Australian centuries leave England stirring down the barrel

Third Test, Perth (Day 3 - Stumps)
Australia 244 & 527-5 dec. v England 215 & 19-1

Chris O'Keefe

During the evening session when Mark Nicholas said that England's series was a story of "missed opportunities and mistakes", it looked like the England players in the field were hearing his every word. So taken aback by the onslaught of the Australian batsmen they must have been, it looked like an cricketing abattoir. However, again spurned moments might have made a better impact on the day's fare.

Both Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey should have been sent back comparatively cheaply and England were punished in the worst way possible. Hussey, who scored only his first century of the series today, gifted a rare opening. He skied a Steve Harmsion delivery and three England fielders headed off in pursuit.

Kevin Pietersen seemed favourite at square leg, but Geraint Jones called his own and failed miserably. It was an embarrassing note of England's day. Jones also missed a stumping by not cleanly taking a Panesar spinner, leaving Clarke out of his crease praying for a miracle, he got it.

Hussey was also dropped by Andrew Strauss during the new ball spell in the afternoon, off Matthew Hoggard's great ball. But now England were struggling for inspiration and worse to come, an out of form Gilchrist delivered a beating to English hearts.

The wicket-keeper's torrent of shots seen him hit 24 off one Monty Panesar over and raced to the second fastest century in Test history. He also hit a record number of sixes too. It was violent, yet silky clean hitting of a cricket ball that was an equivalent to booting a man when they're down.

England were gasping for air as they were given the opportunity to either bat two days, score an improbable 557 to win it or sacrifice the Ashes they had fought so hard for in 2005, at the earliest available moment. Ponting sent in the artillery to pose the question and, by a questionable decision to dismiss Andrew Strauss in the fourth ball of Brett Lee's over, they got a brief answer.

If England can come out the game with a remarkably faint Ashes hope in tact, they will have to go against the grain of everything they have done so far in this series. Dropped important catches, taking wickets and scoring runs against a Aussie attack that has only been tested once specifically.

England are not as far away from Australia as the scorecards say. They're just doing their best to make it look that way.