Rain ended the third day’s play between Australia and England of the Ashes Test match at Adelaide. Kevin Pietersen’s double-century had put England on top by the time play had ended.

There was light at end of the tunnel for Australia on the third day of the second Ashes Test match at Adelaide. Despite conceding a lead of 306 runs by the time the play had been called off, the rainy conditions and bad forecast may mean that the English captain Andrew Strauss will not only be looking at an early declaration on the fourth day but also race against time to get the Aussies out.

Pietersen’s unbeaten 213 came at the back of Alastair Cook’s 148 and that meant that the English side had got to 551/4 at the end of the second session. However, no play was possible in the third session and that would have jeopardised Strauss’ plans of getting Australia to bat for at least 45 minutes on the third day.

Pietersen had started the day on 85 and quickly brought up his century. Cook departed soon after but in partnership with Paul Collingwood (42), Pietersen added 101 runs for the fourth wicket. Collingwood was dismissed off the bowling of Shane Watson but Pietersen soldiered on to get to his second double-century in Test matches.

Now, Strauss has a couple of options. One would be to declare overnight and get Australia to bat immediately with the early morning moisture helping the new ball bowlers. The other could be to bat Australia out by getting the lead up to 400-450 by lunch and give themselves around 150-160 overs to bowl Australia. The issue with this latter option is that rains could scupper some of the plans and reduce the number of overs Strauss gets at the Aussies.

England (11/10 at Coral) continue to be favourites to win the game but with the rains making their presence felt, William Hill offers 19/20 for the two teams to go into the third Test at 0-0. An Australian win, which borders on the realms of impossible is currently at 100/1 (Blue Square)