Who could have believed it? When Sri Lanka last played a one-day series against England they thrashed them. Since then, Sri Lanka have gone on to play in the final of the Cricket World Cup while England were, frankly, embarrassing. So England go out to Sri Lanka on tour, and everyone anticipates another thrashing. Not so. Colly and the boys have wrapped up a series win by going 3-1 up with one game to play. Sri Lanka will doubtless bemoan the absence of Murali, but then England are missing Flintoff, so no excuses there. Just goes to show what you can do with a bunch of enthusiastic youngsters who haven’t just been handed a thorough whipping by Australia.

The Bearded Wonder, in his latest column for the BBC web site, alerts me to the fact that Mark Ramprakash has averaged over 100 for a second season. This is a phenomenal achievement. The reasons why Ramps hasn’t played more for England are doubtless varied and complex, but there’s no doubt that he’s one of the best batsmen in world cricket. Many other countries would be glad to have him.

Of course what Bearders was asked was whether anyone else had achieved the same feat. And one man has: the inimitable Geoffrey Boycott. We’ll politely gloss over any questions comparing how long the two men took to score their runs.

A small piece of good news on the cricket front. Darrell Hair has dropped his ridiculous racial discrimination suit against the ICC. Presumably it became obvious to him that he wasn’t going to win, and he thought better of spending any more money on lawyers. Hopefully that’s the last we’ll hear of that, and with any luck the last we’ll hear of Mr. Hair.

Ha! Who says cricket is boring? I don’t have any fingernails left. And now you know why I call Warnie “god”. He’s a damn sight better at miracles than any of those beardy guys.

Bottom line: Australia never stopped believing that they could win; England never quite believed that they could.

Predictions for Perth: Watson in for Martyn. That should strengthen both the batting and bowling for Australia. England will blame everything on Geraint Jones, replacing him with Reed, and will “show faith” with the rest of the side.

A quick look at some statistics is in order so as to put what Collingwood and Pietersen achieved yesterday in context. Cricket has various ways of categorizing partnership records: who the batsmen were playing for, who they were playing against, which wicket was involved, where it happened and so on. Colly and KP put on 310 for the 4th wicket against Australia in Adelaide.

In terms of all time English records, they were a long way behind. In particular the largest ever partnership by English batsmen was also for the 4th wicket: 411 put on by Colin Cowdrey and Peter May against West Indies in Birmingham in 1957. However, in terms of England-Australia matches, it is a clear 4th wicket record, eclipsing the 288 set by Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe in 1997. It is also, by quite a long way, the highest partnership made by either side for any wicket in Adelaide.

Collingwood’s 206 is also a significant achievement. Only seven other men have scored 200 for England against the Aussies. Wally Hammond did it four times, but that’s great batsmen for you, and Australians will doubtless point to Bradman’s six double centuries and two triple centuries.

And finally, the last time that England made more than 500 against Australia was in 1986 in Perth. That match was drawn. A fine captain’s innings by Allan Border allowed Australia to avoid following on – something I’m sure Ricky Ponting is aware of.

Well, that was better. The first two sessions were horribly slow, but once KP and Collingwood got together England started to look like a side that could win a test match. Hopefully they’ll weather the conditions early on Day 2 and can go on to post a respectable score (500+). Batting conditions are not going to get any better. They might just get worse, although probably in ways that only Panesar can exploit effectively. I suspect a draw is the most likely outcome, but you never know. Over five days, the balance of the game can change many times.

Normal service is resumed. Australia wrapped up the match before lunch in a very cool and professional manner. Having KP go in the first over was a bit of a disappointment, entertainment-wise, but so it goes. Now all of the attention focuses on Adelaide on Friday (or Thursday afternoon for those of us in the USA). And the talk is, of course, about selection.

Australia, I’m sure, could go into the match with the same team full of confidence, but if they do want to make changes, here are the obvious ones. In: McGill, Watson; Out: Martyn, Clarke.

England desperately need to make changes, but have a distinct shortage of talent to choose from. What they should do is this. In: Panesar, Mahmood; Out: Giles, Anderson.

You are, of course, free to disagree.

What a difference a day makes. Late on day 3, Australia had a chance to enforce the follow-on and thoroughly humiliate a demoralized England. By tea on day 4 Ponting was off the field with a bad back and the English batsmen, Pietersen and Collingwood, were looking remarkably comfortable. KP in particular has taken the attack to the Australians, smashing Warne all over the place and walking calmly down the pitch to try to put McGrath off his length. The Australian commentators were seriously impressed. That’s how they like to see the game played. (I shudder to think what Boycott was saying on the Sky commentary. Probably something like, “Oooh, ‘ee shudn’t be playin’ like thaat. ‘Ee mite get aaht. Jus’ leave th’ ball, lad.”)

Of course there is another game to play, and God is slowly whittling away at the England batting order. He got Collingwood and Flintoff late in the day. He only needs to add Jones the Gloves to his list of victims and he’ll have the England tail at his mercy. There’s also a new ball due first thing in the morning, which will help McGrath. But there is rain forecast. Actually the forecast says “storms”, which in Queensland means dumping an entire day’s worth of rain in half an hour. It may not last long, but the outfield will be swimming afterwards. England now have a real chance of stealing a draw. If Australia had enforced the follow-on the game would probably be over by now.

The commentators are talking animatedly about rain being forecast for tomorrow. This is a situation English batsmen understand: bat until the rain saves you. If it does happen, the failure to enforce the follow-on will come back and bite poor old Punter.

Well it should be just about all over by now. Had Australia enforced the follow-on, England would be several wickets down and still several hundred runs behind. As it is, Langer and Ponting are getting some batting practice and entertaining the crowd. Presumably serious play will resume some time tomorrow.

The one thing this does do is stop the English media complaining that they lost because of the pitch. Batting looks as easy now as it did at the start of day one.

Why are Australia not enforcing the follow-on? They have enough runs on the board to bowl England out twice more over and still win. Has someone told Punter that his pay will be docked if the match doesn’t go into the fifth day? They can’t possibly be scared of the English batting, can they? (And let’s face it, a team of blind, arthritic koalas wouldn’t be scared of the English bowling the way they performed on Thursday.)

Another near perfect day for Australia. Punter falling just short of 200 is the only real disappointment for them. Harmison and Anderson were less bad today, and it was good to see Hoggard get some reward for all of his hard work, but now that the Australian bowlers have had a chance to show what they can do the failings of England’s attack become all the more obvious. Right now it looks more like a game of Christians & Lions than a game of cricket, but when the lions are that good you can’t help but admire them.

Not only can I watch the whole of the Ashes series live online, I also get highlights. DirectTV has this neat interactive scorecard system. Click on a batsman’s name and you’ll get his wagon wheel chart. Click on how he was out and you’ll get video of the event. And click on how many runs he scored and you’ll get replays of each scoring shot. They’ve thought about how digital TV can radically improve the viewing experience. I’m impressed.

It has been Australia’s day. From winning the toss through to ending the day on 364-3, nothing has gone wrong for them. England, in contrast, were disappointing. Harmison and Anderson were poor, and Hoggard was never going to get the conditions he needed in Brisbane (Adelaide may be another matter). The most significant action of the day, however, game in the final hour when KP got a couple of deliveries to bounce and turn sharply, beating Hussey quite comprehensively. If a part-time spinner like Pietersen can do that, goodness only knows what Warnie will do.