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Sydney: Australia's press on Saturday virtually wrote off their team's chances of retaining the Ashes after a sensational batting collapse in the final Test against England at The Oval.
Pacer Stuart Broad re-ignited England's hopes with a five-wicket burst on Friday's second day to dismiss the Australians for 160, representing a first-innings deficit of 172 runs.
By stumps England had extended their lead to 230 runs after closing on 58 for three with three more days scheduled in the match.
After claiming first day honours, the Australian media did a complete backflip, and were resigned to defeat on what many pundits claimed was a "dodgy" Oval pitch.
"Fourteen years of world domination is in danger of crumbling with the Oval pitch," The Australian's Malcolm Conn said.
"Only something very special, or days of unforecast rain, can prevent Australia losing the fifth Test, the Ashes and ultimately tumbling as low as fourth on the official world Test rankings.
"A loss will leave Ricky Ponting, one of Australia's greatest players and most successful leaders, just the second captain in 132 years of Ashes history to lose two series in England."
The other was Australia's first touring captain, Billy Murdoch, well over 100 years ago.
The Daily Telegraph said England may already have enough runs to bowl Australia out in the fourth innings on a deteriorating Oval pitch.
"Australia may be only a day or two away from handing over the Ashes after a shocking batting collapse of 10-87 on a dodgy and dusty pitch," the paper's Ben Dorries said.
"It now appears only a miracle -- or rain -- will allow Australia to cling onto the Ashes after they were skittled."
Dorries said Australia's bowlers pinched some momentum late in the day when England went to stumps at 58 for three in their second innings.
"But the bottom line is England lead by 230 runs on a pitch which is rapidly deteriorating and will prove an absolute nightmare for Australia to bat on in the fourth innings. The lead may already be enough."
Conn said rarely have statistics been more meaningless than on this Ashes tour.
"They say Australia has dominated England with bat and ball these past two months. Australia's batsmen have four of the top five run-scores and the three leading wicket-takers," he said.
"But in the end, it's not the big numbers that matter but the big moments and Stuart Broad has never had a bigger moment in his short career."
The Sydney Morning Herald's cricket columnist Peter Roebuck slammed the preparation of The Oval pitch.
"Although they are loath to admit it, England ordered and prepared a dodgy deck," Roebuck wrote.
"As it turned out the talk about producing a typical Oval pitch was all smoke and mirrors."
Former Test leg spinner Shane Warne said the ground curator had gone overboard in preparing the strip.
"What he's done is overbake it a little bit to make sure there's a result," the Herald quoted Warne as saying. "Generally it's a good cricket wicket, what I've seen here it's a late day three, early day four pitch now."
ABC radio commentator Jim Maxwell said: "Australia will be chasing an improbable fourth innings total unless England collapse as spectacularly as the tourists did on Friday."
