I thought Hughes was right to replace MGP. MGP was pretty anonoymous in the second half and hardly threatening in the first. Whilst not to take anything away from one of the true stars on our books, MGP is still a long way from being a complete winger/midfielder. Bert on the other hand did get stuck in and involved and generally had an OK match. However, we saw the future this season when Bentley came on and the team gelled into a much more cohesive unit. In fact, Bentley was playing balls into the front line which Matty would have thrived on but Kuqui didn't have the speed of thought to get onto. I know Matty got little change out of the Bolton defense physically but his movement was drawing them all over the place- we just didn't have the guile to exploit it and that is down to Savage (who was playing the safe balls and retaining posession), MGP and Reid (who were both ordinary) and Bert (we all know about his limitations when it comes to selecting the right out ball). I'd just add that the Axe had a good game and did exactly what was needed of him dealing with the Bolton balls forward and that Nelsen was immense- as always.

Unfortunately you are correct- Rovers would have lost yesterday had we been without him.

The Opta stats on Savage at half time were stunningly good- way ahead of any other player in number of successful tackles, passes completed etc etc. When Bolton were getting on top during the first half, savage was the key difference in keeping it 0-0. The whinge to poll was about the stupid booking he'd just given Matteo. At that point Poll was giving everything and anything in favour of Bolton.

Decent enough point, Rovers coming stronger in the second half after a poorish first half. Graham Poll had ten minutes before half time when he gave everything to Bolton and booked Matteo and Savage- why? Encouraged by Zura and Bentley, Reid looked a notch below today. Kuqui just isn't a Prem player. Jansen's movement was back to the Jansen of old- shame nobody could get the ball to him. Potential costly comedy moments from our two Australians- Bert falling over the ball dribbling out of defence and sending it backwards to a Bolton forward on the edge of the area and Neill chosing a drven volley (woefully executed) when a defender's lob would have found the empty net. I'm happy with the point but could/should have been three.

The Australians took the light twice when offered. Presumably the light was a factor in the extremely dramatic Australian collapse today- five wickets going down for ten runs I think. Very likely that there will be no further play today.

The only conceivable way England can win this Test is if the Australians get them all out for around 220 and there is very little tim e lost to the weather. I can hardly see England making a sporting declaration which gives them a reasonable chance of bowling Australia out with the Ashes in the bag if they draw!

Two bad drops off Hoggard now- wonder if we are going to pay for this? With better light, all the Australians are doing now is wasting their own time to get England out. In the meantime, England tails are up.

With a theoretical maximum of 150ish overs remaining (call that 130 for weather interuptions) and Australia all but equal on the First Innings now, I guess England probably need to score about 260 in their innings to secure the Ashes irresspective of whether the Australian tail wags or not. That ought to be achievable.

Hayden gone- bit of a farce out there at the moment. It shows the sporting spirit of this series that England aren't bowling a succession of throat balls. Five down- we're in amongst them now. Hopefully we can rip the guts out of the Aussies in this stygian gloom. Cannot see an early Australian declaration as England would immediately take the offered light. Four wickets this morning and Australia still behind the English first innings total. Just about as good ass could have been hoped for.

Waggy, if you read the contributions from Lee in the young guns thread, you will realise how silly that comment is. It is worth pointing out that Jay got a full 90 minutes- albeit being shifted from left back to central defense in a losing team. The other three loanees were not judged good enough to get a full 90 minutes in any of the Championship teams they play for. Quite how that makes them good enough for Premiership starts puzzles me. Anyway, it is looking promising for the current crop of youngsters coming through.

According to this, Bolton are taking over Rovers' mantle as the main Lancastrian challengers to the Manchester and Liverpoool clubs. Nice motivational tool for Hughes.

I know the Scots are saying Zurab's a bit slow and weak in the air. Mind you, some of the Scots think Dado Prso is good and he was absolutely crap in Malta last Wednesday so you cannot trust a Sunday Pub Lunch view of the world. But this particular untried Rovers defender played Shekchenko out of an international match in his most recent full 90 minutes of football last week. Something Todd for sure couldn't do. (I think Shevchenko is World Footballer of the Year again but I might be mistaken). I'll go with Sparky's judgement on this one.

Weather forecast has changed again- showers for tomorrow and cloud on Monday. The sunny days are now expected to be Tuesday and Wednesday. Australia still 96 behind on first innings despite having two centurions with just two days left. Even though its a great track, England have created chances to take wickets. Tomorrow anything in the air has to stick and we'll just have to hope the borderline umpiring decisions go our way. Presumably Australia will have to be more attacking and that should give us more chance to take wickets. Martyn can't let all those Freddie "tempters" whistle outside the off stump if the Aussies want to post a troubling total. England need to keep the Aussies to a sub 500 total to avoid a major nervous sweat. If we can go into bat with the deficit around 100 or less, the Aussies will both have to defend against runs scored as well as attacking to get the wickets. It will be no good to the Aussies getting England all out late on Monday but needing to score at two runs a minute to retain the Ashes. Its all going to be about cool heads and watchfulness when England go into bat.

Assuming a 17.30 start and a full 90 minutes (unlikely), it is improbable that the Australians will have reached the England figure by close of play. However, it is getting important for England to take wickets now if a rearguard batting performance of heroic proportions is not going to be needed on Monday. Given the position they are in and the improving forecast for the next two days, I expect the Australians will come in if offered the light this evening.

