Financial Times FT.com

Appalling England need an Ashes miracle

By Matthew Engel

Published: August 7 2009 20:33 | Last updated: August 7 2009 20:33

If (or more likely now, when) Australia retain the Ashes, this will have been the crucial day.

In four hours of bizarre cricket, Australia took total command of the Leeds Test. The weekend forecast is fine and, if England avoid defeat, it will make their miraculous victory that took place here in 1981 look like a mundane piece of stagecraft.

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