England are in trouble in Cardiff after tons from Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting. Can their bowlers get them back into the game? Ed Hawkins is in front of the telly to find out. Email him at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk

CLOSE 18.45 Aus 479-5
The rain has returned. It could be a common sight for tomorrow at least. Not sure we can call that a full session given we had only nine overs. I will mull over that tonight and fill you in tomorrow with the updated session scoreline. Australia lead by 44 runs and only they can win the game. In their hotel rooms tonight England's players will watch the weather forecast and hope for rain. They will probably get it.

WICKET 18.32 Aus 474-5
The lights are on and everybody's gone home. The SWALEC stadium looks pretty empty for this floodlit finish. Just to report back on Flintoff's speed, he varied between 85 and 87. That is fair enough and clearly his 90mph -plus burst he produced on day two was adrenalin-fuelled. Hang about, for the first time this series a wicket has fallen as I type. It is Michael Clarke who has gone for 83. Stuart Broad has taken the wicket and Clarke's wait for a century in England will go on. Broad banged one in short and Clarke gloved it behind. Brad Haddin is the new man.

18.14 Aus 439-4
The lights are on but nobody's at home. Do you get it? Eh? The lights (floodlights) and neither England or Australia are at home (ie the venue). Lovely stuff. Andrew Flintoff has resumed with the ball. I'll get the jotter out to check his speed for his second over because before the rain we were wondering whether his pace had suffered a dip.

18.08 Aus 439-4
I was almost certainly spewing nonsense when suggesting this could be the first test under lights anywhere. I don't know what came over me. After a two-year probationary period, the International Cricket Council made it mandatory in May 2001, at grounds where floodlights are available, to switch them on to enable play to continue where bad light would normally bring a halt. This is the first time it's happened in this country, though

17.50 Aus 463-4 RAIN
Potentially we could play until 19.30. Meanwhile, play is scheduled to begin at 18.15 and it looks as though the lights will be switched on to allow that to happen. That will be a first in this country: floodlit Test cricket. It may even be a first globally.

17.14 Aus 463-4 RAIN
The covers have gone back on, which puts paid to that scheduled restart.

16.56 Aus 463-4 RAIN
Nasser Hussain, bless him, is no punter. He appears chuffed with his one pound even money bet with Mike Atherton Bookmakers Ltd that Mike Hussey will finish as Australia's top series runscorer. Someone really should tell him about Betfair, where a minimum £2 bet would have done much more work for him at odds of [5.40].

16.43 Aus 463-4 RAIN
We shall restart at 17.05. By the way, time can be made up here at Cardiff because the captains agreed in their pre-series pow-wow that the floodlights can be used.

16.28 Aus 463-4 RAIN
A wave of contentment has just washed over me. I am going to have a jam sandwich. It is a sentence not to be sniffed at because I am out of biscuits and I was beginning to feel peculiar at the prospect of a lack of nibbles. I think it has stopped raining, by the way, at what is, officially, the wettest Test ground in the UK. That's another good reason why this Test should not have been played in Cardiff. I'm hoping we'll get play soon because I suspect Andrew Flintoff's pace was down markedly just before play was interrupted. I had pen and jotter ready to record his speeds.

16.12 Aus 463-4 RAIN
On the subject of weather, it's raining. The draw immediately plummets to [1.32].

16.02 Aus 459-4
"Forget the weather," says Sir Ian Botham. "Might turn up, might not." Er, if it's all the same with you Sirloin of Beef I'll remember it. Otherwise I would be having my mortgage on Australia and although weather forecasters have an unwarranted reputation in this country as being complete guessers, they can't possibly have got it this wrong. Just take a look at the breakdown throughout the day. It means that the draw could well hit [1.20] tomorrow and Australia's price will only drift.

15.44 Aus 458-4
That is tea. Australia dominant. They have scored 110 runs in that session for the loss of no wickets. Ominous for England. At this very, very early stage of the series (there's still seven weeks to go) it would appear Australia have been underrated for this series.

