By Peter May

Shane Warne spent day three of the fifth Test with 20 fags and the Daily Telegraph and still remained the series' pivotal figure come the close.

The rain dominated beyond England's wildest dreams at The Oval to leave only their worst nightmare, a fiery and firing Warne, standing between them and the Ashes.

By the time Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden headed to lunch after 70 minutes' play bisected by a rain interruption, the match was already out of Michael Vaughan's control.

Only by exploiting an audacious declaration from Ricky Ponting can England possibly win the decisive Test with the lead now reduced to 96 and eight Australian first-innings wickets still remaining.

But a draw remains the most likely outcome and `Punter' will have to gamble after a day in which cagouls rather than Fred Flintstone costumes were the preferred uniform.

This was always a danger in playing a fifth Test in mid-September, and suddenly the mid-summer preoccupation with one-day internationals seems like tremendous foresight on the ECB's part: autumnal showers may save their boys yet.

There was enough time before lunch for Hayden to bring up his 50 – off 137 balls, a glacial rate by his standards - while Langer passed 100 in the match and 7000 in his career before falling to Steve Harmison in one eventful over shortly before 2pm.

The fall of that wicket was the last act of the middle session with Ponting returned to store by umpires Koertzen and Bowden as the drizzle became something more substantial.

More play was possible after tea with little but the same story to recount.

Hayden brought up three figures to obvious relief but Harmison and Andrew Flintoff had found their groove and the latter's removal of Ponting, caught at gully by Andrew Strauss, was the minimum deserved reward.

Australia have had the worse of some umpiring errors this summer but the debt was repaid from the first ball on Saturday.

That was a Hoggard ball that pitched on middle and straightened onto Langer's pads while Ponting appeared to inside-edge a bat-pad catch to Ian Bell and Damien Martyn mis-cued a hook behind to a Flintoff bouncer.

Umpires Koertzen and Bowden were in uncharitable mood for bowlers but not so to batsmen.

Hayden and Martyn later accepted the offer of bad light, predominantly at the behest of the right-hander who was struggling to adjust to the conditions.

It was a far more understandable decision than that made 24 hours earlier, with 196 overs to bowl in the match Australia will fancy their chances of scoring over 300 runs and taking 10 wickets to keep the urn.

It is not yet clear whether Ponting will declare in the expectation of batting again, more likely he will try to go 250 past England on day four and then set about the hosts' top order in the evening.

Either way the series result now rests on the shoulders of Warne, the only man capable of forcing a result on a benign batting surface.

The fifth Test would have been a draw without a drop of rain if the legspinner had not been in attendance.

No other bowler has extracted more than a hint of help from this pitch and, with clear skies forecast for the remaining two days all calculations now revolve around one man.

Can he make his last Ashes act in England another spectacular demolition?

The majority appears to think not with the draw heavily fancied across the board and that is understandable.

The track remains friendly, the outfield fast and the time short.

But if Warne has taught us anything this summer, it is that he is capable of pretty much anything.

What's more, England know it.

They played the Victorian with fearful, irrational aggression on day one and their nerves will hardly be soothed as the tension reaches unbearable levels on Monday.

England should have enough in the bank to save the fifth Test and have played themselves to the brink by refusing to be fazed by Australia.

Only Warne remains untamed and England have one utterly decisive chance to do so.