The weather decided to favour cricket fans all over the world today by staying dry. The Ashes opened with its triple whammy of Anthems honouring the three countries involved: Wales, Australia and England. Ponting apparently expecting a deluge of support from the English hating Welsh. Don't bank on it Ricky. It ended on the highest note possible with a rousing dash of God Save The Queen and a cheeky close up of Freddie Flintoff smirking like a naughty schoolboy. The rather pointless and barely visible pyrotechnics out of the way we could finally see the first delivery of the series. Which unfortunately was nowhere near as eventful as the infamous Steve Harmison ball of 2006. Which in my memory went past second slip, flew up somewhere outside the Gabba and disappeared over the Story Bridge on its way back to England. At least that is how the Aussies tell it anyway.
It would have been difficult for this first day to live up to the hype but it certainly tried its best and what ensued was at least an absorbing and evenly matched contest. Strauss and Cook looked solid until Cook revealed his weakness outside the off stump by waving at a wide one from Hilfenhaus. This forced an acrobatic leap from Mike Hussey and a stunning catch, Cook might think himself unlucky but the ball was too wide to make excuses. 'Chef' (as the boys like to call him due to his cooking skills, that one obviously did not take much thought) will have to stop these old problems resurfacing if he is to score runs against the savvy Australians. If they smell blood you can rest assured they will strike and like the Great White Shark their eyes will roll over and they will take a great big bite out of Chef.
Strauss looked as though he could easily carry on to a ton until Mitchell Johnson changed tack and started bowling short. He may not have been swinging the ball at all but his slingy action make his bouncers exceedingly skiddy. If only he could keep that seam upright he could go from being a handful to being absolutely deadly. Still he has this knack of taking wickets, a quality his Captain will appreciate. 2-68 0ff 18 may sound a little expensive but when you consider those wickets were the English Captain and Ravi Bopara, who was deceived by a cleverly disguised slower ball spun almost like an orthodox left arm spinner, one has to argue he has done his job.
Ben Hilfenhaus was the surprise (though not to The Top Spinner) inclusion in the Australian side along with the medias favorite whipping boy Nathan Hauritz. Every pundit and journalist expected Stuart Clark to be a certain inclusion considering Brett Lee's unwelcome absence. But The Top Spinner thought otherwise. Ponting has been forced into taking a good long look at Hilfenhaus during Clark's own injury enforced absence and it appears he has impressed both his captain and the selectors. Notably during the Test series against South Africa in which he made his debut. He did not take a bag full of wickets but he demonstrated his craft in taking 1-58 off 25 overs which included 9 maidens. English conditions would logically suit his swing style of bowling down to the ground and that is exactly how it would prove today. He took 2-61 off 23 which included 5 maidens. At times he was bowling beautifully, swinging it effectively away from the batsman and he did Collingwood completely. Beating his stroke and taking the outside edge through to the keeper, Haddin. In saying this however he is no Jimmy Anderson, he may have bouncers in his locker which caused a little consternation but he does not have the English maestros unerring, and at times prodigious, control of swing. Anderson will have watched the ball swinging with anticipation, as sometime tomorrow afternoon he will be handed a nice, dark cherry of his own.
Swing was not the only skill on show today, spin was of course the most talked about subject prior to the Test. True to predictions the pitch was indeed turning. Hauritz was clearly enjoying the conditions and a few deliveries ripped along nicely. But his bowling just seems to lack penetration. He is a classical off spin bowler who is there to offer control, i do not think we can ask him to start turning it around corners but it would be nice to see him attack the batsman a little more. He did make efforts toward this today, his confidence rose as the batsman appeared loath to attack him. He flighted some balls very nicely and pitched it right up at Pietersen and Collingwood urging them into making a mistake. Which Pietersen eventually obligingly did. He swept with authority all afternoon until he telegraphed a simply huge paddle shot and Hauritz challenged him to take it over short fine leg from about three feet outside off stump. In the interview afterward he was unapologetic and brash as usual. His arrogance is only matched by his ability which makes it very hard to argue against him taking such risks. On the one hand it makes him the character that he is but on the other it must surely cost him runs. Let us hope that it comes off for the rest of the series.
There were other fireworks during a hostile afternoon. Peter Siddle carried on from where he left off in the morning session tailing the ball in at pace and mixing those fuller deliveries up with truly demonic bouncers. Ravi Bopara had a stormy reception earlier in the day from the fast bowler when a short ball seemed to track his movements and veered horribly into his throat area. He took it well but it set the tone for how we can expect Siddle to bowl for the rest of the series. He was also responsible for dispatching both Matt Prior, with a searing inswinger which demolished the stumps, and Freddie Flintoff in a slightly less than spectacular fashion, played on from a short delivery outside the off stump. Previously Flintoff and Prior had been dominating the bowling, cover driving and pulling with authority. This bodes well for the series, England need the top 6 to fire all the way through. But in terms of the match the wickets came with only 20 balls left in the day and consequently these losses have handed Australia the upper hand going into the 2nd day. Stuart Broad will start at the crease tomorrow and Graeme Swann is still to come so we can expect a few more runs tomorrow before we see just how effective Englands spin twins will prove to be.
