Shane Warne delivered a potentially decisive contribution with the bat to keep Australia on course for an historic Ashes whitewash in the final Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The legendary leg-spinner has ensured his place in cricket's folklore through his feats with the ball, but in his farewell Test he played a key role in establishing a crucial first-innings lead just as England seemed set to secure an advantage of their own.
Warne hammered 71 off 65 balls, including nine fours and two sixes, and helped Australia add a crucial 75 for the final two wickets after they had resumed the third day 103 runs adrift on 188 for four and lost Mike Hussey in the second over of the day.
He dominated a 44-ball 58-run stand with Adam Gilchrist and a further 68-run partnership with Stuart Clark, got involved in a sledging battle with close fielder Paul Collingwood and then pounced to claim the crucial wicket of England captain Andrew Flintoff just before the close.
His determined efforts switched momentum so effectively England had slipped to 114 for five by the close, just 12 runs ahead, to put Australia in sight of only the second Ashes whitewash in history following the 5-0 in 1920-21.
Warne, who has scored more Test runs than any player in history without making a hundred, was foiled in probably his final chance when he was last man out, stumped by wicketkeeper Chris Read off Panesar.
Read also caught Gilchrist, Mike Hussey and Lee to become the first Englishman to twice take six dismissals in an innings after his success in Melbourne last week.
Gilchrist provided another demonstration of his awesome power, cracking eight boundaries and passing 10,000 first-class runs, before he was unluckily given out caught behind off James Anderson, with television replays showing he had failed to make contact with the ball.
Australia's prospects of leading on the first innings had looked bleak when Hussey was dismissed in the second over of the day without adding to his overnight score of 37 and Symonds then threw his wicket away.
Hussey edged a simple catch behind off Anderson while Symonds, who completed his maiden test hundred in Melbourne, wasted his chance of another big score when he was bowled by Panesar following a wild swipe.
