarm, shmire alarn!!! Doesn't even come into play the aussies were just better than us on this occasion.

Except that the leader of the Fanatics has already admitted to it being one of their members

"Yes it was one of our guys who did it as a bit of a prank," Mr Livingston said yesterday. "I got a text message after it happened.

"At first I thought, 'good onya', we're just doing our bit for Australia," Mr Livingston said from the UK.

"But I can't condone this sort of thing. I don't want any trouble.

No, he hasn't. He simply said that he's been told it was one of his members. Some idiot has claimed responsibility, but Livingstone has no way of confirming this, since he has no evidence for it (and neither does anyone else).

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that a fire alarm was set off by a woman who left her underwear drying near a lightbulb:
Thus:
(Source).

I think I trust the West Yorkshire Fire Service to correctly assess the causes of an early morning fire alarm. Verdict: the Fanatics are lying.

Quite right. How to lose the ashes in just half a day by A.Strauss.