Check in tomorrow for another full report.
It would have been difficult for this first day to live up to the hype but it certainly tried its best and what ensued was at least an absorbing and evenly matched contest. Strauss and Cook looked solid until Cook revealed his weakness outside the off stump by waving at a wide one from Hilfenhaus. This forced an acrobatic leap from Mike Hussey and a stunning catch, Cook might think himself unlucky but the ball was too wide to make excuses. 'Chef' (as the boys like to call him due to his cooking skills, that one obviously did not take much thought) will have to stop these old problems resurfacing if he is to score runs against the savvy Australians. If they smell blood you can rest assured they will strike and like the Great White Shark their eyes will roll over and they will take a great big bite out of Chef.
Strauss looked as though he could easily carry on to a ton until Mitchell Johnson changed tack and started bowling short. He may not have been swinging the ball at all but his slingy action make his bouncers exceedingly skiddy. If only he could keep that seam upright he could go from being a handful to being absolutely deadly. Still he has this knack of taking wickets, a quality his Captain will appreciate. 2-68 0ff 18 may sound a little expensive but when you consider those wickets were the English Captain and Ravi Bopara, who was deceived by a cleverly disguised slower ball spun almost like an orthodox left arm spinner, one has to argue he has done his job.
Ben Hilfenhaus was the surprise (though not to The Top Spinner) inclusion in the Australian side along with the medias favorite whipping boy Nathan Hauritz. Every pundit and journalist expected Stuart Clark to be a certain inclusion considering Brett Lee's unwelcome absence. But The Top Spinner thought otherwise. Ponting has been forced into taking a good long look at Hilfenhaus during Clark's own injury enforced absence and it appears he has impressed both his captain and the selectors. Notably during the Test series against South Africa in which he made his debut. He did not take a bag full of wickets but he demonstrated his craft in taking 1-58 off 25 overs which included 9 maidens. English conditions would logically suit his swing style of bowling down to the ground and that is exactly how it would prove today. He took 2-61 off 23 which included 5 maidens. At times he was bowling beautifully, swinging it effectively away from the batsman and he did Collingwood completely. Beating his stroke and taking the outside edge through to the keeper, Haddin. In saying this however he is no Jimmy Anderson, he may have bouncers in his locker which caused a little consternation but he does not have the English maestros unerring, and at times prodigious, control of swing. Anderson will have watched the ball swinging with anticipation, as sometime tomorrow afternoon he will be handed a nice, dark cherry of his own.
Swing was not the only skill on show today, spin was of course the most talked about subject prior to the Test. True to predictions the pitch was indeed turning. Hauritz was clearly enjoying the conditions and a few deliveries ripped along nicely. But his bowling just seems to lack penetration. He is a classical off spin bowler who is there to offer control, i do not think we can ask him to start turning it around corners but it would be nice to see him attack the batsman a little more. He did make efforts toward this today, his confidence rose as the batsman appeared loath to attack him. He flighted some balls very nicely and pitched it right up at Pietersen and Collingwood urging them into making a mistake. Which Pietersen eventually obligingly did. He swept with authority all afternoon until he telegraphed a simply huge paddle shot and Hauritz challenged him to take it over short fine leg from about three feet outside off stump. In the interview afterward he was unapologetic and brash as usual. His arrogance is only matched by his ability which makes it very hard to argue against him taking such risks. On the one hand it makes him the character that he is but on the other it must surely cost him runs. Let us hope that it comes off for the rest of the series.
There were other fireworks during a hostile afternoon. Peter Siddle carried on from where he left off in the morning session tailing the ball in at pace and mixing those fuller deliveries up with truly demonic bouncers. Ravi Bopara had a stormy reception earlier in the day from the fast bowler when a short ball seemed to track his movements and veered horribly into his throat area. He took it well but it set the tone for how we can expect Siddle to bowl for the rest of the series. He was also responsible for dispatching both Matt Prior, with a searing inswinger which demolished the stumps, and Freddie Flintoff in a slightly less than spectacular fashion, played on from a short delivery outside the off stump. Previously Flintoff and Prior had been dominating the bowling, cover driving and pulling with authority. This bodes well for the series, England need the top 6 to fire all the way through. But in terms of the match the wickets came with only 20 balls left in the day and consequently these losses have handed Australia the upper hand going into the 2nd day. Stuart Broad will start at the crease tomorrow and Graeme Swann is still to come so we can expect a few more runs tomorrow before we see just how effective Englands spin twins will prove to be.
Check in tomorrow for another full report.
"Check in tomorrow for another full report"... that was on the 8th July... it is now the 14th... I DEMAND SATISFACTION
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