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Subject: 2nd Ashes Test
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royal28 16.07.09 - 06:11pm
Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss forged the highest partnership by an England opening combination at Lord's - before the second drinks break, no less - as the hosts seized control of the second Test. Their stand of 196 bettered by 14 runs the 83-year-old record held by Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, and came at the expense of an Australian bowling group guilty of inaccuracy and stage fright.
By tea, England had advanced their total to an authoritative 255 for two, due largely to Cook's spirited 95 and Strauss' more measured unbeaten 100. The England captain raised his fourth Test century at Lord's from the penultimate ball of the second session, and celebrated with a leap in the air and a rapturous swipe of the bat. A riposte to Ricky Ponting's 150 in Cardiff had been made.
Strauss was helped no end by an Australian attack that lurched from the lamentable to the horrendous, and one that will be without the services of Nathan Hauritz in the short-term. Hauritz, in dropping a powerfully struck return catch by Strauss, dislocated the middle finger on his bowling hand and was immediately taken from the field for treatment. So savage was the force of Strauss's drive that Hauritz, upon viewing his contorted finger, immediately signalled to the dressing room in distress and almost vomited on the pristine playing surface.
Australia can ill-afford to lose one of their four specialist bowlers, and particularly so given the poor showing of their frontline pacemen on a placid Lord's pitch. Even the vital wicket of Cook could not atone for Mitchell Johnson's disastrous opening to the match, during which he haemorrhaged runs at seven-per-over and ceded the early advantage to England.
Peter Siddle, too, was awry, failing to contend with the slope of the Lord's pitch and making life difficult for Brad Haddin. Australia's only saving grace was Ben Hilfenhaus, who began the match with three consecutive maidens and was rewarded after lunch with the wicket of Ravi Bopara. He might also have had Strauss earlier in the second session, if not for the small detail of his no-ball and Haddin's turfed catch. Strauss went onto raise his 18th Test century moments before tea. It was that kind of day for the Australians.
Extras, misfields and overthrows all impacted on the Australians, but by far the biggest disappointment was Johnson, who arrived on these s s trumpeted as the best paceman in international cricket. One Test and two sessions later, however, and the left-armer can no longer count himself among the best quicks in the Australian team, much less the planet, despite claiming his 100th Test wicket in the form of Cook.
Johnson's figures of 1 for 77 from 11 overs, including 15 boundaries, didn't quite relay the horror that was his first outing in a Lord's Test. Whether overawed by the occasion, thrown by the ground's pro nounced slope or just shy of form and confidence, Australia's spearhead appeared decidedly blunt in his exchanges with Strauss and Cook, neither of whom were troubled in any way by the man who so tormented the South Africans three months ago. *
