Australia v England - 3rd Test

THIRD TEST, PERTH, DAY THREE:
AUSTRALIA 244 & 119-1v ENGLAND 215
Play starts 0230 GMT Saturday

England captain Andrew Flintoff is fighting to hang onto the Ashes

England need something truly special from their bowlers in Perth on Saturday to have any chance of keeping the Ashes series against Australia alive.

The home side will begin day three of the third Test on 119-1, a lead of 148.

Having already won in Brisbane and Adelaide, Australia's sights are firmly set on a series-clinching victory.

"Maybe the stats and the scoreboard don't look too bright for us, but we've got to go at it," said England batsman Kevin Pietersen, who made 70 on Friday.

"I thought the pitch played really well in the third session. I also think it's going to get flatter and flatter - if we make Australia battle for every single run then who knows?

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"If our batters bat well - and we do have some really good batters - we could still claw this back and hopefully go to Melbourne only 2-0 down."

England will again look to spin bowler Monty Panesar, who gave the Barmy Army plenty to cheer by taking five wickets on the opening day.

But first they will need to separate Australia captain Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden early, who will both resume on 57 not out.

Ponting is looking for his third hundred of the series and Hayden has plenty of happy memories of the Waca after hitting 380 against Zimbabwe three years ago, an innings which stood for a time as the highest in Test history.