Highlander999
ICC President
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Location
- London
England have Massive Batting Collapse
So England resumed the session looking to be in a very strong position with both Pietersen and Bell nearing their half centuries. The Australian bowling attack was looking very ragged and needed to mkae a breakthrough. It was not happening however as Ian Bell, quickly notched up his half-century in a very nice innings.
Pietersen who had been batting very slowly to begin with tried to accelerate, with some big shots. He did begin to ride his luck when he edged one but Gilchrist dropped it. It was a difficult catch especially as it was quite a big edge. Had Australia handed Pietersen a life-line? Would he go on and make another century?
The answer to that question was NO. Instead of learning his lesson, Pietersen tried another big shot atempting to slog sweep for a six. He did not time it however and it looped up in the air and was taken by Hodge ten yards from the boundary. Warne had got his man. Pietersen was furious to have gotten out at such a point in his innings with only two more runs needed for his half-century. On heading back to the pavillion his frustration was obvious.
England began to fall away quickly now with the dismissal of Pietersen. Ian Bell looked very unsettled for a while after seeing one of his best mates get out and eventually perished to Warne attempting to sweep him. A bit of extra bounce deceived him and was clean bowled. It was a very good knock by Bell but England had lost two wickets very quickly and the Australian bowlers were gaining a lot more confidence now.
Paul Collingwood had a nasty scare early on in his innings when he nicked one, of Warne. Gilchrist made a very good effort but even his amazing reflexes were not enough to stop that edge. Collingwood had escaped. Would he now use his lifeline?
Once again the answer to that was a definite NO. Hodge who had been bowling very well in this series, put a very wide one down to Collingwood. He attempted to play it down to third man using the pace of the ball, however the uneven bounce of the pitch tricked him as it bounced higher than expected and he edged it to Hussey at slip who did not have to do much work to take the catch. England were in big trouble now at 143/5 and they needed to stop the collapse.
However things went from very bad to terrible for england. Phil Mustard who had still yet to make a big score perished first ball to Hodge. Attempting to cover drive Hodge all Mustard ended up doing was loft straight to the fielder there and so he had the embarissing walk back to the pavillion with a Golden Duck next to his name.
This now meant that Hodge, the part timer was on a hat-trick
The Australian fans were really firing up the players now, and Ponting put a very agressive field around the new batsman, Mascarenhas. So far Dimitry had performed well for England, but they were now in big trouble and needed a special innings from him.
With five players being around the bat, and the jeers ringing in Mascarenhas's ears from the crowd, Hodge got ready to bowl. It was pretty straight and spun quite a bit into Mascarenhas. However a straight bat on the back foot meant that it did not get through his rock solid defence and Dimitry was safe, for now
However Mascarenhas proved to be another let down as Shane Warne picked up another wicket when Mascarenhas edged him behind. Gilchrist proved why he is the best keeper in the world when he took a stunning catch to his weaker right side. Ponting and his men were jubilant now as england were in major trouble with the tail exposed and they were now 158/7. Could the tail get some much needed runs.
Well those runs were not going to come from Hoggard who got run out on one attempting to give Flintoff the strike. An easy decision for the umpire, and another England batsman was heading back to the changing room.
Flintoff realised now he was going to quickly run out of partners. He bagn to start slogging all over the place, in testimony to how he batted in the Ashes in 2005. He did begin to move the score along now, however he could not keep going forever. There were some big shots from him though.
Eventually it was one shot to many and he holed out to Hayden at deep Square Leg with Hodge getting another wicket. He had got some much needed runs for England though, and so did receive warm applause from the Barmy Army.
The last wicket to fall was that of Anderson when he was clean bowled by Kasprowicz for a duck.
So after Australia had psoted such a poor score, it had given England a massive chance to take advantage and post an unassailable lead. However a lead of 299 runs was not enough considering that there was so much time left in the match. Bell top scored with 55 and apart from contributions from Pietersen and Flinoff the rest of the batting lineup was a bit of a flop.
Spin was once again the key for Australia with it picking up seven wickets. Kasprowicz picked up the other two plus the runout and altogether it was a good display from the Australian bowlers.
Bell did have a very nice knock. with a lot of his runs behind square on the offside, but also a few down the ground on the leg-side. However he should have made a bigger score considering he had got his eye in.
So at Lunch on Day 3 Australia need 299 runs to win. Although no one has come near that total in this match, if they bat sensibly and slowly they should easily make it
Cricketer's Corner (with David Lloyd)
Sky Sports Prediction Contest
Congratulations to Tonka, King Cricket and Suren for winning the competition. Reps coming your way. Now the new competition.
Who will win this match?
a) England
b) Australia
c) Draw
Good luck!!!!!! :happy
Once again, thank you to everyone who posts comments. It is you guys who keep me going.
