CRICKET:The champion in Glenn McGrath took hold late in the day yesterday and delivered a double blow to England's hopes of enjoying what promised to be one of their most satisfying and hard-fought days of the series. Only two wickets had fallen all day - and those immediately either side of tea - and there were only three overs remaining when McGrath, armed with a ball not yet 10 overs old, dismissed first Alastair Cook, magnificent for six-and-a-half hours, and then, with a yorker speared in two balls later, Matthew Hoggard, the nightwatchman.

Somehow Andrew Flintoff, who might have been batting with a bag over his head since arriving in Australia so shot has his technique looked, survived to the close, with Kevin Pietersen unbeaten on 37.

But at 265 for five England's hopes of survival, still strong before McGrath's interference, had been dented once more.

Cook's maiden Ashes hundred, the fourth century of his young Test career, has provided him with the passport to cricketing maturity. He may carry the demeanour of an adolescent but no longer is he a boy among men. His hundred in Nagpur, on debut, was an announcement of arrival, and those back-to-back against Pakistan last summer confirmation of his talent and temperament.

But this is the one that seals the deal.

When he tickled the single that took him to three figures, his celebration was understated - or at least it was until Pietersen jumped in with one of his bear hugs.

There was relief evident in a face etched with the exhaustion of batting all day in fierce temperatures, the hottest yet this series, and sufficient humidity to bring the forecast of thundershowers.

It had been an implacable effort, played at his own pace, unhurried and, to outward appearance if not internally as he approached his hundred, unflustered. Rarely will a challenge be so great again.

There were nerves, though, and, orchestrated by Shane Warne, who knows all the tricks and when to play them, the Australians put him through the wringer.

He might have folded when Ian Bell, who had played with such confidence that even Warne, who has goaded him mercilessly throughout the three matches, will surely concede that he can bat, drove that bowler to short extra cover when 13 runs short of his own hundred.

The pair had batted almost until tea, adding 170 for the second wicket, with Bell fearless against Warne, twice stepping from his crease and hitting him straight and over long-on respectively for sixes.

Any knot in Cook's stomach might have twisted further when Paul Collingwood, so staunch this winter, edged a catch to Adam Gilchrist to give the deserving Stuart Clark a wicket.

Indeed now, with the milestone there for him in sight, he began to falter, not in the sense of playing false strokes (for aside from a couple of prods outside off-stump, there had been precious few of those) but perhaps with the realisation of what he might achieve and what it would mean.

So while Pietersen brought his hyperactivity to the proceedings, including some of the madcap stuff between the wickets that has become recognised as "Red Bull running", he very quietly and studiously collected his dues run by run, pennies saved so the pounds would take care of themselves.

To reach his century Cook had only to face the finest spin bowler the game has seen, and its most gifted psychologist, on a wearing fourth-day pitch and the bowlers' rough with which to contend. No tutelage can prepare a player for that. This a batsman must learn on the hoof.

Warne's examination as Cook faced him, on 99, was a Machiavellian masterclass in how to fray nerves.

He kept Cook waiting while he set his fields, ever more claustrophobic, negating the easy single, inviting panic or indiscretion as he had done with Collingwood in Brisbane.

His second ball, dipping into the rough, almost brought a wicket as the batsman chipped it just out of the bowler's reach and short of mid-on. Warne oohed and aahed and stroked his chin - mental torture.

When it was over, though, and Cook had taken the plaudits, it was Warne who made a diversion past the batsman to offer his congratulations. There are times when Warne pushes things to the boundaries of acceptability in terms of dissent (when will a match referee be strong enough to challenge him?) but he is a generous opponent for all that.

Fatigue brought Cook's downfall, but it took a bowler who recognises when the time comes to up the stakes to take advantage. Cook, seeing the finishing line but watching the clock ticking ever more slowly, could be forgiven for retreating into himself. He was a young man clinging on for dear life.

But, if the scorecard entry will carry a familiarity to it, there was no disgrace in the dismissal, for he received a ball that needed playing but which shaded away from his defensive bat just enough. Credit the bowler.

England played their cricket over the weekend knowing their good friend and colleague Ashley Giles had returned home to be with his wife, diagnosed as having a brain tumour. If Giles has had the possibility of such a diagnosis preying on his mind these past weeks, then it is a testimony to his professionalism and singlemindedness that he was able to play at all. There are a few of his more rabid critics who might just feel that much smaller now.

His replacement in the squad, the Middlesex off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple, is a valuable part of the one-day squad.

Whether he has what it takes to bowl to Test match standard remains to be seen, but the chances are we shall find out before this series is done.

Guardian Service

THIRD TEST - Perth

Overnight: Australia 244 (M Hussey 74 no; M Panesar 5-92, S Harmison 4-48) and 527-5 dec (M Clarke 135 no, M Hussey 103, A Gilchrist 102 no, M Hayden 92, R Ponting 75). England 215 (K Pietersen 70) and 19-1.

England Second Innings

A Cook c Gilchrist b McGrath 116

I Bell c Langer b Warne 87

P Collingwood c Gilchrist b Clark 5

K Pietersen not out 37

M Hoggard b McGrath 0

A Flintoff not out 2

Extras (b4 lb3 w6 nb5) 18

Total 5 wkts (96 overs) ... 265

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-170, 3-185, 4-261, 5-261.

To Bat: G Jones, M Panesar, S Harmison, S Mahmood.

Bowling: Lee 19-3-49-1 McGrath 20-5-50-2 Clark 17-5-31-1 Warne 31-4-100-1 Symonds 9-1-28-0.