Close Australia 492 and 111 for 2 lead England 325 (Trescothick 72, Crawley 69*, Butcher 54, Hussain 51, McGrath 4-87) by 278 runs
Scorecard

Before this match all the talk was of Shane Warne's return to peak fitness and form, not to mention his liking for Brisbane, but it was the old firm of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie who left England gasping for air on the third day at the Gabba.

McGrath took two wickets in an over early on, and then he and Gillespie wreaked havoc with the second new ball in a crucial and probably decisive passage of play. England, at one stage 268 for 3, were all out for 325, and by the close Australia had scurried to 111 for 2 - a lead of 278. England fought hard again, but this match will take a deal of saving.

Before the start there was a doubt as to whether Gillespie would bowl at all because of a tight calf, but he did so feistily to take 2 for 51, while McGrath (4 for 87) was as inevitable and irresistible as ever.

For England, the problem was an old one: four of their top five reached 50, but none managed more than Marcus Trescothick's 72. Contrast that with Australia's first innings, when the two front-line batsmen who got in stayed in and posted centuries.

It all started so well for England when Trescothick rifled McGrath down the ground twice in the second over of the day. But four overs later their demise began, as Mark Butcher flashed loosely and was taken by Matthew Hayden in the gully for 54 (170 for 2). That was McGrath's 100th Ashes wicket, and he had to wait only five balls for No. 101. Trescothick prodded at a ball he didn't really need to play at, and Ricky Ponting at second slip took a simple catch (171 for 3).

Nasser Hussain and John Crawley regrouped solidly in an increasingly confident fourth-wicket partnership of 97, although Hussain rode his luck: on 12 he was dropped by Ponting at silly point, and six runs later he pad-gloved Warne to short leg but was given not out.

A flicked pull over long leg took Hussain from 45 to 51, but off the last ball of the same over Gillespie produced a snorter that bounced and left Hussain, who could only snick it through to Adam Gilchrist (268 for 4).

In Gillespie's next over Alec Stewart dragged on as he tried to pull his bat away at the last moment (270 for 5). The reflexes aren't as sharp as they used to be, and Stewart – like his opposite number Gilchrist - was gone second ball for 0. Unlike Gilchrist, this was Stewart's fifth duck in his last 17 Ashes innings. The Gaffer doesn't like the Gabba either: that made it 70 runs in seven innings.

Craig White was next to go for 12, padding up on length to a nip-backer from McGrath that clipped the off bail (283 for 6), before Andy Bichel had Ashley Giles and Andy Caddick caught in the cordon – seven of England's nine batsmen perished that way – in consecutive overs. With Simon Jones unable to bat, the innings came to an end when Warne finally got his first wicket, Matthew Hoggard caught in the gully.

As wickets fell around him, Crawley ploughed on sensibly to his first first-innings Ashes fifty for eight years and 11 Tests. He scored over three-quarters of his runs on the leg side, but the champagne moment was an emphatic cover-drive off Gillespie. In the end he was left high and dry on 69, but he had silenced a few critics in both England and Australia.

Armed with a lead of 167, the Aussies joyously applied boot to windpipe. Justin Langer raced to 22 before he got stuck in the crease pushing at Caddick and was caught behind (30 for 1), and four overs later Ricky Ponting (3) edged a spiteful delivery off the shoulder of the bat to first slip (39 for 2). But that was it: Hayden picked up where he left off, while Damien Martyn broke free of his first-innings shackles in a pleasant knock. Both were 40 not out at the close.

With Australia again going along at around four an over, England are likely to have to bat for the best part of five sessions to save this match. And if that wasn't bad enough, the cracks are getting wider by the minute, and Warne has unfinished business from the first innings. It all adds up to a heavy defeat around lunchtime on the final day.

Rob Smyth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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