Melbourne, Dec. 28: England were on the verge of retaining the Ashes after feeble Australian batting left the fourth Test at their mercy on Tuesday. The tourists left the Australians with the huge task of either scoring 415 runs to make England bat again or lasting out eight sessions to secure a draw but the home team showed little fight after their opponents had amassed 513.
At the close, Australia were trailing England by 246 runs at 169 for six with Brad Haddin on 11 and Mitchell Johnson on six.
Seamer Tim Bresnan prised open the Australian top order in a mesmerising spell of three wickets in 18 balls to trigger the slide. Ricky Ponting’s grim struggle for runs ended after 101 minutes when he was bowled by Bresnan for 20.
The Australian skipper got an inside edge onto his stumps to continue a wretched series, having now scored just 113 runs at 16.14 and putting his distinguished 152-Test career in peril ahead of next week’s final Test in Sydney.