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England dismisses Australia for 308, for a 124-run lead

Ashley Giles answered his critics with three key wickets and Andrew Flintoff finished off the tail as England dismissed Australia for 308 on Friday and then extended its lead to 124 runs after two days of the second cricket test.

Flintoff trapped Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz lbw on consecutive balls to finish off the Australians late in the evening session, giving England a 99-run, first-innings buffer.

England was 25 for one in its second innings at stumps, with Marcus Trescothick unbeaten on 19 and night watchman Matthew Hoggard facing four balls without scoring.

Shane Warne did cause some alarm for the English batsmen, however, when he bowled Andrew Strauss (6) in the last over with a ball that pitched well outside off stump and turned sharply behind Strauss' lunging pad.

The wicket was Warne's 100th in England, making him the first bowler ever to reach that milestone in one foreign country.

Already test cricket's most prolific wicket-taker with 594, Warne could reach 600 at Edgbaston if he can reproduce the prodigious turn that has been a feature of his bowling since his first ball in an Ashes series -- a classic legbreak that bowled then England captain Mike Gatting in 1993.

England offspinner Giles had success with figures of 3-78 off 26 overs, albeit without the dramatic turn that Warne extracted.

Heavily criticized after England's series-opening loss at Lord's, Giles responded on his homeground by taking the prime wickets of Ricky Ponting (61) and Michael Clarke (40) before bowling Warne.

In between, Simon Jones ended Justin Langer's stubborn resistance at 82 and had Brett Lee caught at second slip in a 17-ball sequence of reverse swing that netted 2-10. His final figures were 2-69. Flintoff returned 3-52.

The Australians scored their runs at 4.1 an over.
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