15.37 Aus 454-4
We are approaching the tea interval. Michael Clarke has 68 and Marcus North 47. Australia must be delighted with their work so far. If they continue at their run rate for the innings of 3.54, Australia will have 566 by the end of today's play. That would be a lead of 131. No matter what the weather does tomorrow, such a lead would have to put England in game saving mode. The hosts will hope it chucks it down. If it rains for half the day, then England could be panicked and demoralised in equal measure. They would know they couldn't win but a defeat would be a very real possibility.

15.22 Aus 434-4
Australia, who will lead on first dig, are on the verge of taking a 4-3 session advantage (and are [3.30] on the match odds). Yet the former doesn't quite do it in terms of their dominance. They have looked different class to England. Their bowlers have swung it, their spinner turned it. And their batsmen, well, they gave the English a lesson in how to make it count when set. Ricky Ponting's 150 not only solidified his reputation as a great but also highlighted how far Kevin Pietersen is from being labelled the same. They are at the other end of the spectrum. The point is that a lot of punters would have backed England to win this series because of KP has this aura, this x-factor, a magical quality. He excites. Ponting doesn't quite do the same. Why? Because there is nothing flashy about him. He just gets the job done. Consistently. Few pundits have mentioned how important Ponting is to this Australia side because it is a given. As for the series, England have looked every decimal point the outsiders of the two sides. Australia are [1.72] from around the [1.95] mark for the Ashes and England are [3.85].

15.07 Aus 421-4
"In her short time as a weather presenter at Sky news she has informed viewers of weather extremes including the active and frequent hurricanes which affected the US last year". So says the biography for Lucy, Sky weather girl. Now don't get me wrong, I think she's a cracker but to boast that she correctly saw a ruddy great hurricane coming is a bit much. It's her job isn't it? It's like a lollipop lady bigging herself up that 'no child has ever been struck by a car on my watch ... except for that time in 1998 when that truck just came out of nowhere'.

15.02 Aus 416-4
Consecutive boundaries for Michael Clarke. The first took him to his 50. Well played, sire. An important innings because he came in when England had the momentum. Slowly but surely he has regained it (the momentum that is) for Australia.

14.51 Aus 403-4
It is with trepidation that I post. Our technical problems appear to have been sorted. Gosh, I'm going to type very gently and slowly just in case our precious system takes umbridge and decides to flounce off again. England have whoosed out alarmingly to around the [30.00] mark on the match odds market. It is the draw which is favourite at [1.52]. You didn't have to be a genius to work that out, though. We like to lay the draw here but are wary of the weather forecast, which is not good for tomorrow. Heavy showers say the forecasters. It would be irritating had such news been brought to us by anyone else other than the lovely Lucy from Sky weather. Between now and my next post I'm going to go away and cultivate a crush on her by searching for images of her on the web. Gosh, I hope it doesn't get out of hand.

14.42 Aus 402-4
It was Justin Langer who said England would be making a grave mistake if they thought two spinners would win them the Ashes. He might have been correct. Monty Panesar, despite taking the wicket of Ricky Ponting (150) and Graeme Swann have been about as much use as that work experience chap in the corner at your office (oh come on, we all know it's that time of year). Panesar has been too short, a consistent problem throughout his Test career while Swann's line and length has completely deserted him. To think he was supposed to be the trump card in comparsion to Nathan Hauritz. Hauritz turned it quite nicely in the first-innings. Why can he spin it but Swann can't? Well, Australian off spinners generally bowl much wider than English offies. Aussies look for the edge to slip or the keeper. Poms are going for leg befores or bat pads. The difference is because on hard Australian pitches, any rough that can be found in the footmarks has to be exploited. This Cardiff wicket has crumbled in the footmarks and that was why Hauritz got more turn. Perhaps England's spinners should try bowling wider.

14.05 Aus 360-4
A couple of things for your notebook for this Test and the rest of the series. Yesterday seasoned England watchers would have been surprised that Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad were consistently bowling at 90mph. However, today has been a different story. The pace of both men is down. It is important in Flintoff's case - fret not, home fans, we're not suggesting he's injured - because with the big allrounder comes a lot of hype. We can get caught up in that and be prone to put too much importance on a Flintoff spell if we think it'll be all 90mph thunderbolts. We might miss value because of it. We might take a price because of it. As for Broad he seems to be struggling with a calf injury. His 'fastest ball' pace is down by about 4mph. That doesn't sound a lot but to a batsman it makes all the difference. The margin between the middle or edge of the bat can be a fraction of a second.

