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| One Day Mode - David warner may as well have been wearing Yellow during this innings - © Sum_of_Marc |
“If the second day was a bad one for England, it didn’t get
any better on the third day at the Gabba.”
These were my opening sentiments during the 1st
Test, the same could be said for the events at the Adelaide Oval overnight. A
complete catastrophe.
I first whispered the words 5-0 in the moments after 1st
Test defeat, more in a reflection of how badly England had played on that
occasion than in a genuine belief that it might happen, now it looks
increasingly possible.
Former England captain, Michael Vaughan, in Australia with
BBC TMS said today that England could lose 5-0 if this form continues, and with
a batting line-up that cannot make 200 there are problems that won’t be solved
by quick fixes or a bit of luck here or there.
Having battled through to the close, Michael Carberry and
Joe Root began the day at the crease with England 35-1, and whilst they
continued at a circumspect strike-rate, the early stages were relatively calm.
Root barely played a shot in anger as he moved on to 15 from
79 balls, and the 80th ball, the first he faced from Nathan Lyon on
the day, was evidently the wrong one to go after, his top edged sweep flew to
Chris Rogers who only needed to take a few steps in from the boundary to take
the catch.
If Root’s shot was bad, Kevin Pietersen’s was probably
worse. Michael Clarke is described as a creative captain, but his trap for
Pietersen is far from subtle.
He places two fielders at mid-wicket and waits for the
South-African born batsman’s ego to force him into hitting it straight at one
of them, he’d made four by the time he did it on this occasion.
The next to go was Carberry who had put together a well made
half-century before lazily pulling to David Warner who took a stunning catch.
Carberry’s dismissal wasn’t in the same league as Root’s or
Pietersen’s, and could be described as unlucky, but he picked the man out and
for that he can be criticised.
After this, Mitchell Johnson took centre stage once again
and ripped through the middle order and tail, leaving Prior run-less again and
shattering Anderson’s stumps along the way.
The only man who stood up to be counted was Ian Bell; his
innings was bizarre, but classy, he can always be counted upon to be classy…
He shot off like a train and had 25 at better than a run a
ball, but as pressure was built up through maiden overs, and Carberry fell he
also began to get bogged down and could only watch as the rest of his team
mates arrived and then departed.
His innings of 72*, that included four 6s, was the one stand
out in a third England innings of the series to include a spell in which at
least four wickets were lost for less than ten runs.
Another thing worth noting, alongside the miraculous
comeback of Johnson, is that the Australian’s have got their taste back for
bullying opponents.
Michael Clarke could have enforced the follow-on with
England still 398 runs behind, but he wants them to suffer.
He knows full well that with that many runs in hand he could
have thrown them back in to bat and had an innings victory to celebrate by tea
on day four, but that isn’t as painful or humiliating as this can be, so he’s
gone for the throat.
By choosing to bat again, he has enabled David Warner to
smash England’s bowlers around, he has sent the whole team out in the heat for
a bit longer ahead of the 3rd Test, and given already tired bowlers
a bigger workload.
He is also saying that he doesn’t think he needs maximum
time to bowl England out in the second innings, and frankly he’s probably
right.
Session score: 3-0 to Australia – 7-2 overall
Verdict: Like in the 1st Test, after an even
opening day, things got bad and then worse. Day three was like living out a nightmare
for just about every England player. The key protagonists for Australia were
Johnson and Warner, but the whole team is contributing to a convincing victory.
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