2009 Ashes, 4th Test, Day 2: Worst... English...day... ever!

It's hard to recall England ever having a worse day of Test cricket. Maybe Adelaide Day 5 in 2006. Although that begs the question - is it worse to have a horrendous day at the end of a Test? Or at the start of the Test where you have to then play out the consequences in the next four days. But I digress.

England's bad day began well before the start of play. The night before, Freddie was ruled out. 5am that morning, they endured a fire alarm at the hotel. At the morning warm-ups, Matt Prior suffered a back spasm, raising questions over whether he could play. Then minutes before Strauss had to come out to bat, he had to wade through an endless succession of media interviews.

But they also had their bright points. Strauss was caught plumb LBW first ball of the innings. But the spirit of Random Rudi lives on through Billy Bowden who was still mentally rehearsing all his flamboyant umpiring signals (he was probably hoping for legbyes so he could test drive his new wagging leg signal). But once Strauss was caught by a stupendous reflex catch by Marcus North at 3rd slip, things went pear shaped very quickly. The innings barely made it past lunch, all out for 102.

The big question remained - would the English bowlers move the ball around as dangerously as the Aussies? In a word, no. Harmison had Katich out with a lifting short ball. This was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to England - it seemed to precipitate a longhop-fest where all the bowlers bowled short. Ponting and Watson feasted on the longhops, cutting and pulling for a glut of boundaries and before you knew it, Australia had breezed past England's total. Finally England tried bowling full and straight and what do you know, three quick wickets fell before stumps. Nevertheless, Australia lead by 94 runs with the heroes of Edbaston, Clarke and North at the wicket.

It was heady stuff for an Aussie supporter, hearkening back to those glory days when Warnie and McGrath melted the minds of the English batsmen. Back then, the main gripe I had at cricket-blog was whether the opposition could last till the 5th day. It seemed tedious at the time but looking back, well, as the song says, you don't know what you got till it's gone.

The most satisfying aspect of the day was seeing the smug grins disappear off the faces of the English commentators. Well, you can't see the faces of the radio commentators but you could tell. Tuffers was gloating throughout Lords and much of Edgbaston. But now you can hear that bone weary, self loathing in his voice that I'd grown accustomed to hearing from English cricket fans over the past few decades. And Boycs nearly opened a vein during Australia's innings. If I had a dollar for every time he exclaimed, "Pitch the damn ball oop!" I'd be a wealthy man. If I had a dollar for every time he uttered "roobish!", I could probably solve the financial crisis.

Today, Australia have the chance to bat England utterly out of the game. Last till lunch, we're in a strong position. Last till tea, we dominate. Last till stumps, we can't lose.

Posted by JC on Sat 8 Aug

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