Tea interval brought forwards 30 minutes to coincide with the nice weather in time honoured fashion.

This is heading towards a three innings match. After England posted their 373 total, its now to all intents and purposes one innings each spread over what will be weather-reduced to about two days and one session. With Australia starting after lunch at minus 200, England still need one really good session out of the seven available to wrap up the Ashes. That said, If Australia get to 250-0, I'll be getting nervous!

Woke up to the sound of a thunder storm. "Great" Then I remembered I was in Malta and not at home close to the Oval! Never mind the weather, England are realistically just one really good session (5 wickets or batting through a session without losing a wicket) away from regaining the Ashes. Remarkable lack of antipodean posts this morning. PS I was very heartened by the Guardian take on the Australians accepting the offer of bad light: "It shows there are two very nervous teams out there."

Hold on there Ozzie, the weather forecast for tomorrow has worsened according to the BBC. I know the ECB scheduling of this Ashes Test series could not conceivably have been kinder to the visitors but it could be this mid-September final Test at the Oval was a master-stroke after all. Still, perhaps a maximum of two and a half days for the Australians to overhaul a 260 deficit, build a lead and dismiss England is just about doable if they dominate every remaining session.

Great decision by the Australian batsmen to take the light- as an Englishmen, I warmly appreciate their decision to halt a partnership gathering a dangerous momentum.

Malta was basking in the glory of the 1-1 draw on the Victory Day (beating the Turks in 1565) yesterday. Also counting 70 people requiring stitches, three hospitalised, after the Croatin fans rioted following the equaliser. Only 500 Croatians travelled and 103 of them appeared in Court yesterday! Half their section of the stadium doesn't have any seating today. Anyway my match report is in the other Internationals thread. Dado Prso was horribly bad. Whilst talking about other countries, how bad are Wales? They now have the same points total as Malta. If anything, England played even worse and won against Wales than they did in losing to Northern Ireland. I know Sparky got criticised for some of the games Wales played under him but Wales league position at the moment shows how bad the squad is. Is SGE still the England manager by the way? Sack him now. As things stand at the moment, its pot luck of drawing one from Spain, Norway, Turkey, France and Slovakia for the World Cup play-off. Based on the last three "performances" the Prem can put back its fixture list to normal and the FA Cup should have replays again.

There will be shower interuptions on the week-end but I don't think they will amount to much. Bad light if there is cloud cover is likely to curtail play even if the spinners are operating. However, at worst, we are looking at a four and a half day test. As I have already said, I feared England would lose the Test and Ashes on Day 1. They haven't- it is still wide open. Now the battle is joined and England have survived a day of Warne bowling at the top of his ability, there is enough character (as well as ability) in this England team that they ought to make sure from here that Australia can only win if they produce one of the greatest performances of all time. All the tactical problems are with Australia even if they skittle the tail to reduce England to an all out total of sub 350. How do they approach the batting? The Aussies have been giving cheap wickets away this Series so do they go high tempo in the knowlege they are likely to see the wickets falling regularly or do they take advantage of the benign pitch and wait for the bad ones to hit? If I were them, I'd go for occupation of the crease knowing the runs will come. It might take until Sunday lunch (after shower breaks), but that is the surest way to force England to have to fight a rearguard action in their second innings. In contrast, for England this morning, a gung-ho swinging of the willow if one or more of the tail-enders get their eye in for an hour or so could all but put the Ashes out of reach. Warne gets the wickets but his stats also show he's there to be hit into the gas holders as well. Thus far, all the Aussie quickies have dissolved under the pressure of big hitting. I fear the tail will be told to be cautious and a sub-350 figure is inevitable.

I'd have been very happy to take 319-7 for today at start of play. It was absolutely certain that at least one Aussie bowler was going to produce something out of the top drawer. I was certain McGrath was going to bowl something like that immortal spell Michael Holding produced on a batting heaven at The Oval (8-52 I think) but Warne was yet again the man of the innings. I doubt we will get above 350 all out and expect we will be facing a first innings deficit. Whether it is a potential match losing deficit depends on England taking their chances- Australia took their's today. The Ashes are still in the balance. I feared we could have lost them today so on that basis, it was a decent day's work.

Neill back Todd out, shake it all about. Bolton losing home to Everton then winning away to West Ham probably confirms that Bolton are a tidy outfit this season headed for a finish around 8th. Beatable if you have a bit of class and steel but good enough to be sure to take all three points from teams with weaknesses. Question is, what are Rovers? Looks like being a markedly different line-up with two probable debutants and Bellamy starting again after the false start at Upton Park. Surely Rovers will play in both halves unlike the two previous away games but whether we have enough to take anything from the Reebok is a big test for Hughes. My bet is an encouraging performance in a 1-0 defeat and worrying glances at upcoming fixtures.

The more I think about this Test match, the more convinced I am that the Aussies will win. If they bat first, they will finally post a big score. Whenever they bowl, the Aussies (particularly McGrath) will be lethal. This is going to be a finger-nail chewing bad light and rain affected "can we hang on for the draw?" game for England. With Warne bowling and an England rearguard built for counter attack rather than blocking them out, the Ashes are going back to Australia.

Soccerbase- impressive. Now what nationality is Alan Shearer? Apart from the list not being complete, there are certainly five complete duds there who went for a combined £40m+