Who dares wins this!

Michael Vaughan was forced to turn to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and bowl his own occasional off spin as the light began to fail in the final overs but Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer survived.

England, looking to go 2-1 up in the five-match series after winning last week at Edgbaston, had begun the day by wrapping up Austalia’s first innings for 302 to secure a lead of 142.

They then rattled up 280-6 in their second visit, scoring at almost five runs an over, with Strauss (106) and Ian Bell (65) putting on 127 for the third wicket.

Glenn McGrath took five wickets but was lashed for 115 runs off 20.5 overs. Australia, meanwhile, were heckled for much of the final session as they resorted to go-slow tactics to dampen the scoring.

Jones’ figures of 6-53 were his best for England. While he bowled his reverse swing with fine control and at sharp pace, Strauss’ sixth Test hundred — and his first against Australia — was less classical.

It was bound to be, with England in a hurry to try and give their bowlers as much time as possible to win the game on the final day.

While Marcus Trescothick provided those quick runs, scoring 41 off 56 balls on his way past 5,000 in Test matches, the left-handed Strauss started scratchily and, indeed, bloodily.

Strike bowler Brett Lee had cracked him just under the jawin the first innings and Strauss received another blow to the helmet, cutting open his Left ear. The pair had reportedly argued during the second Test over Ponting’s decision to bowl first.

Trescothick departed with the score on 64, a dab off McGrath spinning back into his stumps, while Michael Vaughan, a centurion in the first innings, soon followed, top-edging Lee to fine-leg for 14. That left Strauss as the senior partner and needing to accelerate as England reached tea on 128-2.

Warne and Ponting took so long to set fields for the left-arm spinner that the umpires intervened while the crowd booed. Strauss responded by hitting a short Warne delivery into the stands and then pulling McGrath for four to get to his century.

Bell played himself in cautiously before smacking McGrath over long on. When Australia got opportunities, they fluffed them. Adam Gilchrist missed two clear stumping chances off Bell to leave Warne wicketless.

The innings ended in a flurry of wickets for McGrath. Strauss holed out to square-leg, Kevin Pietersen went lbw and Andrew Flintoff, made four before slogging across the line.

Geraint Jones, as fallible as Gilchrist behind the stumps earlier in the game, put the finishing touches with two huge sixes off McGrath. Jones made 27 from 12 balls.

Warne, seeking a first Test century, got to 90 and put on 86 with Jason Gillespie before holing out to deep square-leg. The next highest contribution on the Australian scorecard came from extras (38), followed by Matthew Hayden’s 34. (Reuters)

Brief scores:

England: 444 and all out and 280-6 decl vs Australia: 302 (S.Warne 90, J.Gillespie 26, S.Jones 6-53, Giles 3-100) and 24-0.

Back injury threatens Clarke’s future

Manchester: Michael Clarke is set to have to cope with a debilitating back injury for the rest of his cricket career as the Australia camp continue to search for clues to the cause of his condition.

While the middle-order batsman was battling to recover from disc irritation in his lower back in time for Australia’s second innings at Old Trafford, team physiotherapist Errol Alcott revealed the problem could not be cured. Clarke, who has suffered from back problems for three years, aggravated the injury in the field during the second over on the first day of this third Ashes Test against England when he twisted his back while throwing the ball back to wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.

Ordered to rest in bed, Clarke was rushed to the ground from the team hotel on Friday as Australia’s top order collapsed. Batting with obvious pain and Matthew Hayden as a runner, Clarke managed just seven runs in 17 minutes at the crease before, clearly restricted, he holed out to mid-off against England quick Simon Jones.

“We can’t cure him, we can only treat him and make him functional again,” Alcott said after yesterday’s rain-interrupted third day. “I think it’s a case of back care management with him.”