Collingwood battling to save England

The Durham all-rounder remained unbeaten on 55 at tea but was the only batsman to deny Australia's attack as England slumped to 169 for seven at tea, still 70 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat.

Collingwood remained unbeaten during 252 minutes at the crease as off-spinner Nathan Hauritz answered his critics to claim three for 45 and put Australia within sight of an early lead in the npower series.

Resuming the day on 20 for two and 219 runs adrift knowing they needed to bat out the day to prevent Australia claiming victory, England suffered a desperate start with Kevin Pietersen falling in the fourth over of the morning.

Pietersen had already survived one close call in the previous over when he shouldered arms to a full-length ball from swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus which was rejected by umpire Aleem Dar.

But Pietersen failed to heed the lesson of that narrow escape and fell in Hilfenhaus' next over when he left a similar delivery and this time it knocked out his off-stump. Having removed England's most influential player, Australia captain Ricky Ponting turned to the spin of Hauritz, who struck in his second over to end Strauss' 79-minute stay at the crease.

He had already gone some way towards answering his critics by out-bowling England's two spinners earlier in the match and after Strauss cut him for the first four of the morning, Hauritz struck next ball with a delivery which bounced a little more and the England captain edged behind attempting the same shot.

Collingwood also had to stop the ball rolling onto his stumps off Hauritz's next delivery by halting it with his right boot, but it was wicketkeeper Matt Prior who became his next victim and sent England plunging towards defeat.

Prior had already had one close shave when he edged seamer Peter Siddle through gully for his only boundary, but was completely deceived by Hauritz as he rocked back attempting a late cut and was surprised by the extra bounce and instead steered the ball to Michael Clarke at slip.

All-rounder Andrew Flintoff followed Collingwood's lead and between them they denied Australia for an hour and a half with both players remaining disciplined and resisting their natural instincts to play aggressive shots. It took a drinks break to finally end their 57-run stand with Flintoff falling to his first delivery after the interruption when he edged left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson to second slip while Stuart Broad's 68 minutes of defiance ended when he was lbw to a full-length delivery from Hauritz.