THERE are, of course, much more important things in the world. The Iraqi constitution would appear to be seriously flawed and, with the Americans warning about their need for further "sacrifices", the future looks bloody.

Senior Foreign Office advisors told the Government a year ago that its foreign policy was unpopular with Muslim extremists - but, if Tony Blair believed his policy to be right, he would have been wrong to attempt to appease the extremists by altering it.

And, if nothing else, the Bra Wars between the European Union and China show that free trade is usually a fairer and more effective way of trading than protectionism.

But the Test cricket is what we chose to write about this morning. Nerve-jangling and nail-biting, the nation was gripped - even those who don't know their reverse swing from their sliders were glued to their television sets to watch England win an extraordinary Test match by the narrowest margin.

Now all we have to do to win back the Ashes is avoid defeat in the last Test of the summer.

If the tension in the living room was unbearable, what must it have been like out there on the pitch? We could tell the Aussies were rattled on Saturday by the out-burst from their captain, Ricky Ponting, when he was run out by the Durham lad Gary Pratt.

That outburst, though, proved to be a momentary loss of reason, and the game ended - for all its tightness and controversy - in the best of spirits and handshakes. The multi-millionaires who were playing another sport at the same time on another channel would do well to look up from their diving, cheating, spitting and plotting and take note.

In the same vein, we should congratulate Australia's bowlers Shane Warne and Brett Lee, for their magnificent efforts.

The winning runs were hit by England's Ashley Giles, a player who started the summer portrayed as a silly cry-baby. Yesterday, when many of his countrymen were losing their heads, he coolly kept his. He showed what he is really made of.

This is what makes sport so captivating. Forget Coronation Street or EastEnders. This is real. This is the greatest soap opera.

And now, let it rain. Let it rain until the end of September. That way, the last Test will be washed out and England will take the Ashes.

However, such is the drama of this soap opera, nothing will be that straightforward. One expects the most unexpected twists in the plot to come.