Ominously for an England side staring at a second heavy defeat in two Tests, Ricky Ponting was far from content despite his latest Test century on the third day at Adelaide.

"It's certainly very satisfying coming off having made 150," said Ponting, "but I still wasn't over the moon with the way I hit the ball. I probably didn't hit it that well this game, there were a lot of mis-hit shots and things, but I occupied the crease and it was probably that sort of wicket where it was hard to time every ball and hit the middle of the bat all the time."

Statistically, Ponting is in the prime of his career. From a career-low average of 33.00 before the start of his prolific run of scores, he has bumped his average up to 49.31. His 14th Test century was as much a testament to patience as talent, taking almost six hours and including only nine boundaries. It was less commanding than some of his previous centuries, but satisfying nonetheless.

"It's always nice to score a Test match hundred, especially in an Ashes series, so I was very happy but it was a lot of hard work, even with the mistimed shots that went into it," said Ponting. "So it wasn't the best innings I've played, but the end result was pretty good."

England's only high point of the day came courtesy of Craig White, who picked up 4 for 106, his best Test return for two years. He also created something of a stir in his family circles, by dismissing his brother-in-law, Darren Lehmann.

"It was a strange situation," said White. "Obviously, it's Test cricket, I'm trying to get him out and he's trying to hit me for runs, but I just like to know how my sister was feeling at the time. It's quite funny."

White, who is Yorkshire-born but played for Victoria between 1990 and 1994, admitted he dared not look at Lehmann when he first came to the crease to bat. "I try not to look at him .... because he'll just make me laugh."

White was less upbeat about England's prospects on the final day. "It's not an ideal situation for us losing three wickets at the end," he conceded. "The people who got out are pretty down, but we've all got to front up tomorrow, it's another day and we've got to try to stay positive because we have a massive challenge ahead of us."

England lost their last eight wickets in the first innings for 96 runs, with White contributing just a single.

"We have got a bit of batting to come. You can only do your best and try to save the Test match. They've proved they are the best team in the world and all we can do is try and compete against them."

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd