CRICKET/Ashes series: How much more of this can England captain Nasser Hussain take? Yesterday evening Australia, in the space of 23 incendiary overs, had hammered their way remorselessly to 126 for two on the crucial opening day at the WACA, after England had been bowled out for 185 as easy as a wink.
For weeks now Hussain has insisted that the difference between the sides is technical. But England were mentally flabby yesterday, suckered by disciplined Australian cricket so that they played the way Steve Waugh and his men wanted.
Michael Vaughan played excellently for more than two hours, showing fine judgment and restraint, defending straight and playing the line of the ball so that, if it deviated, he did not follow it magnetically, but then succumbed to an injudicious heave.
Robert Key, after two unhappy dismissals in Adelaide, showed he at least had taken some things on board, making 47 good runs, including some clean hitting off Shane Warne. Then, having survived the pace onslaught and with the tea kettle whistling away, he was bowled by Damien Martyn's dinky dobbers.
For the rest it was a sorry story on a pitch that may be fast but where the ball comes on to the bat at a regular pace. It has good and even bounce, so a batsman can leave the ball not only on line but on length with confidence.
Making the bowler do what you, the batsman, wants is the name of the game. But Marcus Trescothick cuffed away his usual boundaries, made 34 and then, just as they plan, edged to the keeper a ball he should not even have contemplated playing. He has now a single hundred to show for his last 34 Test innings and, for all his delightfully uncomplicated method, there is no sign of ironing out a flaw outside off-stump that is exploited ruthlessly by such skilled bowlers as Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie. Judgment of what to leave and what not to is the stock in trade of the left-hander.
Of the remainder of the batsmen, each, apart from Alex Tudor who edged a legbreak to slip and Mark Butcher, run out by Vaughan in a juvenile yes-no mix up, perished playing attacking shots. The worst of them were the baseball slugger's heave that did for Hussain.
It is hard to imagine when England last carried such a genuinely inexperienced bowling attack into the field, with Craig White as the senior bowler with 51. Tudor is next with 26, and the rest are barely into double figures. It could get worse; after play Chris Silverwood was taken to hospital for a scan on his left ankle after landing heavily while fielding.
Although Silverwood bowled a testing first over to Justin Langer (and then ran him out with a wonderful throw from the boundary) it was clear little the Australian bowlers had demonstrated for two sessions had been absorbed.
Matthew Hayden clubbed away a few boundaries dismissively before he hoicked a catch to long-leg to give Harmison a welcome wicket. But Ricky Ponting, unquestionably the classiest batsman on either side, unveiled impeccable judgment, a range of strokes to delight any purist including a back-foot cover drive straight from the Caribbean, and the sort of thunderous hook not seen on this ground since Richie Richardson gave Jo Angel an early lesson on the fast bowler's debut some years ago.
Guardian Service
ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS
M Trescothick c Gilchrist b Lee 34
M Vaughan c Gilchrist b McGrath 34
M Butcher run out 9
N Hussain c Gilchrist b Lee 8
R Key b Martyn 47
A Stewart c Gilchrist b McGrath 7
C White c Martyn b Lee 2
A Tudor c Martyn b Warne 0
R J Dawson not out 19
C Silverwood c Hayden b Gillespie 10
S Harmison b Gillespie 6
Extras lb2 nb7 pens 0 9
Total (64.2 overs) 185
Fall of wickets: 1-47 2-69 3-83 4-101 5-111 6-121 7-135 8-156 9-173
Bowling: McGrath 17 5 30 2 Gillespie 17.2 8 43 2 Lee 20 1 78 3 Warne 9 0 32 1 Martyn 1 1 0 1
AUSTRALIA FIRST INNINGS
J Langer run out 19
M Hayden c Tudor b Harmison 30
R Ponting not out 43
D Martyn not out 20
Extras b4 lb2 nb8 pens 0 14
Total 2 wkts (23 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-31 2-85.
To Bat: S Waugh, D Lehmann, A Gilchrist, S Warne, B Lee, J Gillespie, G McGrath.
