CRICKET/Fourth Test: England slipped the leash yesterday at a time when Australia, after a calamitous morning, had come back strongly during an afternoon interrupted and finally finished by showers. Australia have themselves alone to blame for too many chances spurned to put England on the rack and re-establish the dominance they have failed to show since the first Test.
Two catches were put down in the space of 10 balls in the final session: to reprieve Kevin Pietersen when on 14, a relatively straightforward return catch offered from the leading edge to Michael Kasprowicz; and to give a second life to Michael Vaughan who sliced a back-foot drive to the left of Matthew Hayden at backward point when he had 30.
Later Pietersen, on 23 by then, ought to have been run out at the bowler's end by Hayden as he sought - and was refused by Vaughan - a sharp single to get on strike against the dinky bowling of the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Hayden had time to take aim and Ponting to get behind the wicket but with the full set of stumps at which to aim he missed, Pietersen diving in a flurry of dust and dirt well short of his ground while Ponting stood away watching.
Of most consequence, however, given the general drop in the standards of the Australia side this series, were the plethora of no-balls conceded during the morning with Brett Lee, Kasprowicz and the debutant Shaun Tait overstepping the mark more often than Prince Phillip.
No fewer than 18 had been bowled by lunch, the penultimate of them, sent down by Lee, taking the inside edge of Marcus Trescothick and cannoning into his stumps. Trescothick had 55 at the time and was going like a train. The opener added only a further 10 runs before Tait, more relaxed in a second spell, tore a fast inswinger through his defences to limit the damage, but it must have been disheartening for the side in general and Lee in particular, who ended the day wicketless.
Tait, his potent action with its huge sweep of the arm generating considerable pace from an ambling run up, added the cheap wicket of Ian Bell to leave England stumbling at 146 for three, and in danger of wasting the impetus lent by another century opening stand between Trescothick and Andrew Strauss.
Vaughan, however, looked in compelling form once more and with Pietersen set about restoring the balance. A partnership of 67 for the fourth wicket ended only when Ponting, firing his medium pace temptingly wide of off-stump to a defensive field, induced an edge which Adam Gilchrist received gratefully; a sucker dismissal.
Ponting bowling in an Ashes Test, while Glenn McGrath (injured elbow) and Jason Gillespie (injured pride) sat on the dressing room balcony and Shane Warne stood at slip having not sent down a single delivery between the 26th over and the 60th as the light closed in: imagine the odds on that at the start of the summer. Now, though, Ponting can add the name of England's captain to those of Asanka Gurusinha, Jimmy Adams, Moin Khan and Ridley Jacobs whom he has snared in his Test career.
Having won the toss and decided to bat England will resume today on 229 for four knowing that Pietersen, set now with 33 and playing with common sense after a typically helter-skelter start, and Andy Flintoff, who had time to send Tait searing through the covers before the close, have it in their power to take the game away from Australia in the first session.
To do so, though, they must get through the first hour when there is sure to be clamminess in the pitch from heavy dewfall after a clear night. Half past 10 is not a good autumnal starting time as the sides will find out at the Oval in a fortnight.
If the pitch played sluggishly in the first session, as Trescothick and Strauss filled their boots merrily, then that had as much to do with the over-eagerness and consequent lack of rhythm in the bowling as anything. If the ground fielding, particularly that of Michael Clarke, was hyperactive, then the pace attack was nervy. Indeed, it took Warne to put an end to England's fun when Strauss swept but merely helped the ball on to his left boot and thence to slip.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND First Innings
M E Trescothick b Tait 65
A J Strauss c Hayden b Warne 35
M P Vaughan c Gilchrist b Ponting 58
I R Bell c Gilchrist b Tait 3
K P Pietersen not out 33
A Flintoff not out 8
Extras lb4 w1 nb22 27
Total 4 wkts (60 overs) 229
Fall: 1-105 2-137 3-146 4-213.
To Bat: G O Jones, A F Giles, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, S P Jones.
Bowling: Lee 16 1 75 0; Kasprowicz 18 2 56 0; Tait 14 1 62 2; Warne 6 1 23 1; Ponting 6 2 9 1.
