Ricky Ponting's tantrum about England's time wasting is good news for Andrew Strauss and co. But can they take advantage of Australian nerves at Lord's? Ralph Ellis is optimistic.

There were two pivotal moments that swung the 2005 Ashes series in England's direction. The first was on the Saturday at Edgbaston when Freddie Flintoff came on to bowl a devastating spell of hostile pace and bounce that woke the Aussies up to the idea that he was a world class threat. The second, oddly enough also on a Saturday, was when Gary Pratt ran out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge.

It was the moment when Ponting lost his temper, stomped back to the dressing room muttering oaths at England's balcony and accusing coach Duncan Fletcher of gamesmanship. And even when he'd calmed down about getting himself out he went on grumbling about England's use of a specialist substitute fielder as their 12th man.

It meant that for a few crucial hours, Australia's captain lost his focus on the bigger picture and just as importantly, England's players knew they had him rattled. The psychological balance of the whole series had swung.

So how much should we read into Ponting's fury at another example of England flirting with the spirit of the game. He called it "pretty ordinary" that Andrew Strauss sent out 12th man Bilal Shafayat with drinks and gloves - and then went back again to clean some spilt orange juice off the first pair of gloves - as England played for time on Sunday night in Cardiff. It was cricket's equivalent of tumbling down injured when you are 1-0 up with five minutes to go in a football match, or running the ball to the corner flag, or sending on a substitute to replace the guy on the far side of the pitch in the second minute of injury time. And it was exactly what Ponting would have done in the same situation - and indeed did do four years ago at Old Trafford when it was Australia who were clinging on to force a draw.

So the fact he's let it get under his skin should tell Struass and his players that they've taken a significant advantage away from a match that was otherwise a disaster area. They know now that Australia's captain, for all his confident chat, and the magnificent authority of his batting in the first Test, is actually a bag of nerves at the fear of losing the Ashes not just once but twice.

The question is whether England's players have the strength to cash in on it this time, just as they did in 2005. And whether they have the player who can produce the sort of Saturday afternoon spell that Flintoff came up with back then.

Fred himself is a doubtful starter for Lord's on Thursday with another knee injury, bringing Steve Harmison back into the line-up. To be honest that's a good selection even if, by some miracle of dogged determination, Flintoff declares himself fit. Lord's will be a wicket for pace and swing, and Cardiff proved that, without Harmison, England don't have a genuine fast man.

England are a tasty [5.3] to come up with a win at Lord's and at that price I'm tempted to have a punt. The weather forecast suggests there will be swing for Jimmy Anderson, and surely the top order can't bat as recklessly again - especially Kevin Pietersen. A price of [4.6] for him to be England's first innings highest scorer looks value too.

Five things you might not know about Gary Pratt

1. He won the Denis Compton award as the most promising player at Durham in 1999

2. He made 150 for Durham against Northants in 2003 - the same season he scored more than 1,000 first class runs

3. By 2005 his form had collapsed and he didn't play in a single first class game - other than his involvement in that controversial Trent Bridge run-out

4. Cricket wasn't the only sport he never quite realised his potential at. As a youngster he played centre forward for Sheffield Wednesday's youth team

5. He's just sold his part share in a warehouse business to go into property development

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