SWALEC Stadium (first day of five; England won toss): England have scored 336 for seven wickets against Australia.
It was with all manner of pomp and ceremony that Test cricket came to Cardiff. With the Welsh Guards, fêted opera singers and an equally splendid red carpet greeting the players before the start of the day, it was as if we were witnessing a royal occasion, not a cricket match.
The cricket itself was not exactly of the blue-blooded variety — there were too many unforced errors for that — but it was, as would be expected on the opening day of an Ashes series, red-blooded.
Whether this represents a good return or a missed opportunity, only time will tell, but the suspicion is that the home team will be happy with their day’s work, especially given their habit of starting Ashes series more slowly than a four-mile steeplechaser.
Australia would be content to have taken seven wickets having lost the toss, but this pitch has already shown signs of taking spin, England have five bowlers to Australia’s four, two spinners to their one, and Australia must bat last.
There was also consistent swing for Ben Hilfenhaus throughout the day, which will interest James Anderson when his turn comes.
After a sticky morning when three wickets were lost through a mixture of nerves, poor shot selection and Mitchell Johnson, there were half-centuries for Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior, whose blade sounded the sweetest of all, and a pleasing cameo from Andrew Flintoff, who seems determined to try to recreate the mood of 2005 and the freedom with which he batted in that series.
Nobody, though, could go on and dominate the day, and convert a start into an innings of real substance, so the lasting impression is one of an opportunity missed.
For Australia it was a mixed day. After a bright morning, they went wicketless in the afternoon, when it was clear that Ricky Ponting, setting some defensive fields, has learnt to cut his cloth according to the bowlers at his disposal. Then, when the touring team’s captain took the second new ball after tea, they leaked runs at an alarming rate before Peter Siddle struck twice late in the day to redress the balance. At least Ponting got his selections spot on, Nathan Hauritz, the spinner, generally holding his own before taking the key wicket of Pietersen and Hilfenhaus bowling steadily.
There were signs, too, that Johnson had started to find his rhythm, picking up Ravi Bopara and Andrew Strauss, the former with a magnificently disguised slower ball, the second with a rapid bouncer that Strauss punched to slip.
For a while in the afternoon, as the cricket turned attritional, it looked as if English cricket’s version of royalty, Pietersen, might treat his subjects to a century, as he often does on these showpiece occasions. He was not at his vintage best, to be sure, showing unusual nerves at the start of his innings as Australia looked to exploit his penchant for playing across full, straight balls with a high backlift, but when he survived a plumb-looking leg-before appeal on 61 and a dropped catch by Michael Clarke at extra cover on 66, it felt as if it might be his day.
Ironically, Hauritz, the man most thought would be a lamb to Pietersen’s slaughter, cut short his stay. Pietersen had been forced to play a patient hand by Ponting’s deep-set fields — what John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, would have called playing on the Pietersen ego — and he managed to pierce the boundary ropes only three times in his first 50 runs. His bread-and-butter stroke off Hauritz had been the wristy paddle around the corner for a single a time and trying that stroke again brought his downfall.
Eyeing Pietersen’s premeditated sweep, Hauritz pushed the ball wider. So wide, in fact, that had the batsman essayed a square cut he might have struggled to reach it. Instead, he attempted to manoeuvre the ball behind square on the leg side, but succeeded only in top-edging it on to his helmet, short leg taking the offering. Depending on your take on these things, Pietersen, again, will be hero or villain. Poor shot selection will suffice.
Pietersen had enjoyed another three-figure collaboration with Paul Collingwood, their eighth together in now the most successful fourth-wicket partnership that England have produced. Collingwood is the artisan to Pietersen’s aristocracy and always happy to sail along in his slipstream, a fact acknowledged by Ponting, who was happy to allow the Durham man the lion’s share of the strike.
It needed a top-class snare by Brad Haddin, moving more sharply to his right than he had in the warm-up matches, to end Collingwood’s stay once Hilfenhaus had located the outside edge.
At 241 for five, with the new ball ten overs away, it was the second time in the day that Australia had sniffed an opportunity and, at times, it needed thrilling stokeplay from Prior and Flintoff to give England renewed momentum. Prior’s cockiness was impressive given that this is his first Ashes Test and he was severe on anything with the merest hint of width. His confidence seemed to rub off on Flintoff, who played in the manner of a man with a point to prove. Both were bowled courtesy of inside edges and the persevering Siddle.
Prior and Flintoff finished the day as Bopara had started it, once Alastair Cook had departed to Mike Hussey’s spring-heeled catch in the gully. But whereas Prior and Flintoff’s aggression was a deliberate counter-attack to neuter a dangerous situation, the suspicion remains that Bopara’s curious innings reflected the nerves in the team generally.
He was given a typically Antipodean greeting by Siddle, who thundered a second-ball bouncer into his neck: welcome to Ashes cricket, cobber. Clearly unsettled, he got off the mark eight balls later with a streaky inside-edged four to fine leg before driving airily on a number of occasions. It was noticeable how much of the stumps the bowlers could see and how far away from his body Bopara was defending, technical blemishes that will keep Australia’s bowlers interested. Was it nerves or an iffy technique? England will hope the former.
England: First Innings*A J Strauss c Clarke b Johnson 30A N Cook c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 10R S Bopara c Hughes b Johnson 35K P Pietersen c Katich b Hauritz 69P D Collingwood c Haddin b Hilfenhaus 64†M J Prior b Siddle 56A Flintoff b Siddle 37J M Anderson not out 2S C J Broad not out 4Extras (b 9, lb 7, w 2, nb 11) 29Total (7 wkts, 90 overs) 336
G P Swann and M S Panesar to bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-67, 3-90, 4-228, 5-241, 6-327, 7-329.
Bowling: Johnson 18-2-68-2; Hilfenhaus 23-5-61-2; Siddle 23-3-93-2; Hauritz 19-1-67-1; Clarke 5-0-20-0; Katich 2-0-11-0.
Australia: P J Hughes, S M Katich, *R T Ponting, M E K Hussey, M J Clarke, M J North, †B J Haddin, M G Johnson, N M Hauritz, B W Hilfenhaus, P M Siddle.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and B R Doctrove (West Indies).TV umpire: R A Kettleborough.Match referee: J J Crowe (New Zealand).Reserve umpire: R K Illingworth.
Series detailSecond Test match: July 16 (Lord’s).Third: July 30 (Edgbaston).Fourth: August 7 (Headingley Carnegie).Fifth: August 20 (Brit Oval).
Source: The times
Thursday, July 9, 2009
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