Verdict

Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds circled like alpha males when they first met in the Queensland squad. Today they hugged so hard that two animals further down the food chain would have collapsed in the crush

For someone derided by many as a quota selection when he made his debut nearly five years ago, Ashwell Prince has come a long way on a road that has been anything but straight and smooth

Kevin Pietersen is not the type of chap who likes to appear foolish, but increasingly in this series he is being made to look it. Not through any apparent fault of his own, I hasten to add, (the odd ill-advised sweep shot notwithstanding) but by proxy

Winning the toss and batting on a pitch offering many bowling benefits required far more courage than England have shown on this tour

India's triumph at the Wanderers was worthy enough to rank alongside their most famous wins, writes Dileep Premachandran

In the end, resistance was futile. England's 463-day Ashes reign, the shortest in history, came to an end just two balls into the second session of the 15th day of this contest. In truth, it was over long before it had begun

Following the pain of the past 18 months Australia now have a chance to never let the Ashes go

After the one-day debacle, both players and coaching staff have worked like Trojans to put things right

At some stage tomorrow, Australia will recapture the Ashes, just 15 days into this latest contest, and just 15 months after surrendering them at The Oval last summer. Even so, England's performance today was a glimpse of a rosy future

Terry Jenner fears the over-bowling of Shane Warne could cut short his career and as Australia's drive for the Ashes was interrupted it was easy to see why

It won't have escaped Mickey Arthur's notice that the Indians used the new ball far better than South Africa did, pitching it fuller and hitting the seam consistently enough on a pitch that demanded it

Orderly queues snaked away from the water fountains as the temperature rose. At every interval the clever supporters sought any sort of shade

Officially, England have yet to surrender the Ashes. There is still a vain hope that their batsmen might keep the series alive beyond Christmas. A vain hope indeed

India will find the close-of-play score especially galling given how poorly South Africa bowled for vast stretches of the day

Buried deep in the jungle on the island of Utila, near Honduras, there exists a hulking great structure known as Duncan's Folly

Australia's plans for opposition batsmen have been so detailed in this series Ricky Ponting almost needs a dossier in the back of his whites to keep up. But despite the bulging digital library the home side is without a conclusive setting for Kevin Pieter

It was a measure of the expectations surrounding this Test that, the moment the toss had been won by Ricky Ponting this morning, a familiar Australian voice boomed around the press-box, announcing: "That's the Ashes sewn up then!"

Ricky Ponting failed and Australia's batting faltered. The captain has been in such imposing form with 447 runs in the first two Tests his dismissal almost sparked Bradmanesque cries of "he's out"

On a pitch that rewards accurate and intelligent pace bowling, the Indians should still go on and win this match. But success won't be able to deflect attention from the continued inability of the top-order batsmen to put decent scores on the board

What a waste. A decent Test series was developing over the first four days but it was ruined by two sessions of England negativity