Shane Watson's magnificent 176 put Australia in command at 307 for four on the first day of the fifth and final Ashes Test against England at The Oval on Wednesday.
Australia's remarkable Ashes fightback left England staring at a first innings total of 527 for seven on Friday and the loss of two late wickets on day two of the third Test made the task look even more imposing.
England completed a crushing 347-run victory over Australia with a day to spare in the second Ashes Test on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Statistical highlights from the day's play.
Despite the weeks of debate about the make-up of the Australia team for next week's first Ashes Test, captain Michael Clarke is of the opinion that 11 of the 12 players are "no-brainer" selections.
Australian opener David Warner on Tuesday said that a good pitch coupled with India's poor bowling and fielding helped Australia.
Images from Day 1 of the second Test between India and Australia played at the Gabba on Wednesday
Opener David Warner extended his purple patch with the bat, scoring his second century of the match, as the first Test against India headed for an exciting finish, with Australia gaining an overall lead of 363 runs in Adelaide on Friday. At stumps on Day 4, at the Adelaide Oval, Australia were 290 for five, with Steven Smith and Brad Haddin batting on 52 and 14 respectively.
England were scenting victory after claiming three late wickets to reduce Australia to 174 for six on a fluctuating fourth day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Check out the images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between Australia and India played at Sydney Cricket Ground
Statistical highlights from the day's play
Virat Kohli dropped a position to 11th leaving India with no batsmen in the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, in the latest update of the ICC Player Rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday.
Australia moved within 201 runs of victory in the fourth Ashes Test with all 10 wickets in hand after routing England's second innings for 179 to wrest back the momentum on a roller-coaster fourth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Australia have named swashbuckling batsman Aaron Finch captain of the Twenty20 cricket team, replacing George Bailey, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Monday.