A day for Trott and toys out of the pram

Monday 27 December 2010

The MCG

Melbourne Day 2: Australia 98, England 444 for 5. England lead by 346 runs. This was another day which went almost entirely the way of the England team. Many moons ago I wrote of England's complete domination of the 2nd Test in Adelaide. England's lead on first innings is now remarkably similar here in Melbourne - except that it has been achieved a whole day earlier than in Adelaide. With no rain forecast for the remaining three days, this really does give England ample time to complete the win that would see them retain the Ashes. Australia started the day with renewed intent after a (richly deserved) pasting in the national media. Local hero Peter Siddle bowled beautifully to remove both England openers without significant addition to their overnight score, then returned later to dismiss Kevin Pietersen just after he had reached a patient fifty. He even added two fine outfield catches from carelessly played hook shots by Collingwood and Bell - so far the only England batsmen not to reach fifty. Had Mitchell Johnson not marginally overstepped the no-ball line when persuading Matt Prior to edge a catch at the start of his innings, England's lead may yet have been restricted to 200-250. As it is, Prior and the outstanding Jonathan Trott took full advantage to extend England's lead by the close to a huge 346 runs with five wickets left standing. Trott's hundred was greeted with chants of "easy easy" from certain England fans, but in fact batting was far from easy under the variable cloud cover of the first two sessions and required considerable skill and application to survive - qualities lacking from England's batting in Perth (and certainly from Australia's pitiful performance yesterday) but shown in abundance by Trott throughout the day.

A reprise of the Australian first innings on Day 1

Much of the media comment here tonight is focusing on Ricky Ponting's childish outburst after an appeal for a catch behind against Kevin Pietersen was firstly rejected by the on-field umpire, then again by the third umpire based on the complete lack of any TV evidence of contact with KP's bat. The toys really did come out of the pram. Completely disgraceful behaviour by a man as experienced and respected as Ponting - clearly it is no longer just his little finger which is cracking under pressure. Tomorrow, I predict that England will bat on until they either reach 600 or are all out. Australia should then fare much better second time round on a wicket which is flattening out in increasingly warm and sunny conditions, ensuring that the game is taken into a fourth day. But as in Adelaide, expect England to keep chipping away, with Graeme Swann likely to take over from the quicks as the key man.

Pinch me I must be dreaming

Sunday 26 December 2010

They start young in the Barmy Army

Melbourne Day 1: Australia 98 all out, England 157 for no wicket. Will this still be true when I wake up tomorrow? My Day 1 prediction lies in tatters and I don't care. No-one walking to the MCG this morning could have imagined what would unfold before their eyes today. In short, this was the most absurdly one-sided day's cricket in living memory between England and Australia. And that includes when the Aussies were thrashing us for fun throughout the nineties. Only the members of the esteemed Melbourne Cricket Club must have had a sense of foreboding about their team's performance today. Their inexplicable absence today was responsible for the shortfall of up to 10,000 spectators versus pre-match expectations. Instead of the world record crowd which was predicted in some quarters, the official attendance was just above 85,000. Still an astonishing number but ultimately well shy of a new record. So, where did all go wrong for Australia? Well, many people have speculated where Australia would be in this series without the batting contributions of Hussey, Watson and Haddin. Today we found out just what can happen when these players fail to score runs. First Chris Tremlett, then Jimmy Anderson and Tim Bresnan all found prodigious swing and seam movement under overcast skies after Andrew Strauss won the toss and invited Australia to bat for the second successive match. The bowlers were backed up by another great display of close catching, with all ten wickets falling to catches behind the wicket, including six taken by England wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

An England performance fit for royalty

Yet by the time England batted from mid-afternoon onwards, the pitch appeared to have lost much of its previous venom, enabling Strauss and Alastair Cook to proceed with relatively few alarms to 157 without loss, with a long day in the field surely awaiting Australia tomorrow as England look to build an enormous lead. By the time both England openers reached their fifties, the crowd had already dwindled well below 50,000 as the Aussie supporters began to desert their failing team in droves. Others who remained behaved so badly - at least in the vicinity of an understandably triumphant Barmy Army - that they had to be escorted away by the local constabulary. Yes, it was an incredibly bad day for their team but the local supporters are showing themselves to be very poor losers. I intend to return to this theme in more detail in a subsequent post.

Off to the cricket with 90,000 other people

Saturday 25 December 2010

Hot on the heels of Christmas must surely come the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. One of the truly great dates in the sporting calendar. And never greater than when it's Australia versus England with the Ashes at stake. Upwards of 90,000 people are expected to watch Day 1 tomorrow at the MCG. There could even be a record crowd at a cricket match. Ever. Now that would really be something to write home about. On the field, it is clear that the gloves are now off. With the series standing at 1-1 with only two to play, expect a close-fought, nervy encounter over the next five days. As both teams' batsmen are under pressure to perform after recent failures, I am predicting a cautious start by whichever team wins the toss and decides to bat first. In contrast to the first day of all three preceding matches this series, this could make for a relatively uneventful day's cricket on the pitch. The sort of day which ends at 260 for 4 or thereabouts.