You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble © Getty Images

A fascinating fourth day is shaping up at the WACA and Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph that if Australia are beatable in Perth, they are beatable anywhere.

If India can storm the castle, unchallenged for 16 Tests, you can bet within months other nations will be bursting through the barricades and crash-tackle an Australian side that will soon tour Pakistan, India and the West Indies.

Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian believes that India appeared in a better frame of mind than Australia after the Sydney saga, and the Age’s Greg Baum also explores that theme by observing Australia in the field.

They were not sulking, but they were nonplussed. It was as if they now understood what they couldn't do, but were still unsure about what they could. You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck says Brett Lee had too little support, while Chloe Saltau in the Age and Peter Lalor in the Weekend Australian both look at Shaun Tait’s miserable return to Test cricket. Lalor writes that Tait “has been the cactus in the school play who somehow managed to miss his cue and forget his lines”.