Clarke and Haddin Pulverise England

In the closing stages of day 1, Michael Carberry dropped Brad Haddin right at the start of his innings; few could have imagined just how costly a drop it would prove to be. Michael Clarke (148) and Haddin (118) crushed England on day 2. Any hope of winning the game had evaporated long before close, yet again England were looking just to dig in and survive.

The tourists had gone into the day with high hopes. They nearly had Clarke almost immediately, however his horribly skewed attempt of hitting Monty Panesar into the stands landed safe. From then on Australia marched merrily towards a score that would put England out of the game. They aggressively accumulated, punishing anything that was loose from the five-man England attack.

The duo seemed to take it in turn in leading the charge. Clarke would effortlessly caress the ball to the boundary for a while before settling down briefly, then attacking again. Haddin was proactive throughout most of his innings, including smiting no less than five sixes.

At times England looked bereft of ideas, unable to stem the flow of runs and desperate for anything to go their way. Ben Stokes (2-70) thought he had the first Test wicket of his fledgling career when Haddin edged behind. However in the now customary check to see if the bowler had overstepped, the raucous roar of the crowd revealed that Stokes didn’t have anything behind the line.

Haddin made the most of his reprieve as he and his skipper pressed on. They made a clear effort of going after the spinners; Graeme Swann (2-151) and Monty Panesar (1-157) were left scratching their heads amongst the onslaught. The seamers were doing a decent job, Stuart Broad (3-98) impressed again. Public enemy number one bowled intelligently, frequently changing his pace and occasionally deceiving the batsmen, he deserved more.

After a fruitless morning, the afternoon seemed to be all about milestones. Clarke and Haddin were busy breaking all sorts of Australian records. In the first two Tests of this series, Clarke has shown just how good he is. His 26^th Test hundred was typically imperious and fearless. He repeatedly went over the top and even when it didn’t quite work, the intent shown left a clear imprint.

Stokes did get that first Test wicket to finally end a partnership that was now worth 200. A leading edge from Clarke was gratefully snaffled by a diving James Anderson. Mitchell Johnson (5) and Peter Siddle (2) didn’t hang around long; any hope of a revival was short lived though.

Haddin continued to attack and found a worthy partner in Ryan Harris (55*). The Aussie number ten enjoyed a rather uncomplicated innings; he simply biffed the ball to the boundary repeatedly. Haddin celebrated his ton before perishing off the bowling of Broad. All eyes were on Clarke, he allowed the carnage to ensue a little longer.

Last man Nathan Lyon (17*) got in on the act with a steepling six. The now demoralised England side couldn’t wait to get off of the field. Clarke granted them their wish giving his pumped-up bowlers twenty overs to try and make inroads into the England batting line-up.

Johnson (1-9) clearly has aspirations to be Merv Hughes. He has been reborn as a hostile, in-your-face, and extremely effective fast-bowler as well as sporting a rather abysmal moustache. His raw pace proved too much for Alastair Cook (3) he was leaden at the crease as a fullish ball from the left-armer left him fractionally and careered into his off-stump. 

The floodgates could have opened right there and then for England, however Carberry (20*) and Joe Root (9*) dug in and made it through to close despite Johnson delivering a painful blow to the arm of England’s new number three.

There is much work to do if England are to save this game, but save it they must if they want to retain the Ashes. 2-0 would not be a scoreline that would see them lose the series immediately, but the psychological damage that it would bring would probably be too high a mountain to overcome.

They need to bat well, but also bat positively. They scored at a painstakingly slow rate but this was understandable given the situation. England must show controlled aggression throughout the remainder of this game if they are to avoid falling into the sort of rut they saw them collapse so dismally on the final day of the Adelaide Test seven years ago.

Australia are relentless, England are very much on the ropes. The question now is can the tourists survive and battle back to save this game?

Honours Even After First Day of the Second Test

What do you do if you have a group of fired-up pace bowlers who are terrifying opposition batsmen with some hostile bowling? Prepare another quick pitch to hammer home the advantage? Well no apparently.

The drop-in pitch at the Adelaide Oval proved to be pretty lifeless on Day 1. This will not have been a big disappointment for England who will be pleased for a respite from the barrage of short-pitched that they faced at the Gabba. England would have been even more pleased had they won the toss. Instead Michael Clarke won the toss and chose to bat, fully in the expectation of his side racking up a big score.

After I confidently predicted that England definitely wouldn’t pick five bowlers in this game in my preview piece , they promptly did. Ben Stokes was handed a Test debut while Monty Panesar was given a recall, ready to battle a different type of bouncer Down Under. Australia were unchanged, finally settled after a summer where selection seemed to be done through a lucky dip system.

Early on David Warner (29) seemed set for a big score. He slapped a number of boundaries that perhaps weren’t elegant but certainly effective. He scored at almost a run a ball, in stark contrast to the more scratchy Chris Rogers (71). Warner perished after trying to lash the ball to the boundary yet again, tamely hitting out to point.

Shane Watson (51) announced himself with a couple of trademark booming drives; he and Rogers started to show up the benign nature of the pitch by building a solid partnership.

They were in cruise control; England struggled to make the breakthrough through much of the afternoon. Panesar (1-68) and Graeme Swann (1-55) bowled relatively well in tandem, extracting a little bit of turn that will offer encouragement to the duo that their role will increase as the game progresses.

Just as both batsmen were starting to think about reaching three figures both fell in successive overs. First Watson was snared by a sharp return catch from James Anderson (1-56), then Rogers snicked off to Matt Prior off Swann. England were revitalised, finally there was light at the end of the tunnel. Australia looked fragile again.

Soon it was Monty’s turn to join in with the fun. A ball to Steve Smith (6) straightened and left him slightly before crashing into the stumps. Cue jubilant dancing from the left-armer, unfortunately that was as good as it got for Panesar.

The more comical aspect of Monty’s game was on display in the evening session. Panesar is not a natural fielder, in fact his fielding is about as natural as Wayne Rooney’s hairline. He shelled a simple chance off his own bowling from George Bailey (53); this was just the first of three frustrating drops for England.

Bailey took the attack to the spinners, dancing down the wicket and hitting over the top at every possible opportunity. He showed his worth here and reinforced Darren Lehman’s aggressive mentality. At the other end Clarke (48*) was playing a canny support role. Clarke was perhaps slightly lucky to survive as Joe Root shelled a very tough chance at midwicket.

England were ruing the missed opportunities when Stuart Broad (2-63) struck with the second new ball. Bailey had earlier reached his fifty will a pull for six and heaved another venomous strike into the legside. The ball seemed certain to race to the boundary before Swann rose and plucked the ball out of the air. It was a magnificent catch and England smelt blood again.

One more chance was to come, Brad Haddin (7*) offered up a dolly to Michael Carberry but he shelled it, giving the keeper-batsman a gladly received lifeline. Haddin and Clarke made it through to close, helping guide Australia to 273-5.

It was very much honours even. Australia will be looking to kick on, rack up a big score and then get stuck into an England batting line-up that will see Stokes bat at 6. England will be looking to wrap up the Australian innings quickly and allow their batsmen to prove their point and push them into the ascendancy. It promises to be a fascinating second day.