Australia battle to save Test

Having declared overnight to leave Australia facing a deficit of 521 and two days to survive to save the match, England reduced the tourists to 178 for five at tea on the fourth day to put themselves in sight of a famous victory.

But England's progress towards that win was helped by umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Doctrove, who made errors of judgment for three of the first four wickets to fall and accelerate Australia's decline towards their first Lord's Test defeat since 1934.

Australia, needing to beat the world record successful final innings score of 418 for seven recorded by West Indies against them at Antigua in 2002-3 to secure an unlikely victory, lost their first wicket in the fourth over of the morning.

Opener Simon Katich had already demonstrated his ability by driving James Anderson for four to get off the mark, but attempted to do the same from Andrew Flintoff's seventh legitimate delivery and picked out Kevin Pietersen in the gully only for TV replays to later confirm umpire Koertzen had missed calling a no-ball after Flintoff over-stepped the crease.

Going around the wicket, Flintoff induced Hughes into edging low to Andrew Strauss at first slip but Koertzen, unsure whether the catch had carried, referred to square leg umpire Billy Doctrove and raised his finger despite television replays casting doubt over the legitimacy of the catch.

There was no doubt about the authenticity of Australia's third wicket, though, with Stuart Broad claiming his 50th Test wicket in only his 19th Test when captain Ricky Ponting chopped onto his stumps trying to force off the back foot.

Strauss then turned to off-spinner Graeme Swann, who prompted the third umpiring error when Michael Hussey attempted to drive out of the rough and appeared to edge to Paul Collingwood at slip but TV replays later suggested the ball had missed his bat as it turned out of the foot marks.

Swann followed that by bowling Marcus North as he pushed forward defensively six overs later as England closed in for the kill.

Flintoff, who returned to the dressing room shortly before lunch for further treatment on his problematic right knee, returned for a further seven-over spell but was unable to break the unbroken 50-run partnership between Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin.