FOURTH TEST - DAY THREE

Trott finished on 168 not out in a marvellous display of concentration.

Trott and Prior strode to the wicket this morning with no other instructions but to grind Australia into the turf and set the Aussies an impossible task to save the game. As it was, there was little prospect of that.

Prior was the first to go when he holed out to Ponting on eighty five from the bowling of Siddle. Tim Bresnan then departed rather quickly for four when he was caught behind by Haddin off the same bowler.

Graeme Swann then combined with Trott for an entertaining partnership of fifty three, before he fell for twenty two when he was caught behind by Haddin off the bowling of the luckless Hilfenhaus.

Tremlett was then dismissed for four after being bowled by Hilfenhaus and Anderson was bowled for one by Peter Siddle who was the pick of the bowlers with a haul of 6 for 75. Jonathan Trott finished unbeaten on 168, but one wonders if it could have been so much more if he only had farmed the strike and shepherded the tail. It seemed as if he was playing purely for himself and was batting for the red ink - but we digress, as the lead is so great that it will all be purely academic.

So Australia were set the task of having to make 415 just to make England bat again. Short of a miracle, this test was fast going down the gurgler.

Watson and Hughes set about the task of trying to restore some semblance of Australian respectability when they burst of the blocks with a stand of fifty three off eleven and a half overs of pulsating batting when disaster struck. England had run out of ideas by this stage as both batsmen looked comfortable, when from nowhere, Watson called the hapless Hughes through for a suicidal single when the former pushed a delivery from Swann straight to Trott at short cover who had no trouble gathering and firing the return to Prior who removed the bails with Hughes at least a foot short.

Phil Hughes got off to his usual galloping start before disaster struck.

This was utter madness. With nearly two and half days to bat to save the game, where was there the urgency to take such a risky single? Phil Hughes was finally looking comfortable and set for a meaningful score when his innings was ended by Watson's bizarre brand of running for twenty three off thirty balls.

This brought Ricky Ponting to the crease, who with the exception of his last session cameo at the Gabba, has been out of sorts all summer. Ponting and Watson then settled into a more docile and watchful partnership compared to the opening frenzy of Watson and Hughes, preferring to leave most deliveries outside off and only playing what was absolutely necessary. They brought the score up to ninety nine when with the introduction of the portly Bresnan into the attack, Watson was dismissed for fifty four when he padded up to the same bowler and was adjudged LBW. Yet again Watson had failed to convert a fifty into a century and questions must be asked as to his suitability to the top of the order.

Ponting followed soon after when he was bowled by Bresnan off an inside edge from a less than straight bat jamming down away from his body for twenty. An ungainly dismissal from a fast fading hero who looks to be suffering from a tortured soul brought about by the pressure of having to constantly be the go to man in a sub par Australian team that is not even a shadow of it's former great self.

After his superhuman heroics in the first three tests, even the unflappable Hussey succumbed to the pressure of finding himself yet again at the crease with Australia three wickets down for not many. Hussey was caught driving at short cover by Bell off the suddenly dangerous Bresnan who had captured three wickets in less than twenty minutes.

Michael Clarke and Steve Smith attempted to tough it out as best as they could, but Clarke was eventually caught at second slip by Strauss off Swann in a trap that had just been set for him the ball before - so obvious, but, so predictable and Clarke was on his way for a disappointing thirteen.

Steve Smith chopped on ending an entertaining knock of 38.

Steve Smith played some fine attacking strokes in his enthusiastic innings, but it was almost inevitable that his enterprise would also lead to his dismissal when Smith chopped a short ball outside off stump onto his stumps attempting to play an extravagant pull shot. Smith's cameo of thirty eight had many parallels with his innings of thirty six in Perth in that it showcased his obvious abilities as an unorthodox stroke player, but also highlighted his lack of preparedness to be a test number six batsman. It would be far wiser to ease Smith in at number seven or eight where the responsibility is lesser and where he can work on also improving his leg spinners which will come in more than useful over the next decade if his potential can be harnessed.

Haddin and Johnson saw things through until the end of play where the stumps score was a dismal 6 for 169 and a heavy defeat imminent.

Tomorrow England will wrap up the test and the Ashes by about lunch, if not earlier. With the Ashes irretrievably lost for yet another two and half years, the post mortem's will begin in earnest and it is fair to say that the blood letting will follow. The Australian cricket watching public does not tolerate failure, much less the timid performances served up this series which have brought shame on a once great cricketing nation. Heads will roll, reputations forever tarnished and new blood must be injected.

It may take three or four years of pain, but the test side must be decimated and the kids must be introduced now a la South Africa 2004 who introduced young kids who were trounced by England and Australia in their own backyard in successive summers, but the young tyros of Amla, De Villiers etc grew into men after their inauspicious beginnings. Boys like Maddinson, Copeland, Pattinson, Paine, Hughes, Smith, Hazelwood, Khawaja, Ferguson and O'Keefe must be blooded and persisted with to build a new machine to dominate world cricket. There are no short cuts.

It is year zero.