Ashes 1st Test Day 4: England fight back but too little, too late
Day 4 of the 1st Test showed the Ashes won't be a walkover this summer as England fought to 5 for 293 taking the Test into a 5th day. Indeed, if it weren't for some dodgy decisions from Strauss, Collingwood and Flintoff, they might even be in a stronger position to play for a draw (particularly with rumours of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon). Australia continued batting in the morning until Langer reached 100, upon which Ponting immediately declared. Surely he can't pretend anymore that Australia don't care about individual landmarks - a boast they made after accusing India of putting individual achievements ahead of the team result.
Australia gave England a target of 648 to win so it was just a matter of how soon could Australia bowl them out. Again Strauss and Cook looked comfortable until Strauss play another ill-advised hook shot. It seems almost like a compulsive shot and the vice-captain should be smarter than that. Warne got Bell for a duck, deceiving him with the slider and trapping him LBW. Is Bell his bunny again? That dismissal brought Pietersen and Collingwood together, who built a partnership that finally had England winning a session for the first time in the match. Pietersen particularly gave his Hampshire teammate Warne a serious tonking, on-driving him for a number of boundaries. Warnie eventually pegged the ball back down the pitch in frustration which had Pietersen swearing and chirping at Warne for the rest of the day. It was a moment that will please grizzled Australian old-timers such as Merv Hughes who have questioned the two's friendly relationship on the field (maybe it was staged to get everyone off their backs).
Collingwood batted brilliantly but had a brain explosion on 96, advancing down the pitch and swinging wildly at a regulation legspinner from Warne. He missed it by a bat width and was stumped by several metres. That brought Flintoff in who lamely pulled Warne to long-on. Justin Langer caught the catch but not before he pumped his fists in celebration. I've never seen that before - celebrating from a fielder before he takes the catch - and I hope I never see it again. In the last batch of overs, Pietersen himself seemed to be making every effort to throw his wicket away with a series of risky cross-bat shots. Somehow he made it to stumps on 92 not out.
Nevertheless Pietersen demonstrated he will be the wicket the Australians will treasure this summer. You also get the feeling English wickets will be harder to come by on the flat Adelaide pitch and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up a draw (I'm still picking a 3-1 series win to Australia with Adelaide the only draw). Other positives for England - Australia revealed injury worries with Ponting not taking the field all day. The fact that Ponting's absence coincided with England's resurgance was just that - coincidence. Adam Gilchrist is a handy skipper as shown when he led us to our first victory in India in several decades. Also worrying is Glenn McGrath suffering a bruised heel - somewhat ironic when he pantomined limping off the field like an old man yesterday. Maybe he wasn't pretending after all.
| Posted by JC on Sun 26 Nov |  1 comments |
JC, I've got Pietersen down as a a slogger who eventually wastes his wicket, no matter what. Sure, he'll get risky 50's quite often but he has so many technical and mental flaws that teams like Australia will suss him out and nullify him as they did with the otherwise dangerous Cullinan.
Posted by virtualgaz on 2006-11-27 19:45:14
Posted by virtualgaz on 2006-11-27 19:45:14
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