13.00 Lunch report Aus 348-4
The gremlins are running amok. Frustrating. So let's sum up what we've seen so far. Had England failed to remove an Aussie this morning they could have kissed goodbye to taking a 1-0 lead. But they did better than that, claiming three wickets for 99 runs. They manoeuvred themselves back into the contest.
It was a good session for us punters, too. If you are new to cricket betting you should have learned how important the new ball is. Before England claimed their first wicket with the new rock, they were an almost-irrelevant [25.00]. Three wickets later and wandering off for their sandwiches they were [11.00].
Given they were the big market move we have to award the session to them, which makes it 4-3 so far in favour of Andrew Strauss' side.
Betting on the new ball It is such a easy way to make Test cricket pay because the market does not factor in that the likelihood of a wicket has just increased..
This morning was perfect for betting on England taking a wicket. Katich and Ponting were at the crease and although both had centuries, they were starting afresh. They were like new batsmen to the wicket.
That combo coupled with a swinging new ball meant that a back of England was the wise move. Fortunately it paid off. Sometimes it doesn't. But the key here is that it is the value call.

12.22 Aus 325-3
The gremlins have got out again. So much for that burly bloke with the keys. Let's see if I can post this...James Anderson has removed Michael Hussey. Another one that swung. Caught behind for 3

WICKET 11.54 Aus 299-2
Simon Katich has gone leg before to James Anderson. It swung. And England are into [20.00].

11.50 Aus 298-1
We have the game right here, right now (note I've hot used the utterly disgraceful 'game on' phrase). A vital spell for England with the new ball. Failure to make breakthroughs here and they could get dejected very quickly indeed. We're waiting to see if England are getting any shape on the ball and it is starting to come. They are [25.00] on the match odds and we could nibble that with a view to laying off if a wicket came.

11.36 Aus 289-1
England have taken the new ball. Relief for them, a bit like a fractious toddler having his comfort blanket returned to him after the wash. So will it swing? Not if you bang it in half way down it won't Stuart Broad. A pulled four from Ponting. Give it a few overs to allow England to work on a shiny side and get some sweat into the ball, though.

11.22 Aus 264-1
Much talk, as ever, about the pitch. There is a tendency from the English commentators and pundits to clutch at straws about the nature of the surface when their team is staring down the barrel. It is justified in Cardiff, however. Deliveries have disturbed the surface this morning which makes it almost inevitable that later on in the game, it is going to be extremely tricky to bat on because of variable bounce and turn for the spinners. All very well you may say, but will England still be in the game when that becomes key? Ah ha! That is the question, folks. Patience is their virtue with regard to coming to terms with the fact they may have to accept first-innings parity. Wickets wouldn't be a bad idea, either. They should get a chance of some when they take the new ball in three overs' time. For the reasons given above, it may be worth backing them at prices of [16.5] and rising. See the match odds market here

11.11 Aus 255-1
Sincere apologies yesterday for the gremlins which affected this blog. They are remarkably pesky creatures who spoil the fun for everyone. It's always a minority isn't it? No matter. They are under lock and key at Betfair towers apparently with a burly-looking man standing guard outside, swinging a large bunch of keys on a chain with a look on his face that says 'see these keys? That's responsibility'. Indeed it is my friend. Indeed it is.

11.00 Aus 249-1
Morning all. Feeling slightly weary this morning by virtue of a disappointing night's sleep. I awoke at three and then couldn't go off again, running Ashes scenarios through my mind. But that is the price one pays for such a big series. Just imagine what it must be like for Andrew Strauss? The man must be a relative zombie this morning. Huh! Some of you will say he was a relative zombie yesterday with his field placing, but I think that might be a bit harsh. England will resume aware that another day like yesterday and it's likely none of them will sleep for a week. They go off at a whopping [13.50] with Australia [3.50] and the draw [1.60].

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