Flintoff's shot was far worse than those from Strauss or Collingwood. Strauss was playing a shot that is a legitimate rungetter for him at home, and Collingwood had made 96 and just lost concentration and was suckered by a good delivery.
Flintoff got a fairly short one and just heaved across the line at it, having just started his innings, as captain and trying to save the test. Absolutely unforgivable. If he's a test number six the way he's playing recently, then so is Brett Lee.
Anyway, top knocks from Cook, Collingwood and Pietersen. I really like watching Cook bat, he's got a great temprament and tries really hard, and while Collingwood doesn't normally impress me that much he did play well. KP's battle with Warne is great to watch and he played a good innings, if a bit over aggressive and lucky at times given the match situation.
England should take heart from the Perth test against South Africa last year. Though it was much flatter wicket, South Africa were a couple down early on day 5 and managed to save the game very comfortably. There's only three sessions to go, and if they get to lunch without losing more than one wicket and the storms come early, they could theoretically save the game. The safe money is still on Australia of course, but it's alive.
From an Australian perspective, Lee was very disappointing today. I thought he bowled quite well in the first innings and was a little unlucky, but today he was unimaginative and unthreatening, and was back to his old bad habits. Clark was absolutely magnificent before lunch, and at least consistent afterwards and has generally been very impressive. McGrath was okay and bowled a few potential wicket balls, but didn't bowl that many overs due to the injury and will probably be a bigger threat tomorrow with the new ball. Warne was, of course, just fantastic. Wasn't the best day of bowling I've ever seen from him or anything, but he just kept trying and deserved every wicket he got. Hopefully he goes on to make it a sizable bag tomorrow.
