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.
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