England end day two of the Edgbaston Test leading by 124 and with nine second innings wickets in hand.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
No doubt about it - Ashley Giles. After a dreadful week following the Lord's defeat, in which Giles publicly spoke out against the criticism that had been levelled at England, the left-arm spinner took 3-78.
Giles: Agnew's player of the day
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He started by removing Ricky Ponting, who chipped a sweep to backward square leg for 61, then Giles had Michael Clarke caught behind for 40 and finished with the wicket that would have given him the most pleasure when he bowled Shane Warne for eight.
Each wicket was celebrated wildly as Giles was mobbed by his team-mates and his home crowd rose to their feet.
Having been told by the Australians that he would be targeted, and was most unlikely to see out the series, it was a triumph.
KEY MOMENT
Damien Martyn's unnecessary run out on the stroke of lunch gave England the opening they were after.
It was an excellent throw on the run by Michael Vaughan which hit the stumps direct, but not only was it a needlessly risky run with the interval only one ball away, but Martyn was also strangely casual about making his ground.
A score of 118-2 became 118-3, and England went into the interval with their confidence sky-high.
Once again, seasoned Test match watchers were left scratching their heads in bewilderment at a dismissal that one simply couldn't imagine happening 10 years ago.
TALKING POINT
The effect that Glenn McGrath's injury could have on the series continues to provide the main topic of conversation at Edgbaston.
England's batsmen seem to have an entirely different approach at the crease, and while they will have been urged to play their natural, attacking game in the build-up to this match, many observers believe that McGrath's absence is also a factor.
If England do manage to level the series here, will it force Australia to change their favoured policy of playing only four bowlers at Old Trafford, and weaken their batting?
Suddenly new life has been breathed into this fight for the Ashes.
PROSPECTS FOR SATURDAY
England have a terrific opportunity to set up a series-levelling win.
Australia's attack looks worryingly profligate without McGrath and, even in the half an hour that they faced before the close of the second day, the batsmen showed that they are going to continue to bat positively.
But the delivery that Warne produced to bowl Andrew Strauss will have rung alarm bells. It pitched in the rough outside his off stump, and spun viciously, and Warne seems the man most likely to deny England.
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MMIX
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