The Ashes / Andy Morris / 07 January 2011 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

With England having the Ashes in the bag and a series win looming, Andy Morris sees the weather as the sole possible saviour for the quickly fading Australian side.

England were only three wickets away from sealing their third win in the Ashes series at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the stumps were drawn on the fourth day of the Test match against Australia.

Needing 364 runs to make England bat again, the Aussies were 213/7 at the end of the day, and with one whole day to go, the home side will be looking towards the skies to save them from a certain defeat.

As has been the case for the entire series, the English batsmen made merry even as Australia bowled some poor deliveries throughout the first couple of sessions. The lower-order took its full toll as Matt Prior got to his fourth Test match century, and the first in Ashes, while Tim Bresnan (35) and Graeme Swann (36) chipped in with vital contributions.

With an insurmountable lead in their bag, the English bowlers could afford to attack Australia, and despite a start of 46 runs for the first wicket, the tourists were always in the game on a fourth-day pitch. Shane Watson's consistency at getting starts and not converting them into something big continued, but even more disappointing was his dismissal being, a run-out.

Bresnan and James Anderson scalped a wicket apiece of Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja, while captain Michael Clarke's fighting hand of 41 was ended by Anderson as the ball took the batsman's edge and popped into the wicket-keeper's hands. Michael Hussey has had a decent first couple of Tests but he struggled through his innings of 12. Brad Haddin (30) and Mitchell Johnson were dismissed by Chris Tremlett from successive deliveries.

England did opt to take the extra half hour but could not dislodge the eighth wicket stand between Steven Smith and Peter Siddle.

However, with the weather expected to remain clean and only three wickets remaining, one gets the feeling that it should not take too long for the English bowlers to lead the side to a 3-1 win.