England were facing the humiliating prospect of defeat inside three days after Australia left them facing a hopeless battle after the second day of the third Ashes Test at the WACA on Saturday. Trailing by 271 on the first innings after Australia amassed 456 at more than four-and-a-half runs an over, the depleted touring side staggered to 33 for one at stumps, needing a further 238 to make Australia bat again. SCOREBOARD England (1st innings): 185 Australia (1st innings): J Langer run out 19, M Hayden c Tudor b Harmison 30, R Ponting b White 68, D Martyn c Stewart b Tudor 71, D Lehmann c Harmison b White 42, S Waugh b Tudor 53, A Gilchrist c Tudor b White 38, S Warne run out 35, B Lee c Key b White 41, J Gillespie b White 27, G McGrath not out 8. Extras: (b-4, lb-3, nb-14) 24 Total: (all out, 99.1 overs) 456 Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-85, 3-159, 4-226, 5-264, 6-316, 7-348, 8-416, 9-423. Bowling: Silverwood 4-0-29-0, Tudor 29-2-144-2 (nb-11), Harmison 28-7-86-1 (nb-1), White 23.1-3-127-5 (nb-3), Butcher 10-1-40-0, Dawson 5-0-21-1. England (2nd innings): M Trescothick c Gilchrist b Lee 4, M Vaughan not out 8, R Dawson not out 8. Extras: (b-4, lb-2, nb-7) 13 Total: (for one wicket) 33 Fall of wickets: 1-18 Bowling: Lee 5-1-21-1 (nb-7), McGrath 5-2-5-0, Gillespie 1-0-1-0. Opener Michael Vaughan, England’s only reliable batsmen this series, was not out eight with nightwatchman Richard Dawson also on eight after surviving an appeal for a catch at bat-pad on the final ball of the day. England, looking increasingly demoralised and directionless during the day, lost Marcus Trescothick for four when the out-of-form Somerset opener gloved a sharply rising ball from express bowler Brett Lee and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist took the catch leaping to his right. To make matters even more daunting for the batsmen to come, a couple of deliveries shot through low at the end of the day. Trescothick’s dismissal ended a miserable day for Nasser Hussain’s side, who also lost the first two Tests heavily and who now seem doomed to lose an eighth Ashes series in a row. Their already slim hopes were made even more difficult with the loss of fast bowler Chris Silverwood, ruled out of the rest of the match after tearing his ankle ligaments fielding on the first day. With England a bowler short - they also went into the game with four other first-choice bowlers out injured as well as all rounder Andrew Flintoff and batsman John Crawley - Australia’s batsmen went on a run-scoring spree, smashing 69 boundaries and five sixes to make a mockery of England’s first innings total of 185. Damien Martyn (71), Ricky Ponting (68) and Steve Waugh (53) all completed half-centuries. Waugh joined Bradman, Border and Sobers as the only batsmen to make 3,000 Test runs against England. Every other Australian player, with the exception of number 11 Glenn McGrath, reached double figures to expose England’s lack of bowling depth. (Reuters)
