A draw, but England have momentum

CRICKET ASHES SERIES: THE PRINCIPLE that you should "Always do what your opponents would least like you to do" is pretty reliable in cricket.

Andrew Strauss applied that diligently here. The Australians would rather have endured another mildly humiliating but stress-free 25 overs in the field than having to bat again.

Strauss’ declaration was not much more than a token. There was, at best, a 1 in 200 chance England could win the Test. But it did enliven the day a bit. Cricket becomes a drudgery when the pursuit of records becomes the focal point.

England’s fightback had been magnificent, but by lunch on the final day this match, if taken in isolation, had become a dire contest. Yet the beauty of an Ashes series is that it is a five-act play, in which we become ever more intimate with and intrigued by the leading characters. In that sense the final entrails of this match remained fascinating.

I have spotted that use of the word “momentum” is frequently ridiculed nowadays because of its unrelenting passage from the lips of players, pundits and sports psychologists in the 21st century. Strauss must be aware of this, too.

“There will be all this momentum chat again now,” he said at the post-match press conference, where the smiles of Strauss and Alastair Cook were as eloquent as anything said.

Anyway, we must conclude that the final sessions of this Test, as Tony Blair might have said, were all about “momentum, momentum, momentum” and England had the momentum.

To endure a hat-trick and a triple-century partnership and still finish the Test with a few men huddled around the Australian batsmen, snarling away without looking too silly, suggests the tourists finished in the psychological ascendancy. But the cricket itself has offered more concrete confirmation that England will head for Adelaide in a more cheerful frame of mind.

It has been a nightmare for bowlers these past three days. Cook and Strauss acknowledged that it was “very flat out there”. We have witnessed five centuries and hours and hours of batsmen tormenting perspiring bowlers.

But there was a difference. Brad Haddin thought the 90 minutes at the crease on Saturday morning was the toughest he had experienced in Test cricket. Mike Hussey was not minded to disagree.

However, England’s extremely polite pair of openers could not be persuaded to say anything quite so complimentary about the Australia attack.

What consolation is there for the Australians after such a barren marathon in the field? They cunningly denied England’s middle order any batting practice ahead of Adelaide. Whoopee. Marcus North bowled rather well. Apart from dropping a few catches their fielding held up reasonably well.

This is not enough to cheer up Ricky Ponting. He must be concerned his bowlers did not look like taking a wicket.

Moreover, no one in the England team appears to be kowtowing to a man with 146 Test caps. Cook, with choirboy looks and demeanour, declined to leave the field when Ponting claimed a catch at short midwicket. The Australia captain was not happy. Anderson, once the second most taciturn man from Lancashire after Paul Scholes, kept swearing at him.

Ponting recognises the importance of momentum, which partly explains why he batted so skittishly in the afternoon sunshine. England hoped to embarrass him when he marched to the crease. He was peppered with short balls, which he combated with a mixture of discretion and disdain. He once popped an off-break from Swann into the stands. He hit 51 runs from just 43 balls before hands were shaken. If his bowlers could not make a statement with the ball then he would with the bat.

But he acknowledged he had exhausted every option while Australia were in the field and could only explain his bowlers’ impotence by saying: “I’ve never played on a Gabba wicket like that.”

Ponting informed us that Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris – “there is lots to like about Ryan” – were joining the XI who played this match when the side assembles in Adelaide. However, the Australia captain, admirably direct in everything he says to the press, could give no inkling which bowlers he would be leading out on Friday. “We will pick what we think is the best combination,” he said. “No one is certain to play”.

A very odd state of affairs for only the second Test of the series.

Guardian Service

First Test at the Gabba in Brisbane

ENGLAND – First innings 260 (I Bell 76, A Cook 67; P Siddle 6-54) AUSTRALIA – First innings 481 (M Hussey 195, B Haddin 136, S Katich 50; S Finn 6-125)

ENGLAND – Second innings (overnight 309-1)

A Strauss st Haddin b North ................110

A Cook not out .............. 235

J Trott not out ..............135

Extras (b-17, lb-4, w-10, nb-6) 37

–––––

Total (for one, dec 152 overs) 517

Fall of wicket: 1-188.

Did not bat: Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

Bowling: Hilfenhaus 32-8-82-0 (w-1 nb-3), Siddle 24-4-90-0 (w-2 nb-3), North 19-3-47-1, Johnson 27-5-104-0 (w-5), Doherty 35-5-107-0, Watson 15-2-66-0 (w-2).

AUSTRALIA – Second innings

S Watson not out ..................41

S Katich c Strauss b Broad ................4

R Ponting not out....................... 51

Extras (w-1 b-4 lb-1 pen-5) 11

–––––

Total (for one, 26 overs) 107

Fall of wicket: 1-5.

Did not bat: Clarke, Hussey, North, Haddin, Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Doherty.

Bowling: Anderson 5-2-15-0, Broad 7-1-18-1 (w-1), Swann 8-0-33-0, Finn 4-0-25-0, Pietersen 2-0-6-0.