Shane Warne again
provided irrefutable evidence overnight at The Oval as to why he is cricket’s greatest
bowling genius, with a potentially Ashes retaining effort to
stop England in its tracks.

That Australia was
able to restrict an initially rampant England – who were scoring at a
rate of 5
runs an over after winning the toss and batting – to 7-319 at the close
of
yet another remarkable day of Ashes cricket, is entirely down to
Warne’s 5-118 from 34 calculating overs, which didn’t just turn the
tide but
swept England into a sea of uncertainty before Andy Flintoff helped
steady the
ship.

With England cruising
at 0-61, Australia was looking desperate and in deep
trouble before Warne came into the attack after just 13 overs, but in yet another
mesmerising performance he produced a game turning spell – capturing 4 wickets while
England found itself with just 131 runs on the board. He had single-handedly smote the Poms’ top
order which was also the first time in his Test career he had taken the first
four wickets, which is hardly surprising when he spent most of them in the
company of Glenn McGrath.

A Test that looked to be running away from Australia is now balanced on a knife edge
thanks to Warne and a team finally holdings its catches – none better than
Matthew Hayden’s diving low to his left to dismiss Marcus Trescothick (43).

This series is
remarkable for how often warrior heroes step up to the plate when the game is
at its tightest. Flintoff again came to England’s rescue as he remained resolute
in a titanic afternoon’s battle of wills with Warne – it was a battle between the magician and the
Lion King, as everyone held their breath knowing we were watching a fundamental
duel on which the fate of the Ashes could turn.
Opener Andrew Strauss played the sheet anchor role with a fighting 129,
but it was Flintoff’s 72 that effectively stemmed the surging tide as Warne
threatened to flood the home defences!

Now Australia must winkle out the remaining three wickets
for as few runs as possible before it’s the turn of
our own out-of-sorts batsmen
to collectively show the grit required to post a decent first innings lead.

But whatever happens, you can be sure it will be no less thrilling than what’s
gone before – and that in itself tells us why this series has become bigger
than cricket. Once more The Ashes has been restored to its rightful place at
the head of Anglo-Australian sport.

You can catch the
first day’s major play-by-play incidents on BBC Sport.