Day 3 was another day for all Australian cricket fans to
savour. While yesterday was explosive, a day of shock and awe tactics aimed at
the English batsmen; today Australia mercilessly ground down England. They
never looked like relinquishing the tight control that they have on this match;
instead they simply feasted on the opposition bowling before making yet more inroads
into the England batting.
There was briefly hope at the beginning of the day for
England. Both Chris Rogers (16) and Shane Watson (6) gifted their wickets away
with exceptionally soft dismissals to Stuart Broad (2-55) and Chris Tremlett
(3-69) respectively. A brief rain delay ensued before England were well and
truly put to the sword.
David Warner (124) showed why so much effort has been made
to reintegrate him into the side with an excellent hundred. The highlight for
the opener will have undoubtedly been a towering straight six off Broad which
delighted the crowd. At the other end Michael Clarke (113) showed the type of
form that has made him one of the best batsmen in the world.
England went at Clarke straight away, gifting him strike at
every possible opportunity. It was all rather village, but perhaps not the best
strategy to a man of his class. For his part the Australian skipper fought fire
with fire, taking on the short ball and finding the boundary early in his
innings, from there he never looked back.
Warner and Clarke were proactive throughout a very
aggressive and profitable partnership. They never allowed the bowlers settle,
punishing anything loose as well as putting away plenty of good deliveries. Any
momentum that England had built earlier was quickly eradicated. The visitors were
reduced to just standing around waiting for the inevitable declaration.
Throughout the afternoon, Australia’s lead continued to
swell. First Warner reached his ton, fittingly coming off the bowling of his
old nemesis Joe Root (0-57). England’s main spinner Graeme Swann (2-135) was
taking the brunt of the punishment. Swann went at five runs an over, for once
the off -spinner struggled to extract any turn.
Warner and Smith (0) fell in quick succession; however this
just allowed debutant George Bailey (34) to make an impression. Bailey quickly
found his range by nailing a couple of sixes and provided a good foil for his
skipper. Clarke went on to reach three figures in just 115 balls, a sparkling
innings full of sweet shots.
Australia looked to up the gears again. Clarke fell to Swann
trying to play another big shot. Bailey also fell to the off-spinner, playing
inside to one that clipped off stump. Mitchell Johnson (39*) and Brad Haddin
(53) combined again for another strong partnership, both scoring at almost a
run a ball.
The second new ball was no help to England; instead the ball
just flew to the boundary quicker. Eventually the declaration came, Australia
setting a colossal and implausible total of 562 for England to win.
With only a short session left to play, England were simply
looking to survive. Australia had other ideas. Carberry played on to Ryan
Harris (1-7) for a duck to leave England 1-1. This brought Jonathan Trott (9)
to the crease, it didn’t take long before he and Johnson (1-7) resumed
hostilities.
Sadly for England it didn’t take long for Johnson to get his
man. Trott attempted one of his patented flicks into the legside but only managed
to pick out Nathan Lyon in the deep. Alastair Cook (11*) and Kevin Pietersen
(3*) managed to see off the rest of the day but they’ll know that the sheer
size of the task ahead.
England have been in similar scrapes before and managed to
pull through, however this situation looks particularly hopeless. Australia
have their tails up and England don’t seem to have any response as they face up
to the prospect of a heavy defeat.
Now England needs to show some serious fight even if it’s in
a losing cause. It’s time to show the Aussies what they’re made of; the
alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.
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