Close - England 40 for 1 (Trescothick 20*, Butcher 11*) need 169 runs to make Australia bat again
In west London people defied the weather to enjoy the Notting Hill carnival. But in south London, the rain was the victor as it completely washed out the final two sessions of play at The Oval. Only one side were wearing their galoshes with pleasure - England. The elements are their best defence against a 4-1 scoreline.

They started the day needing 33 runs to avoid the follow-on and for the first few overs Mark Ramprakash and Darren Gough seemed as sure as they had on Saturday evening. Shane Warne was rolling his wrist around every trick in the book, but England were reading him like a holiday novel. Gough produced immaculate defensive shot after immaculate defensive shot, though he was lucky to survive an lbw appeal in Warne's second over.

They had added 15 between them this morning when Ramprakash pushed his luck, flayed at a rising delivery from McGrath, and was easily taken by Adam Gilchrist for 133. That brought in Phil Tufnell, full of the confidence that an average of 2.6 against Australia brings.

But, scorning the English doubters, he produced a back-foot drive off McGrath and an up-and-over lofted drive off Shane Warne. And when Steve Waugh dropped Gough, it seemed that the gods just might be on England's side. But then Gough's old mucker Warne flummoxed him and he was stumped by Gilchrist. It was Gilchrist's 100th dismissal.

Steve Waugh took one look at the overcast conditions and England were following-on.

Mike Atherton is not a sentimental man, but even he might have dreamt of a hundred today. It is widely rumoured that he will retire after this Test, and the crowd seemed to think so too. When, inevitably, so inevitably, he edged McGrath for 9 (falling to him for a world-record 19th time) the crowd, the Australians and Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart applauded him with real fondness. Athers looked as moved as he was ever going to - offering a bashful bat to the Oval crowd.

Mark Butcher and Marcus Trescothick attacked when they could but when the umpires offered the light and an early lunch they were only too eager to head for the sanctuary of the dressing-room. They didn't poke their heads out again for the rest of the day. England need 169 to make Australia bat again. Or, as Steve Waugh would doubtless say, they have three sessions to survive tomorrow.

Tanya Aldred is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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