In addition, Jones' batting average is below 30 and since he made his breakthrough century at Leeds last year it is 23. But this is the middle of the Ashes series, not the time to be blooding a new keeper or reintroducing an old one after a break of two years.Jones is a happy chap to have around and a hard competitor. If you go in for that policy you've got to expect now and again the odd chance to go begging."Ho hum. It is true that Gilchrist, who grounded two catches on Thursday, has changed perceptions about the capabilities of wicketkeeper-batsmen, but it is hardly a new idea. Les Ames averaged 40 with the bat for England before the war, Godfrey Evans was no slouch, and Alan Knott was a genius.Jones is the worst of the wicketkeeper-batsmen from Kent and the suspicion grows that he may not be the best keeper in his own family assuming his dad knows which hand the gloves go on. Most sides look as though they want to go for a batsman who can keep wicket.

"But Geraint expects to catch those," he conceded.Nonetheless it was a preposterous excuse, calling to mind the occasion on which Sir Alex Ferguson explained away his side's 6-3 defeat at Southampton because his players were wearing grey and could not see each other against the background of the crowd.There was then a bit of Fletcher coach speak. "I've watched a lot of cricket and I've seen Test matches not just involving England. Adam Gilchrist dropped those here and I've seen [Mark] Boucher and [Kumar] Sangakkara drop many and the Indian keepers drop catches. First he explained that for the catch Jones was shielding his eyes against a low sun. In this series he has now shelled three catches and missed a stumping, in his international career of 18 matches to date there have been 11 catches and two plain stumpings gone begging.England's coach, Duncan Fletcher, has invested much faith and a lot of his judgement in Jones.

He is known to have been stung by some of the criticism aimed at the wicketkeeper earlier in the season, feeling that it was ill-founded.His defence of his man was perhaps understandable in the middle of a match but it still beggared belief. It was in his gloves and then it was out again, allowing the batsmen to scamper a single.Jones is becoming a liability, meeting the requirements for all the old jokes about being unable to keep pigeons or to catch a cold. If he is the best at this job in England then a grand tradition of wicketkeeper-batsmen has been sacrificed. Warne's 78 not out was his highest score against England and the home side's disappointment after the deeds of the previous day was compounded by the fact that they gave him three lives.Two of these went to the wicketkeeper, Geraint Jones, who missed a straightforward stumping when he would have had time to go away for a long weekend and still execute it had he caught the ball.He then put down an elementary catch offered by Warne against an extremely hostile Andrew Flintoff. It started with the very first ball he bowled in an Ashes Test - that ball, the ball of the century to Mike Gatting - and the pattern shows scant indication of abating. Having already taken his record 600th wicket in this match, Warne yesterday bamboozled England with the bat. Most things he tried came off and when they did not, England ensured that they did.Only 14 overs were possible but in that time Australia added 50 runs and are now 180 behind in the Third npower Test, another enthralling contest in a wonderful summer. With two days left, England might still prise out a win but their chance has receded because of the combination of the weather and their clumsy fielding.

A good quiz question would be to ask whether he dismissed Gatting from the same end as he took his 600th wicket. The answer is both yes and no - doubters should be told that in 1993 it was known as the Warwick Road End but is now the Brian Statham End.. For 12 long years Shane Warne has made England's life hell. O'Reilly played 27 Test matches, making his debut against South Africa in 1931-32, and was labelled by Don Bradman as the finest bowler he ever saw.The top four of Warne's most frequent victims have all been Englishmen: Alec Stewart (14 times), Nasser Hussain (13), Graham Thorpe (10), Andrew Caddick (nine). Perfect end-game Much discussed during this Test match has been Warne's ball of the century, his first in an Ashes Test to dismiss Mike Gatting here in 1993.