Very very close, think he got the nod on the sympathy vote.

Upset they've taken Mitch off, was hoping he'd make his double century.

how ragged?

Lunch, 636-9, which equals our best ever score down under.

I really should go to bed.

All out for 644, our highest ever score in Australia.

Aussies need 364 to make us bat again.

Its taken me 10 minutes to stop laughing from that 1st wicket run out. Brilliant! Absolutely fantastic! The highest form of incompetence!

It's lovely to wake up and find we have a whole day (weather permitting) to get their last three batsmen out.

Pah! Len Hutton would have knocked that off on his own. These Aussies are hopeless.

Still 153 needed to avoid the innings defeat on the final day with just three wickets left.

What a day!

Great knock by Prior and the bolwers were superb. Sad to see Colly retire but it's the right time I think, been a big player for England and has helped hugely with our fielding improvements.

Bresnan has done well since he came into the side but I still feel Broad will come back in and Tremlett will keep his place. I think there are 5/6 options to replace Collingwood.

If they go like-for-like then it's got to be Bopara. If they go down the batsman route then Morgan has to be number 1 choice with the likes of Hildreth and Gale close behind. If they go bowling all-rounder then Bresnan has to be top of the list assuming Broad comes back into the side.

Interesting times ahead anyway.

Agreed. Much of the media seems to be painting it as a seamless transition with Bell moving up to 5 and Morgan coming in at 6, which to be honest is what I was thinking myself until recently. However, the biggest single weakness in the current team is the lack of support to the four specialist bowlers, and if Morgan were to replace Collingwood that particular issue would be more of a problem. (Imagine if one of the main bowlers pulled up injured on the first day against India's stellar batting line up?)

Another option would be to move Prior up to 6 and accommodate Broad, Bresnan & Swann at 7,8 & 9. Given the current form of the remaining top order batsmen I think that would be my personal preference. Otherwise I'd think about Adil Rashid as a batting all-rounder, in a similar way that Australia have introduced Steve Smith to their team. (Rashid's career batting average is better than Morgan's.)

I'd forgotten, like the selectors it seems, about Adil Rashid!!
He would be an ideal replacement for Collingwood.

It doesnt appear that England have been inconvenienced by playing 4 bowlers rather than 5. The only time we've struggled to keep the bowlers fresh was in the Aussies first innings in Brisbane and I dont think an extra bowler would have made much difference then.

It must be make or break for Rashid this year. If he really comes on both with bat and ball there could be a strong case for having him in as a 5th bowler. I've always though he has far more batting ability than Broad or Bresnan. Otherwise it seems a case of replacing Collingwood with Morgan and rotating 3 seamers + Swann.

Great to see us on the verge of 3-1 which would reflect the relative strengths of the two teams. I did worry that having secured the ashes we might let them nick a drawn series which would have been a travesty.

I just can't see England picking an alrounder. I think they will look for a batsmen as Collingwood bowls very little these days and they could alwyas use KP if desperate maybe?

Strauss, Cook, Trott, KP, Bell, Prior, Bresnan/Rashid, Broad, Swann, Tremlett, Anderson

Are there enough out and out batsmen in there? Yes we bat down to 9 but there are only 5 frontline batsmen. I don't feel Morgan is a good enough Test player to bat at 6, still a One Day player for me.

As Bumble said, get Bopara in to a winning team at 6 and let him do some damage. He can bowl some Collingwood-esque dibbly dobblers as well if need be.