With the game looking set for a draw, Udal declared on 414-8 after Dawid Malan had made 88, then succeeded in putting the Welsh under real pressure.

BBC: Udal declaration sets up last day

Mr da Silva could, of course, have avoided all of this tension if he and other candidates had followed the advice of Pedro Malan, the current finance minister, who proposed a pre-campaign agreement on basic economic policies that would be maintained to prevent the type of attack that the real has suffered.

ECONOMIST: UNenforceable

Officials say that the base at Malan will be turned into a "red tourism site" - locations designated by the Communist Party to celebrate what it regards as historic events, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.

BBC: China to open atomic bomb site to tourists

But Dawid Malan (87no) helped guide the hosts to 229-7, before a sporting declaration set up the Essex chase.

BBC: Cook and Bopara see Essex to win

But South African Malan was equal to the situation, receiving stubborn lower-order support as he compiled a fluent 88 from 114 balls, with 12 fours, despite suffering the hamstring strain which later prevented him from fielding.

BBC: Udal declaration sets up last day

And, when skipper Murray Goodwin turned to left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, his four overs cost 30 runs, including a horrible full toss which Malan pulled out of the ground and into an adjoining garden for six, forcing the umpires to change the ball.

BBC: Malan steers Middlesex to victory over Sussex

But a much-discussed tax-reform bill is stuck in Congress because of lack of support from Mr Cardoso and Mr Malan: though the current system is burdening businesses and stunting Brazil's capital markets (see article), they are reluctant to make any changes while it gushes money.

ECONOMIST: Progress and pitfalls in Brazil��s public finances