Captain-in-waiting Michael Clarke and Mister-Cricket-in-waiting Marcus North saved Australia's bacon in the Third Test at Edgbaston yesterday. With, it should be noted, the assistance of Mr Cricket himself, county-cricketer-in-waiting Mike Hussey, and chronic injury-in-waiting Shane Watson.
[What should have followed was a lengthy but probably dull discourse on the prospects of both teams for the remaining two Tests of the series. It vanished, unsaved, when I accidentally hit the "back" button on the wrong tab of my Firefox window. Suffice to say that I doubt England's ability to take twenty wickets in either of the Headingley or The Oval Tests, and that Australia can only do it if they recall Stuart Clark. Thus I'm now predicting that the England players will be heading back to the Palace next spring for an upgrade on their 2005 MBE's.]
Midwinter-Midwinter points for Day Five at Edgbaston: Michael Clarke 3, Marcus North 2, Mike Hussey 1. CIW Clarke has taken an outright lead on nine points, one ahead of Paul Collingwood MBE. I'll do an updated summary of the Midwinter-Midwinter before the start of Test Four.