Only one side has ever come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series, and that side contained Don Bradman. So what are England to do? Keep kicking themselves for the collective freeze that handed the second Test to Australia? Or work out how on earth they're going to win two of the last three matches and not lose the third? Here's a seven-point plan which will soon be distributed under the doors of the players' hotel rooms...
1) The Australian who might have been most grateful for events in Adelaide is Glenn McGrath. Had the second Test ended in a draw, much of the focus between then and now would have been on his dodgy left heel and his life expectancy as an opening bowler. Instead, Australia have quietly been able to draft in Andrew Symonds, whose off-cutters should ease McGrath's burden. England must fight this by attacking him as they did in the first innings at Adelaide, especially as Perth is expected to offer as little assistance to the seamers.
2) To do this they will need more input from their openers. So far, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have shared stands of 28, 29, 32 and 31. Ian Bell has come in against a relatively new ball every single time. In 2005 Marcus Trescothick not only scored plenty of runs: he scored them quickly. England's openers are doing neither, yet a benign Waca wicket is their best chance of playing themselves back into the series before the heady finale of Melbourne and Sydney. Strauss scored two hundreds in the last three Tests of the previous Ashes series, and must do the same now.
3) England have to shelve their worthy but misguided plan of batting down to No8 and pick an attack capable of taking 20 wickets instead, which is how every other team in world cricket operates. This means dropping Ashley Giles (3 wickets at 87 in the series) and - regardless of how well he bowled in the two-day game at the weekend - Jimmy Anderson (2 at 151) and bringing in Monty Panesar and Sajid Mahmood. It doesn't matter if Mahmood goes for runs, because Panesar ought to save them. What matters is that England attack with their most aggressive line-up. And one that is not reliant on Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff.
4) Don't be cowed by Shane Warne. His nine wickets so far have cost 40 each, which is a mini-triumph for England. But that stat would be even healthier if they hadn't played him so feebly that morning in Adelaide. Alec Stewart said it reminded him of the way he and his colleagues used to play Warne in the 1990s. Well, it's time to play him like they did on the first two days of December 2006, when he would have gone for a lot more than 167 if he hadn't bowled for two hours into the rough outside Kevin Pietersen's leg-stump. Warne is one of the game's magicians. He doesn't need England pulling his rabbits out for him.
5) Abandon plans to trap Ricky Ponting lbw early on with full-length deliveries on his stumps. He's in such good form that the ball keeps disappearing through midwicket. Bowling short is no good either, although not all England's bowlers have taken this on board yet. In fact, the only man to out-think him so far has been Hoggard, and even then it has come only after two big hundreds. England must frustrate him out. Stuart Clark does it wonderfully well for Australia, and he's only played six Tests. It shouldn't be beyond England.
6) Begin to believe. Australia have chinks: Matthew Hayden is yet to reach 40, Symonds has everything to prove, Michael Clarke will be up the order, and Justin Langer keeps being touted as the next retiree after Damien Martyn. England's lack of self-belief cost them the second Test. Giles admitted that he woke up on the final morning with the thought that "this day might not run as smoothly as we would like". Why?! It's time to show that all those cups of coffee with Michael Vaughan have paid off.
7) Hope and pray.
