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?