Cricket: Warne the key on day three

BIRMINGHAM, England - Day three of the second cricket Test against England at Edgbaston appears tailor-made for Australian star Shane Warne.

The legspinner showed a sign of what could come when he bowled England opener Andrew Strauss with a remarkable delivery in the last over today which convinced the Australians they can come from behind in this match to take a 2-0 series lead.

England will resume on 1-25 in its second innings, leading by 124 runs, but will need to negotiate Test cricket's leading wicket-taker on a turning pitch to post a defendable lead.

The home side took a 99-run lead in the first innings by dismissing Australia for 308.

Given the amount of twists this series has already produced, nothing appears a formality.

Australian opener Justin Langer, who top-scored with 82, said Warne's influence would be the major factor tomorrow.

Warne sent shudders through England's dressing room when he bowled a freak delivery to Strauss. The ball turned a metre and went behind the left-hander's legs before crashing into middle and leg stumps.

"Warnie will obviously play a huge role tomorrow, you'd like to think so," Langer said.

"England played him aggressively in the first innings, which is to their credit, but I think in the second innings we saw with the way (England's) Ashley Giles bowled today into that rough. It's very hard work to score freely out of that rough.

"Warnie showed tonight he is a master of that sort of bowling so hopefully, for our sake, it will be very hard for England tomorrow and the target won't be as perhaps as big as they would like."

Giles, whose left-arm spin yielded 3-78 after he was rubbished by the critics in the lead-up to this match, said England was determined not to let its good start to this match slip.

He said England had to be positive against Warne.

"It's going to be tricky," Giles said.

"Warnie's spinning the ball hard and we have to come up with good gameplans against him to pitch a good target.

"They're missing Glenn McGrath (ankle injury) as support, but Shane Warne hasn't got (almost) 600 wickets for no reason."

- AAP