Brad Cain continues his incisive analysis as England’s cricketers have another good day at the start of the Third Test against the Aussies in Perth
CHRIS TREMLETT’S rejuvenated Test career went off like a train this morning as he solidly justified his selection for the injured Stuart Broad in this, the Third Ashes Test from Perth in Western Australia.
On a greenish pitch, in slightly overcast but very warm conditions, and a north-westerly breeze drifting towards the pavilion, England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and asked Australia to bat first.
Throwing down the gauntlet with his first initiative, it was a bold attacking move hoping to make the most of the new ball, the pitch, the conditions, and the modified strike-team of Anderson, Finn and Tremlett.
It appeared that Ricky Ponting, Australia’s under fire captain, would have done the same thing had he won the toss.
The body language was already telling tales as the two captains walked off the pitch, England’s momentum inexorably rolling forward even before this match began.
In the ten days between these Tests, Australia have made four changes to England’s one, amongst them Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus, both dropped from the first test in Brisbane, brought back in to create a four man pace attack.
Ignominy
And as if the bemusing approach of “pick me, drop me” wasn’t embarrassment enough, Ponting has had to suffer the ignominy of calls for the overweight, out of shape, 41 year old Shane Warne to make a dramatic return to Test cricket and captain the side for the remaining three matches.
With the look of a politician fencing expenses questions, Ponting’s insouciance has held up through a break that must have felt more like a month.
James Anderson opened the bowling, and if the hosts were holding onto any thread of hope that the new father was in any way suffering from the jet-lag of returning home for the birth of his second child, they were soon brought out of their reverie.
Finding line and length from the offset, Shane Watson survived being caught behind on review, the ball clipping thigh not bat.
Chris Tremlett took the second over to Philip Hughes, replacement opener for the injured Simon Katich, and as if the ten day break, the pre-amble and the toss were all simply conspiring to delay the inevitable, Australia’s top-order collapse began with a fuller length ball that had Hughes bamboozled.
Terrific
Pitching a full in-swinger on middle and off stump, the ball beat Hughes as he tried to fend it off to leg.
Like a christian walking into the Colosseum, Ponting strode out to the square with history on his side, the leading run scorer in Tests at this ground with 933.
With Tremlett finding some bounce, Ponting managed to carve a terrific shot straight through the slip cordon to open his account with four runs.
Pulling another short one for four, then flicking Anderson off his legs for a third, he was looking in superb form.
Two balls later he was inexplicably chasing after a short bouncer that skidded off the shoulder of the bat and flew with ferocious speed, sensationally plucked out of the air by Paul Collingwood at third slip like the Terminator catching a bullet.
Michael Clarke must have had the selectors throwing pencils all over their desks as he was dismissed three overs later, leaving Australia on 28 runs for 3 wickets, admittedly a marked improvement on 2 for 3 in Adelaide. Again chasing outside off stump to a delivery he should have been leaving, an easy outside edge for Matt Prior’s 100th Test cricket catch.
Mauling
Enter Michael Hussey, Australia’s Mr. Cricket, with once again a monumental task of stemming the wickets and somehow saving this innings.
Not until Watson had been bowled lbw by Steve Finn and Steve Smith caught by Strauss at slip from Tremlett’s bowling did the hosts begin to recover from the mauling, the score standing at a very shaky 69-5.
Brad Haddin, whom the selectors must surely be now considering promoting up the order, paired with Hussey for a feisty 50 runs from 68 balls for the sixth wicket.
The two batsmen were able to score freely from England’s pace bowlers, and it was a spin approach from Graeme Swann that finally broke them up, the ball turning sharply in from well outside off stump forcing Hussey into a back-foot defence, the ball edging to the waiting Prior.
The end was not far off; Australia closed their first innings on 268 all out, from 76 overs, Tremlett and Anderson sharing three wickets each, Finn and Swann two apiece.
Punchy
Mitchell Johnson will be hoping he can have as much impact with the ball as the bat. Eager to impress, he carved a punchy cameo innings of 62, Australia’s highest scorer.
With around 12 overs left in the day, Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook opened England’s first innings with an assured air of confidence that served to stamp the tourists’ authority on this Test. Harris once again the pick of the Australian attack, delivering a furious bouncer that cut in and rose off the top of Strauss’s bat, reaching the ground just six inches from Ponting’s outstretched hands.
The close of yet another punishing day for Ricky Ponting, who may have gone back to the pavilion wishing Shane Warne had taken up the call to arms from the media.
For all the preparation, personnel changes and paper talk, this Test must feel distinctly like Groundhog Day.
England closed on an accomplished 29-0, and needing just one win from the final three Tests, must surely feel like they have one hand on the Ashes.
Updated: 10:24 am on December 16, 2010
