Day four: Look who's losing

It's not so much that Australia appear all set to lose the Third Test tomorrow. It's the reports that suggest the whole fibre of the mighty Australian team is unravelling. Or are we witnessing more Sledging By Media?

Or could it be that the Australian eleven is just too damn old? Can you believe that Damien Martyn played his first Test match nearly thirteen years ago? Or that only two players in the Old Trafford eleven have made their Test debuts in the 21st century? Or that the only player who wasn't born for The Underarm Incident has been revealed to have a chronic back ailment?

Compare that to an England side which has one player both (a) celebrating, at Old Trafford, seven years since his Test debut and (b) having attained the pensionable age of 32. Guess which Large Garbage Receptacle/Iberian Monarch I'm talking about.

Australia needs 399 on the last day, 423 in all, to win this Test. That won't happen. One wonders, however, if this Australian side has the ticker to bat all day for a draw. I'm predicting they won't, and my pre-series forecast of England winning two Tests will come true.

Midwinter-Midwinter points for Day four: 3 pts - Andrew Strauss; 2 pts - Simon Jones; 1 pt - Ian Bell.