It’s difficult not to come across as sour grapes when looking at this test, but to date England have had one hell of a charmed run. Here’s my observations so far, bearing in mind that I’ve gone to bed after the second session each night so there’s some gaps..
Day 1
They won a vital toss which allowed them to bat on a flat deck in the sunshine. There was nothing for the bowlers, and combined with Johnson losing the plot the poms got a great start. Cook made the worst 95 I’ve ever seen before getting out to the same that took him down in Cardiff. Notably this was the 3rd straight one that Johnson had bowled to him, and he gets out playing across the line. Ordinary. Hilfenhaus bowled very well but with Mitch spraying faeces from the other end there was no pressure building.
After lunch we bowled very well, drying up runs and took some big wickets too (Cook, Bopara).
Strauss played a brilliant innings. Batted for 3 sessions and a ball while his entire team fell around him. Had Hauritz saved his finger from dislocation and caught the f’ucking ball then it would have been a very different story, but at stumps on Day 1 we were well behind.
Day 2
Low cloud and now there’s something in it for the bowlers. Ball is swinging around and generally making things difficult. Strauss gone second ball, and the pommy tail wagged a bit but they were mopped up by drinks. Our turn to bat and it’s looking decidedly different out there.
Hughes goes after one down leg and gloves it to Prior. Poor shot but a bit unlucky. Ponting misses it by a foot and gets given caught behind. Could have been close to lbw, but not close enough, terrible decision.
Hussey and Katich consolidate and we’re looking in decent shape before ‘group think’ takes over and 5 batsmen get out hooking. Farking stupid, but I’d hesitate to give the pommy bowlers credit for these collective brain farts. Hussey got a great ball, nipped back and made him look the fool leaving the straight one that took out off. Good ball though.
Day 3
Oh, the sun’s out again. Yay. Hauritz and Siddle show just how easy it is to bat on this deck when there’s no cloud around, putting on quick runs through the strangely vacant 3rd man position. Strauss neglects to plug the hole till they’ve added 40 or so, taking us past 200 and almost avoiding the followon.
Poms lead on first innings by 210, which almost works out to the headstart we gave them in the first session of day 1. Regardless, the Aussie batsmen mostly need to give themselves uppercuts for rash hook/pull shots and will look to make ammends in their second dig. Beware the scorned Australian batsman.
Strauss neglects to put us back in regardless, I agreed with him as batting conditions were again perfect, plus Anderson had bowled 20 odd overs and Freddy’s knee was falling apart, again.
Johnson still can’t bowl, Hilfenhaus and Siddle looking dangerous but the real performer is Hauritz with his new finger. Takes two wickets in two overs and is getting good bounce and some turn.
Ponting had a shocker just after Lunch, missed an easy runout of KP and dropped a sitter from Bopara. Those two batsmen then tried their very best to ruin any attacking position that England had gained, going along at 2 runs per over and boring me to sleep.
Day 4
Poms declare overnight, looks like the cloud is out again. Not quite sure why they didn’t declare a few overs before stumps, considering the conditions last night, but not to worry as the cloud is around again.
They quickly make inroads too, Katich is caught off a no ball but Rudi playing the one rash shot of his innings. He’s the kind of batsman who’d have really taken that legit second chance to heart and knuckled in. He looked very solid before the dismissal and had the look of one who would go on for a big score.
Hughes is dropped at 2nd slip by Freddie, wasn’t the toughest of chances either. Next over he edges another one and this one Strauss picks up off the ground in front of him and claims it. Fair enough too, if the umpires are stupid enough to fall for it then he deserves the catch. It’s the consistancy that sucks here – Hauritz caught Bopara 5 metres in front of Rudi, so he sent it upstairs. How he can refer this catch which was less dubious than the Strauss’ one and happened further away I’ll never know. Look for Rudi in the Queens honours list this year.
Ponting and Hussey build a decent partnership and it’s lunch, 2/50 odd and neither should have been out. After lunch Ponting cops a ball that nips in heaps and the Poms finally earn a wicket. Mind you, had the two left handers been in then he woulnd’t have been pitching it there to start with.
Hussey hits the ground instead of the ball and is given out caught. This one looked close on the first look but on the replays he missed it by heaps. A rough one no doubt, but three in a row, that’s ordinary.
One or two roughies happen, but to lose 4 top order wickets in one game in combination with your strike bowler losing it and copping the worst of the conditions, you’re up against it and need a superhuman effort to stay alive.
Enter Michael Clarke. This is by far the best knock I’ve seen from him. Huge pressure and he’s stood up big time. Hasn’t given any chances and we’re still a serious chance of taking out this match. How sweet it will be if he and Haddin can keep it up tomorrow.
