fifth test: day three

Symonds does us proud.

0723:Well any faint hopes England had of avoiding the whitewash have been dashed by some excellent, tight bowling from Australia.

Pietersen is still there, but with only Read and the tail (or just 'The Tail', depending on how you rate the Notts keeper) for company, we could be in for a short day tomorrow with England just 12 runs ahead.

0340: All throughout Warne's innings, Paul Collingwood was chipping away at the great man, which could be a bad move on a couple of counts. One, Warne's innings was full of agression and fire, which was sparked by the sledging. And two, it fired up the rest of the Australian side, firing 'words of encouragement' to Strauss as he comes out to bat.

However, it did provide us with a great self-evident sledge from Warne to Collingwood - 'You got an MBE for getting seven mate'. Fair cop Paul NM

0143: A great morning's cricket from the SCG. 135 runs have been scored, but England will gain some encouragment from the three wickets they have taken, even if one of them was a truely terrible decision. to remove the free-scoring Gilchrist. NM

0100: One right and one wrong so far. Jimmy Anderson got Hussey, but Symonds did me proud by producing a ludicrous shot to get out when well set. NM

2335: The good news for England is that Flintoff seems to be getting a bit of swing. The bad news is that he may not stay in the attack long enough to make the most of it. Four overs seems to have been his limit lately.NM

2310: Predictions for the day: Andrew Symonds will get out playing a daft shot. Anderson will mix up some ripping good balls with some absolute stinkers. Panesar will dismiss Mike Hussey after causing him a few problems last night. And England will be batting before the end of the day, and will have lost at least one opener by the close.

Not exactly leaps of faith, I know. NM

2300: Evening. Or morning. Whatever it is, hello all. After some overnight rain the scheduled start of play has been put back, but the sun is out so it'll only be for 15 minutes. The plan is to get underway at 2315 GMT.Nick Miller