Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Trent Bridge: Despite an England bowling induced collapse, Australia are well placed to win a Test that has provided two days of absorbing entertainment.
This Australian team is a good and dangerous batting side because they are almost impossible to tie down. Even when wickets are falling and it was more like cascading in the first session, the runs keep coming and most of them via boundaries. Steve Waugh epitomises this approach, pouncing on anything he can deal with and regularly hitting boundaries, even if that delivery was preceded by many good ones. Even the lower order players like Paul Reiffel are capable of hitting boundaries and the man with the highest batting average in this series 131 coming in to the Trent Bridge Test, pounded four boundaries before the innings was ended.
It was symptomatic of England8217;s determination and concentration that not one Australian reached three figures despite the first five batsmen all passing fifty.
In the context of winning the match Australia8217;s loss of 5 wickets for 103 runs in the first session wasn8217;t a bad thing. It showed the Australian fast men there was some encouragement if they bowled well and it also eradicated any thoughts Mark Taylor may have harboured about trying to take twenty wickets without a break in the hard labour. From an entertainment point of view it was an excellent session of Test cricket 8212; good bowling interspersed with brilliant shot making.
The Australian pace bowlers started well, swinging the ball and beating the bat, but once Alec Stewart had his stride they weren8217;t able to maintain the standard. Stewart placed his shots beautifully and rather than being daunted by the thought of a tough dual role, the Surrey man revelled in it. However, equally undaunted was Shane Warne and he proceeded to show why leg-spin bowling is such an important aspect of Test cricket.
Warne slowly, but surely weaved a spell as he started to get the odd delivery to grip. In addition he had his ample cricket brain working overtime and this resulted in him taking the first three wickets. The dismissal of Stewart where he went wide on the crease and exploited the batsman8217;s aggressive tendencies with a well flighted delivery was a fine example of why Warne is always a dangerous foe. Then for the fifth time in the series he dismissed Nasser Hussain, on this occasion with a delivery that curved in to the right hander and then spun past the bat to clip off-stump.
Glenn McGrath then capitalised on Warne8217;s spell by exploiting John Crawley8217;s weakness against the short-pitched ball. McGrath8217;s accuracy with this delivery has found a few chinks in the English footwork and he is ever eager to use this weapon.
SCOREBOARD
Australia 1st innings: M Elliott c Stewart b Headley 69, M Taylor b Caddick 76, G Blewett c Stewart b B Hollioake 50, M Waugh lbw Caddick 68, S Waugh b Malcolm 75, R Ponting b Headley 9, I Healy c A Hollioake b Malcolm 16, S Warne c Thorpe b Malcolm 0, P Reiffel c Thorpe b Headley 26, J Gillespie not out 18, G McGrath b Headley 1. Extras b-4, lb-10, w-1, nb-4: 19. Total 427.
Fall of wickets: 1-117, 2-160, 3-225, 4-311, 5-325, 6-355, 7-363, 8-386, 9-419.
Bowling: Malcolm 25-4-100-3, Headley 30.5-7-87-4, Caddick 30-4-102-2, B Hollioake 10-1-57-1, Croft 19-7-43-0, A Hollioake 7-0-24-0.
England 1st innings: M Atherton c Healy b Warne 27, A Stewart c Healy b Warne 87, J Crawley c Healy b McGrath 18, N Hussain b Warne 2, G Thorpe batting 30, A Hollioake batting 15. Extras b-2, lb-3, nb-4: 9. Total for 4 wickets: 188.
Fall of wickets: 1-106, 2-129, 3-135, 4-141.
Bowling: McGrath 16-5-32-1, Reiffel 12-1-53-0, Gillespie 7-1-45-0, Warne 22-7-53-3.
