Today was epic theatre, with two differing characters elevating the subplots to centre stage. Shane Warne, blond, brash and brassy, became the first Australian to reach 400 Test wickets - and is the only bowler to take more than one wicket in this Test. And Mark Ramprakash, dark, shy and classy, showed his team-mates that patience really is a virtue, ticking off the personal landmarks with every cathartic flash of the blade. Warne was at his beguiling best on a pitch that had defeated every other bowler bar the exceptional Glenn McGrath, who went for two an over when everyone else leaked four or more. Warne's success stemmed from his textbook reading of the pitch. Where Phil Tufnell tossed it up, Warne bowled a flatter trajectory, as if desperate to land the ball on a scuffed-up wicket as soon as possible.

Not that he was one-dimensional. In fact, each of his five wickets today was taken with a different sort of ball: there was the slider (Marcus Trescothick); the one that dipped late (Mark Butcher); the classic legbreak (Alec Stewart); the top-spinner (Andy Caddick); and the quicker leggie (Jimmy Ormond). Every time he reached into his magic box, another trick came out.

But Ramprakash prevented Warne from completely stealing the show. His secret was a well-conceived and well-executed gameplan. While three of England's other batsmen failed to convert fifties in anything bigger, Ramps refused to budge, essentially by making the bowlers bowl to him. Ducking anything short - he may be the only player on either side to ignore the pull and the hook more than the Waugh twins - he sucked the bowlers towards his stumps and duly survived off a tasty diet of drives through cover, extra-cover and mid-off.

He also rammed home his underrated ability to build partnerships, adding 89 with Afzaal, 58 with Stewart, 38 with Ormond and an unbroken 59 with Gough. That heave-ho at Trent Bridge has clouded the issue, because although Ramprakash had failed to move past 42 in the series before today, he had already shared in four stands of fifty or more: 96 with Butcher (Lord's), 56 with Mike Atherton (Trent Bridge), 78 with Stewart and the matchwinning 75 with Butcher (both at Headingley). He also smashed his previous Test best in England (69* against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1999) and his best against the Aussies (72 at Perth in 1994-95). Forget that career average (26.51 before today) and just savour the class. He should now get what he deserves - an extended run in England's middle order, even when Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan return from injury this winter.

It's not often that the main plot is left waiting in the wings, especially when the game has so far yielded 1050 runs in 250 overs at a catch-your-breath rate of 4.2. And of the 16 batsmen in the match so far, only Caddick (0) has failed to reach double-figures.

All of which means that England are in with a chance of saving the game. The follow-on will probably not be enforced even if England fail to make the 33 runs they need tomorrow morning, so it looks likely that they will have to bat out the final day against Shane Warne. That's assuming Ramprakash and Gough don't knuckle down tomorrow. In Murali's match here in 1998 the two of them batted for 145 minutes on that fraught final afternoon and almost saved the game. Another two hours or so tomorrow and England could end up saving face.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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