By Peter May

The second day of the Ashes Test ended as the first, with a key decision backfiring with unknown consequences.

All the talk on Thursday night surrounded England's omission of a fifth bowler but just as the reliance on a four-man attack was becoming exposed Australia made their own error of judgement.

Possibly for the first time during his captaincy, Michael Vaughan looked out of ideas at tea with Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer sharing an unbeaten partnership of 112.

But the two left-handers declined to press the advantage, instead taking the bad light offered at the start of the third session.

The players later got as far as the boundary rope only to be turned back by Rudi Koertzen and thus Australia offered England a reprieve, if only temporary, for the poor shot and player selection on day one.

England's biggest weakness this summer has been an over-use of Andrew Flintoff and that dependence had been exposed as the tourists manoeuvered themselves into a very strong position to claim a first-innings lead.

That will not be straightforward after Ashley Giles guided England to 373, an improbable total after losing Geraint Jones on 325.

He received contrasting assistance from Matthew Hoggard (2 off 36 balls) and Steve Harmison (20 off 20) while batting somewhere in the middle of those styles.

Giles' display followed the blueprint set down on day one by Andrew Strauss, wait for a slightly errant line and work a single.

The ninth-wicket partnership therefore made for torturous viewing but every dot ball was a stab to bowling egos, a test for opening batsmen's patience and a fillip for the crowd.

That atmosphere undoubtedly helped Harmison upon arrival, almost caught off a top edge first ball but soon executing a perfect hook for four to Glenn McGrath.

The powerful Geordie then claimed a vengance on Brett Lee for twice being hit into the Trent two weeks ago, slamming the bowler for three boundaries in an over before Giles fell to the irrepressible Shane Warne.

Langer and Hayden had to begin their reply in a tricky 30-minute mini-session and both Harmison and Hoggard drew plays-and-misses without reward.

Less than an hour after lunch and the atmosphere was very different.

The Oval crowd had long forgotten Australia's embarrassment at the hands of Harmison and Hoggard and were instead forced to watch the tables somewhat turned.

England's bowlers were never humiliated, except perhaps when Langer hit Giles for two sixes off the left-armer's first four balls, but certainly they were steadily worn down by two batsmen at their most diligent.

There have been times this summer when Hayden might have been better advised to temper his desire to bully bowlers, here it has been forced upon him.

The SW11 bounce does not suit the burly opener seeking to get onto the front foot, favouring instead a pugnacious back-foot merchant.

As such Hayden and Langer performed a role reversal, the latter racing to his half-century with his favourite shot the backward cut beloved by protégé Strauss.

Hayden, meanwhile, accepted rare driving chances with relish but exhibited a newfound patience to anything short of a length.

Langer was thus on his way to Australia's second century of the summer when the players emerged after a Battenburg slice and cup of Earl Grey but he and Hayden were discouraged by the light rain and noticeably fading light.

It was a poor decision since Australia do not have the luxury of time in this match.

They may be able to make up that time even if the forecasters are right for the second successive day and Saturday afternoon is also lost to the London gloom.

Yet England are able to get Harmison and Flintoff on the massage table, shampoo Hoggard's locks in an ice bath and generally convince themselves that tomorrow is another day.

The nature of this series has been the changing initiative and Australia will doubtless have other chances to take control of and ultimately win the decisive Test.

But they enjoyed a sufficiently quiet afternoon - Marcus Trescothick failing to hold the sharpest of slip catches to a high Langer edge was the only chance – that they may live to regret that lost hour.

England will have been braced by the tourists' first false move in this final Test and do not need too many more lucky breaks to win the Ashes.

They will spend the night keenly plotting their response, and will do so knowing that Australia's judgement is also wilting in the quietly growing tension.