England found an ally in the Oval gloom on Friday - but there was still ample time in the 50 overs possible on day two of this 2005 Ashes decider for them to begin to reap what was sown by their faulty batting 24 hours earlier.

Arguments were invoked over the wisdom of Australia's decision to accept an offer of bad light - and thereby lose an opportunity to add to their 112 without loss in reply to the hosts' below-par 373 - in a match the tourists must win if they are to retain the Ashes after all.

But the most pertinent question was not whether the Aussies will live to regret allowing time out of this decisive rubber; more how can England hope to keep opposing batsmen in check without the full complement of five frontline bowlers which has served them so well until now in this wonderful series.

After much deliberation, England responded to the untimely absence through injury of their most improved bowler Simon Jones by nominating batting all-rounder Paul Collingwood in his place for this match.

It was not an easy call, and the selectors were hardly helped by the lack of convincing candidates as like-for-like replacements.

Collingwood has had no luck on his side either with bat or ball - a dodgy lbw decision followed by a flying Justin Langer edge through the out-stretched fingers of first-slip Marcus Trescothick - and he will make for a most undeserving fall guy should England fail to convert their 2-1 advantage into a series victory.

In fact, once Michael Vaughan won the toss here the policy of packing his team with batting began to look all the more sound.

Where it went pear-shaped was - to borrow the gobbledegook parlance of modern cricket - in England's "execution of their plan".

In more universal terms, with the honourable exceptions of Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flintoff, they batted poorly in perfect conditions - and despite the assistance of the home climate in halting Australia's progress, the day of reckoning looms large.

England's batsmen will, of course, have a second chance to make up for their collective shortcomings, such is the nature of Test cricket.

But there is no doubt they missed their best opportunity when they had first use of a very good batting surface and ought to have held all the aces against Shane Warne.

All they can do now therefore is hope that stretched bowling resources can somehow prevent Australia establishing the significant first-innings lead which seems well within their compass some time tomorrow, weather permitting.

It will take a Herculean effort with the ball from the likes of Flintoff and Ashley Giles to achieve a mid-match advantage or even parity for the hosts - and because these things tend to be significant in the final outcome, England will deserve all the plaudits to come their way should they reverse cricket logic to close out this series successfully.