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Cricket – Australia vs. England, 2^nd Test.

The moment Harmison delivered the first ball of the series, it was clear there was only going to be one winner in Brisbane. It was quite simply the worst ball bowled in test match history. The crucial opening spell, the defining statement of intent, was not one of aggressive intent, but simple surrender. Harmison, once rated the best bowler in the world was suffering from ‘an attack of the nerves’. It was the only attack he showed for the entire game.

Of course the blame for England’s defeat cannot be entirely laid on the shoulders of Harmison. Outside of Flintoff, the bowling attack was close to pathetic, failing to bowl out Australia twice the simple evidence. With the bat things were little better, in the first innings at least. So it looks like it is all over after just one game, the next 4 tests are just a matter of going through the motions. Or maybe not. There are a few rays of hope for an English fight back.

The first is highlighted by Ponting’s decision not to enforce the follow on in the first Test. A very strange decision, and one that left England in with the chance of getting a draw from a game in which they had been comprehensively out played. The weather remained fair, but going into day 5 with five wickets intact and 30% chance of rain in the afternoon was risky. So why take the risk? Was it an act of arrogance, a simple desire to humiliate England with a long and slow death? Perhaps, but it is more likely that Ponting was well aware that his two best bowlers were simply too old to carry on, they needed a break, especially with the next Test just four days away. As it turns out, McGrath is a doubt for the second test with a heel injury, and if he fails the Friday morning fitness test, Australia will be much weakened.

The failure to put England to the sword at the earliest opportunity also gave them a very useful bit of match practice. England’s preparation for this series, or lack of it, is showing. Too many players are coming back from long lay offs and even the fit ones are lacking time playing in Australian conditions. At least they got some real cricket under their belt and should be better for it. Certainly the second innings showed the batsmen doing a reasonable job, with the exception of Strauss and Flintoff. Cook is showing good mental strength for such a young player, Bell showed battling quality in the 1^st innings (but he looks lost against Warne), Collingwood was surprisingly good in the second innings and Pietersen looked the only English player who was fully wound up for the series.

All in all, Australia still look the better team, but perhaps by not the margin that the Aussie media would have us believe. It is hard to see England winning the 2^nd test, but then again, the same was said after they were hammered at Lords in the First Test in 2005, but England need to make a few changes if they are to get something out of this match.

Firstly they need to play Monty Panesar. He is a wicket taker, a spinner who can actually spin the ball. Playing Giles was simply telling the Australians that England had no faith in their batsmen. Fletcher was proved correct in that sense, but Giles is no more than a useful tail-ender who will get 20 or 30 runs. Sadly he was never a great spinner of the ball and coming off a long time out of the game, he was not likely to be at his best. Picking Giles to get the team maybe 50 runs over the 2 innings, rather than Panesar who might get 2 ducks, but who is much more likely to take wickets, was an error. The Adelaide pitch is more spin friendly and surely the fact that the seam attack was so poor in Brisbane will force Panesar into the team.

Secondly they need to drop either Harmison or Anderson, perhaps both. There will be the temptation to stick with Harmison as he can win matches, if he gets his head sorted out. He is said to have have worked well in the nets yesterday and is much happier with his action. Anderson on the other hand has not the same potential and actually bowled even worse than Harmison. Panesar in place of Anderson would be the obvious change, but that leaves Giles in place and he should not be picked as a batsman. A bold move would be to pick Joyce as an extra batsman, drop Giles and use Pietersen and Collingwood as part time bowlers.

England’s task is simple, they need to take more wickets, score more runs, win the toss and bat first! That way they can get something out of this game. Whether they will be bold in their selections remains to be seen and certainly any bets on the out come of the match should not be made until the toss is made. Winning the toss and batting first was a big advantage in Brisbane, and will be here as well. The weather looks set fair, with just a chance of showers on Saturday morning, so to get a result England will have to earn it.

No outright bets on the match at this stage, but if England show a more aggressive team selection, win the toss and bat first, laying Australia at around 1.60 may not be such a bad idea.

Kevin Pietersen looks the most likely of the English batsmen to be able to make a really big score. He was unlucky to be given out LBW in the 1^st innings and looked in great nick in the second. The Adelaide Oval is just that, oval shaped, with long straight boundaries, but quite short at square. This will suit the powerful Pietersen very nicely and we could see quite a few sixes. The odds are not overly generous, hence the modest stakes.

2 points Pietersen to be top 1^st innings England batsman @ 7/2 with Corals.

Lost 2 points. 158 runs and still not a winner!