1. What of Watson?
It just keeps happening, far too often to be mere coincidence. For the 10th time in 13 completed Ashes innings, Watson departs for a score between 30 and 62. As an opener who rarely falls cheaply, he's doing his job. As an opener who fails to go on to make a big score, he isn't. Today he actually played pretty well, leaving the ball particularly well. But eventually he pushed at one and nicked to first slip. Even the mode of dismissal was familiar. You just get the feeling England are comfortable bowling to Watson: he lacks the guile to work the ball into gaps, and he's too easily dried up as he constantly biffs the ball hard to straight-set mid-off and mid-on fielders.

2. Bowling dry in the wet
Once again, England's intent on "bowling dry" reaped its rewards. While the early wickets didn't come with the new ball, the maidens and tight overs did, meaning Australia never got away. Watson scored no boundaries in the whole morning session. It meant that when Phil Hughes nicked off in the final over of the session, the score was just 55 for one instead of 105 for one. England's bowlers racked up 19 maidens between them in 59 overs, meaning that those two late wickets in a short evening session turned an attritional day the tourists' way.

3. Light the way
Rain breaks are frustrating but a part of the game that has to be accepted. Too often, breaks for bar light are frustrating and utterly avoidable - especially in a series when floodlighting is available. When everyone knew from the weather radar that a significant band of rain was on its way to the SCG, it was immensely frustrating to lose eight minutes' play in the middle of the day because the floodlights had not been switched on. For a game so great, cricket too often leaves itself open to ridicule. And the lily-livered treatment of bad light is among the worst offenders.

4. UK OK
Australia's selectors insisted that Steve Smith had been selected because he was the best batsman around to fill a gap in the top six. It always seemed a doubtful claim, and it took debutant Usman Khawaja just two balls to prove it to be total folly with a glorious pull shot - played off Chris Tremlett, the star bowler of the second half of the series. He raced to 20 in quick time before England dried him up pretty effectively and crucially got him just before the rain arrived a second time to bring a premature close. That showed a callow streak, but there is much to like about the left-hander. His basic set-up is good, he's strong off his pads and looks solid when defending on the front foot. A classical left-hander's tendency to be squared up when defending on the back foot looks to be the one weakness.

5. Swann strike
A welcome return of an old favourite as Graeme Swann picked up a wicket in the first over of a spell. There's a case for saying he should have been into the attack earlier against a rookie southpaw like Khawaja, but give bowler and captain credit for keeping square-leg up on the run to both encourage and punish the ill-judged sweep shot the brought his demise.

Dave Tickner