Forget victory

FOURTH DAY
To lunch: The start of the triumph. Strauss 79 and Cook 51 add 116 to the overnight 19-0 while the added time means Australia bowl 31 overs. Not a sign of venom in this slowish pitch and instead of the steaming attack of the first innings Ponting has to rely on North.

To tea: Strauss reaches his 19th Test century and then gets stumped leaping down the pitch at 188 but who cares. Trott cares. He wastes no time retaking his guard, he has a purposeful look and he keeps the scoreboard buzzing. He and Cook smooth their way to 238-1 although Cook, who has had remarkably little strike, is stuck on 98.

To close: By the end in bad light Cook and Trott have created a power base that will make Australia worried about a defeat. The England lead is 88 and still there is no sign of a tricky pitch. So my advice to Strauss and a concerned looking Flower - after what The Sun Called a "cancer op ordeal" (lasting 24hours in hospital) - is to forget victory and concentrate on the draw. That will send two messages. "We are powerful enough to get over a bad first innings" and "we can wait until you collapse so badly we can't help winning". By the way I am not kidding myself the players will take any notice. They will want to push the Aussies over the cliff. Wrong. It is time for patience.

Jo King's Royal stat . Don't worry. England always win if Strauss makes a duck and a century - in Jo-burg in 2004-5 and in Napier in 2007-8. And do not forget the match number. This is the 1981st Test and we all know what happened in 1981. Not just the Royal wedding but Brearley's comeback and an Ashes triumph.