Strauss will have dreamt
ANDREW STRAUSS will have sat in his hotel room last night with a notepad in one hand and a calculator in the other, working out just how to force a positive result against the Australians at Edgbaston today.
Unfortunately, the deluge in Birmingham these past few days has ruined, potentially, a fantastic Test match, but if England can take their impressive form into a fifth day, it is still possible they can win the game.
Yes, the draw is the more likely result, but with a full 90 overs available today, Strauss will have targets to aim at. He will be aware that if England can polish off the remaining eight wickets inside 60 overs, while limiting the run-rate to around three-an-over, that will give his side 30 overs to polish off 160, which is more than feasible.
The main man, for me, has to be spinner Graeme Swann. Not only can he exploit the odd turning ball, he can also slow the Australians down. I expect him to feature pretty heavily with the seamers rotating the strike at the other end.
If Strauss sticks to that as a guide, then victory is possible, but whatever happens today, England have played fantastically well here and will go into Friday’s fourth Test at Headingley with the momentum. Even if the Australians do survive today, they’ll still be plenty of scratching heads in that dressing room.