Warne Pays Tribute to a 'fantastic, Good Guy'

The even better news for England is that Andrew Flintoff should be fine for the next Test. 'I thought my arm was going to come off,' he said about his cut shot at Shane Warne. 'I had some painkillers at lunch and it was uncomfortable for half an hour.' But the subsequent evidence suggests it is OK. He could smash sixes and bowl at 90 mph.

Flintoff, speaking with his usual self-effacement, said: 'That was probably my best day in Test cricket, performance-wise and in terms of enjoyment. The crowd was great, like a twelfth man. That last-wicket stand was important since it shifted the momentum back into our dressing room.

'I was still buzzing when I came on to bowl and I just ran in and bowled as quick as I could. And it started to reverse swing, which helped. That first over was probably the best I've bowled. I may have been fortunate to get [Justin] Langer off his body and bat.'

But the rest of the deliveries against Ponting were awesome, smacking him on the pads. 'Then,' said Flintoff, 'I thought I would swap it around to see if it would go the other way.' It did, at great pace, and Ponting was gone. He added that the wicket of Adam Gilchrist, whom he caught at mid-on, was 'crucial'.

Flintoff stressed: 'We should not get ahead of ourselves. There are still two wickets to take.' But the dressing room was 'buoyant', he added.

Warne has not conceded defeat: 'The beautiful thing about cricket is that you never know what's going to happen when you walk through the gate.' But 'it was obviously a disappointing day', even though he has taken 10 wickets in the match and his 599th in Test cricket.

'Freddie was fantastic,' he said. 'It's nice to see Freddie do well; he is one of the good guys of cricket. He's special - the "go to" man for England with bat and ball. England have executed their plans very well here. You haven't heard from me how we are going to thrash them. But we will fight all the way.'

Yet even Warne, who loves the symmetry of going back to Old Trafford where it all began against England on 599 wickets, recognised that Australia were likely to pitch up at his favourite hunting ground with the series level.