CRICKET THE ASHES:THERE WAS a Test match boiling up in Sydney yesterday, potentially the best of a series that has seen fortunes lurch erratically.
Pyrotechnically at first and then, after tea, as Australia’s bowlers lost their raggedness and began to get hold of themselves, England spent the afternoon laying the foundations for what they would have hoped might be a first-innings lead sufficient, with the ball already gripping the surface for the debutant spinner Michael Beer, to challenge the home side in their second innings without leaving themselves vulnerable.
Two wickets, those of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, went in successive overs after the interval. Strauss had batted with supreme confidence for 60 of an opening stand of 98. His share of the partnership was scored at better than a run a ball when adrenaline took over and he played round a straight delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus, to be bowled off-stump, attempting to whip to leg a delivery that deserved the respect of a straight bat.
Trott, new to the crease and yet to score, attempted to cover drive his fourth ball extravagantly with no foot movement and dragged Mitchell Johnson on to his stumps.
Later, after a restorative if slightly uneasy 66-run third-wicket partnership had re-established some order, Kevin Pietersen, on 36 but rarely looking secure, was unable to restrain himself against Johnson’s well-directed bouncer – above the eyeline – and failed to control his hook shot, so that Beer was able to take the catch at long leg.
That England made it to the close unscathed further was down to nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson. He made a better fist of the job than he did in Perth and largely kept the strike away from Alastair Cook, who for over three hours had kept Australia at bay and was busy ticking off the records, as he has done all series.
He returned to the dressing-room at the end of the second day with 61 more runs and the power to add, as England closed on 167 for three, still 113 adrift of Australia who, thanks to some Johnson-driven tail-end wagging, had recovered from a precarious 189 for eight to reach a more respectable – and indeed competitive – 280 all out.
Cook, labelled as technically deficient following a trying summer against swing bowling of the highest quality, has been a man transformed, not least by returning to the simple method that brought him his early success.
Now, like old man river, he just keeps rolling on, relentlessly, at his own pace, with few frills or fripperies but impeccable judgment outside off-stump – hitherto his major flaw – while leaning nicely into his shots with synchronicity rather than planting his foot and being forced to play away from his front leg or round it.
The numbers are starting to become astronomical. When he pushed Beer to leg to move to 59, he passed 5,000 runs in Tests, achieved at the age of 25 years and 10 days, younger than David Gower managed as the previous youngest Englishman and second only to Sachin Tendulkar.
Cook can count himself fortunate, though, to have had the diligence of umpire Billy Bowden and the benefit of technology to have been able to continue his innings after mistiming an attempted slog-sweep cum pick-up against Beer. It was ungainly, the ball skewing from the leading edge high to deepish mid-on where Hilfenhaus pouched the catch.
Cook, on 46 then, began to slope away from the scene of the crime, only to be recalled by Pietersen. Beer is a bowler who lands his front foot on the toe and does not ground his heel, the law stating that although this is permissible, a part of the raised foot has to be behind the popping crease, which is difficult for the umpire to judge. The camera showed Bowden’s suspicion to be confirmed, and Beer’s celebration of what would have been his first Test wicket was cut short.
For the bulk of the opening stand Cook had played second fiddle to Strauss, who was fed a diet of hittable deliveries by an excitable attack. The England captain cut, drove and pulled eight fours and a six from Hilfenhaus that floated over long leg and into the old pavilion.
England’s strategy in the morning was to restrict the scoring, perhaps take a couple of wickets with the old ball before the new ball became available after 21 overs. It went almost better than planned, for by the time Anderson got his hands on it Brad Haddin had committed batting suicide outside off-stump and, with the final delivery before the new cherry, Paul Collingwood, to his joy, had bowled Mike Hussey via inside edge and pad.
At that stage only 37 runs had been conceded in 21 overs, and when Anderson, swinging the new ball, then removed Steve Smith and Peter Siddle cheaply, the end of the innings looked a formality.
Instead, Johnson found an ally in Hilfenhaus, played his strokes judiciously. With the number 10 joining in merrily, the pair added 76 for the ninth wicket before Johnson was bowled swinging away at Bresnan for 53.
It had not been an edifying exhibition from an attack that has maintained remarkable discipline throughout the series. Something makes bowlers break rank and captains set panic fields when the lower order flings the bat.
Eventually Anderson’s skyscraping bouncer did for Hilfenhaus, on 34, to give him his fourth wicket in his 31st over.
Guardian Service
Scoreboard
Australia v England, Sydney
Overnight: Australia 134-4.
AUSTRALIA – First Innings
M Hussey b Collingwood 33
B Haddin c Prior b Anderson 6
S Smith c Collingwood b Anderson 18
M Johnson b Bresnan 53
P Siddle c Strauss b Anderson 2
B Hilfenhaus c Prior b Anderson 34
M Beer not out 2
Extras(b5 lb7 w1 nb2) 15
Total(106.1 overs) 280
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-105, 3-113, 4-134, 5-143, 6-171, 7-187, 8-189, 9-265.
Bowling: Anderson 30.1-7-66-4; Tremlett 26-9-71-1; Bresnan 30-5-89-3; Swann 16-4-37-1; Collingwood 4-2-5-1.
ENGLAND – First Innings
A Strauss b Hilfenhaus 60
A Cook not out 61
I Trott b Johnson 0
K Pietersen c Beer b Johnson 36
J Anderson not out 1
Extras(b3 lb2 w2 nb2) 9
Total(3 wkts, 48 overs) 167
Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-99, 3-165.
To bat: P Collingwood, I Bell, M Prior, T Bresnan, G Swann, C Tremlett.
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 14-3-52-1; Johnson 12-2-42-2; Siddle 10-2-33-0; Watson 3-0-9-0; Beer 9-0-26-0.
