But now to Manchester… I don’t want to sound like an embittered Lancashire fan, but if Freddie actually got a bit more practice batting at home I’d be happier; and Gilo, El Rey will be called on to justify himself as never before. He may not be Shane, (who is?) but if it’s one of our turning pitches he had better be on the form of his life.

Even though Australia will be gutted at the end, I think they’ll come back stronger. I’m sure England would have expected the game to get over within an hour or so. The extra effort put in by the likes of Harmison and Flintoff would surely have drained them out. It would be interesting to see how they’d fare if Australia batted first at Old Trafford (?) given that there’re only three days between the games.

Hope the England top order batsmen show some consistency to help Flintoff-Pietersen take the score to a unreachable high in the coming tests. Wish the aussies bring back the flare in their game and don’t depend much on Warne & Lee. After all its a team game. The power of some can make the game close but not win it.