“I don't come out saying things to the press just to wind myself up. I'm just happy that having done my preparation I've come out and done well today."
-Ashley Giles
“The Return of the Empire” has been an oft repeated theme England has been promising after 18 months of unbelievable success. But it has taken 75 days since the Aussie touched the English shores, for the hyperbole and the expectations of a nation hungry after years of living on appetizers, to finally get ready to feast on the main course. When the madness of this test match dies down and Ashley Giles reminisces about this day, the one thing he would wish would be to take back that insecure emotional spewing of last week and let the events of this test match play out the way it has.
When the Aussies came out to bat today, everybody expected an English shellacking on a much meatier scale than what the home team doled out to the Aussies on the first day. But very few people expected an England bowling attack determined this time not to let the opportunity pass by like they did at Lords. The Aussie batsmen were caught between trying to attack and fend off some tight bowling especially from Giles and Flintoff. Case in point being Ricky Ponting’s frustration and eventual dismissal after a quiet period. Hoggard began the day for England brilliantly by dismissing Hayden first ball and Harmison decided that Langer needed some reminding of the pain from Lords. But Ponting and Clarke looked in good touch and Langer resolutely fought off the bowlers. But like the England innings on the first day, none of them were game for a grind and wickets fell pretty regularly to some tight but not extraordinary England bowling; the most shocking dismissal being Warne’s ugly heave across the line to Giles. In fact the best bowling during the day came in the latter part of the Aussie innings when Simon Jones bowled briskly and got some swing and Flintoff cleaned up the tail in the old-fashioned reverse-swinging yorker way. And an important achievement for this England team was to keep Adam Gilchrist away from the strike and prevent him from launching into his famous counter-attacking assaults.
It’s been a long time since England have come out on top two days in a row and it is important for them to keep batting throughout the day tomorrow and then some on the 4th day to set a big target for this Australian team. It’s going to be tough as seen by the one English wicket to fall today, when the ball from that great man turned square to bowl Strauss behind his legs. Because if the Aussies get a scent at a gettable target, a 4th and 5th day deteriorating pitch might not help England, as in the wheelie-bin’s own words; he ain’t no Shane Warne. Final shot…
So what sort of total would the Aussies ideally like to chase? Langer grinned again. "Well, we're already 125 behind - about 150? You saw how Warnie was turning it at the end ... That ball hopefully will have worried England, not just for this game but the whole of the series. The more Shane Warne demons we can get into the England dressing-room, the better."
-Justin Langer
6 comments:
The two Ashes tests thus far have lived up to the old chestnut that test cricket is the real thing.
I think England now seem to have more steel than in the past 10 years or so. Also from what I have seen on the Telly some of the Aussies seem to be reaching the use-by dates... especially Hayden and Gillespie. Even Kaspers looks ordinary.
It is so hard to judge this team bearcy isn't it? Agreed that England has a lot of fire that was missing from teams under Atherton and Hussain. But are they good enough to beat this Aussie team even with all that talent in the side? I disagree about Hayden though. Considering the run he had scoring more than 1000 runs for 3 consecutive years the law of averages was bound to catchup with him. In fact Ganguly has had a far worse run than Hayden. And Hayden hasn't looked as bad as Ganguly has even through this dry spell.
But I totally agree with you that Gillespie and Kasper are nearing the end and as much as I admire both these cricketers, the Aussie selectors are known for their ruthlessness. Perhaps the time has come when the Aussies should start giving Shaun Tait and Shane Watson a at the risk of losing a few games. Also a little extra responsibility on Lee might not be bad for him.
"Perhaps the time has come when the Aussies should start giving Shaun Tait and Shane Watson a.."
few games. Missed that in there. It's 12:30am here and the bed beckons.
Well its all but over .. this is what happens to the aussies without mcgrath India showed it down under how vulnerable their bowling is without him . If he stays out for next couple of games who knows the urn may finally be resting in england. Might be worth giving Tait a go or maybe play two spinners in the next test
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