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| The 'Gabbatoir' witnessing another massacre - © Rae Allen |
If the second day was a bad one for England, it didn’t get
any better on the third day at the Gabba.
Already 224 runs behind, with all ten Australian second
innings wickets in hand, there was an air of things can only get better; this
was wrong.
The day started fairly brightly for England with the wickets
of Chris Rogers and Shane Watson both falling in the first hour, and a short
rain delay providing hope of a miracle draw.
However, with the delay lasting only a quarter of an hour,
and the early wickets much more a result of poor shot selection than good
bowling, the outlook was a lot bleaker.
…It was to get a lot bleaker still.
Despite England trying to exploit a weakness in the armoury
of Australian captain Michael Clarke, he set about joining David Warner in
tucking into the English attack.
Unlike Jonathan Trott, Clarke’s problem with short-pitch
bowling is physical rather than technical.
Whilst Trott finds himself cramped by short bowling, and
fends shots away, Clarke is simply unable to duck short-pitch deliveries due to
his bad back. Having decided to attack rather than survive, the Australian
captain prospered.
He pulled the first Stuart Broad bouncer he faced for four,
and this was a rather apt way to set the tone for the day.
Warner was as belligerent as Clarke was classy, and the run
rate was as noteworthy as the scores.
Graeme Swann is usually another tone-setter, but his figures
of 2/135 show how little he was able to impact proceedings.
He went for 5 runs per over, and if you could sum up a day
in 1 shot it would be the lofted drive of Clarke for six in the 54th
over of the innings.
Swann had no answer and the over went for sixteen.
Warner went on to score 124 and Clarke 113, and by the time
Australia declared, and Brad Haddin had scored yet another 50 in the first test
of an Ashes series, the game was long finished.
Needing 561 to win, and with an hour to bat at the end of
the day, the scenario had early wickets written all over it.
Michael Carberry, who played relatively well in England’s
first innings debacle, saw off thirteen balls calmly, before a disaster that
perfectly analogises England’s test match, gave Ryan Harris the break-through.
A technically perfect shot, a back foot defensive with soft
hands, played late and watched right onto the middle of the bat, bounced down
onto the ground, through his legs and back onto his stumps. Hideous.
There was still time for Trott to get out to another
Mitchell Johnson short ball, and leave England at 24/2 and Australia only a matter
of time from an Ashes lead.
Session score: 3-0 to Australia – 7-2 overall
Verdict: Clarke and Warner showed how good for batting this
pitch really is, and England missed a potent Graeme Swann. The game was lost on
day 2 and day 3 just compounded things.
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