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| 148 - The Michael Clarke show at the Adelaide Oval - © Sum_of_Marc |
The last thing I said yesterday was that England needed
early wickets. They didn’t get them.
First Michael Clarke, and then Brad Haddin, moved
impressively to centuries as Australia took firm control of the Test match, and
with it the series.
Explaining who won the first session could be done by
statistics alone.
Clarke and Haddin began it at the crease, and 116 runs
later, the pair were still together as lunch fell. At 389-5, England’s chances
of a series equalling victory were already all-but over.
Clarke eventually fell for 148 to Ben Stokes in the
afternoon session, but until that point the Australian captain looked
completely untroubled.
He was able to play all-around the wicket, and had bags of
time on the docile drop-in pitch.
If Clarke was calm and classy, Haddin abandoned this ploy
after lunch as he went on to hit five 6s in his 118, most of which were
slog-sweeps off Graeme Swann who, like most of the English bowlers, looked
unthreatening.
Mitchell Johnson fell cheaply, and Peter Siddle became
Stokes’ second Test wicket, but despite Clarke and Haddin being back in the
pavilion, England’s punishment didn’t stop.
Ryan Harris, normally known as a genuine tail-ender, managed
to score freely all-around the ground, as he was on his way to 55 not out.
Australia eventually declared on 570-9, and by this point
had all-but secured a win for each of the three sessions of the 2nd
day.
England came out to bat behind in the game situation, under
a tonne of scoreboard pressure and tired from two days in the field.
It wasn’t too long before despair began to set in as
Alastair Cook played the wrong line to a Mitchell Johnson delivery and saw his
stumps crash backward.
The England captain fell for three, and his struggles
against the pace of Johnson continue.
There was a monumental effort by Joe Root and Michael
Carberry to guide them safely to the close, but like they needed wickets
yesterday, they need plenty of runs on day three to make sure they don’t find
themselves 2-down.
It looks pretty bleak.
Session score: 3-0 to Australia – 4-2 overall
Verdict: Clarke and Haddin cashed in on dropped catches and
made important centuries. Australia’s 570-9 dec. will add a significant amount
of scoreboard pressure and could lead to more session victories for Australia
as they chase wickets on day three.
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