Australia have a slight edge after the second day of the Sydney Test after England predictably collapsed with the bat again only for their bowlers to reduce the Aussies to 188 for four at the close.

Commencing at 234 for four, England’s batting unravelled under some classy Australian bowling as they lost their last six wickets for 57, turning their promising start on day one into a below-par 291. The tail failed miserably again with the bottom five batsmen contributing just four runs between them.

Only captain Andrew Flintoff provided any real resistance in what was undoubtedly his finest innings of the series but was dismissed for 89 attempting a big hit as support at the other end dried up.

Justin Langer, who had the yips in the field, dropping three catches, looked more comfortable with a bat in his hand, racing to a near run-a-ball 26 before he was caught behind trying to flick away a leg-side delivery from James Anderson.

Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting then settled to the task to pressing home the Australian advantage, seeing the total to 100 before Hayden caught the edge slashing at a wide Steve Harmison delivery. The Australians started to look shaky and soon found themselves three down when captain Ricky Ponting was run out after a direct hit from Anderson.

Michael Clarke couldn’t reproduce any of his heroics from earlier in his Ashes campaign as he was dismissed for 11, the victim of a superb rising Harmison delivery. After a poor first spell, Harmison responded well in the final session to take two wickets, although in the case of the Hayden dismissal the batsman was more responsible for his downfall than the bowler. The Durham quickie used his height and pace well to extract some good bounce of the SCG pitch which offered a bit to the fast bowlers.