CRICKET TEST MATCH:TWO DAYS gone and already the first Test has not so much twisted and turned as writhed. Yesterday, for the most part anyway, was Australia's day as relentlessly, playing the conditions without risk or frippery, Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting redressed the balance of the first Test for Australia after a morning in the field that bordered on red-faced embarrassment for them.
Katich, a latecomer as an established Test match batsman, the pragmatic unobtrusive left-hander given the task of helping fill the breach left by one of the great opening pairs in history, became the first to register a century on the newest Test ground when he pulled Andrew Flintoff’s bouncer for a single to fine-leg.
His innings, over four and a half hours, was not chanceless. When he had but 10, he clipped the sharpest of return catches low to Flintoff who, belying his bulk, stooped swiftly and all but collected in his right hand as he followed through from delivery. Then, when 56, a ball from Graeme Swann spun past the inside of his bat and struck him on the back leg. It looked out but Billy Doctrove already appears a committed not-outer; at the other end Aleem Dar has been known to be more benevolent to bowlers.
The Australian captain, though, was merciless and impeccable. A century from him was taken almost as a right and came only a few minutes later, with a single from the penultimate delivery of the day. This was the 38th hundred of a most illustrious and lustrous career, and his eighth against England, in the course of which he became only the fourth batsman to pass 11,000 Test runs. His average of almost 57 is superior to that of Allan Border, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, who preceded him to the mark, and any other of his contemporaries in the upper echelons of batsmanship.
Today England must hope for success with the second new ball, available after nine overs, for the Australian team will have dined contentedly last night on the back of these runs, the unbroken second-wicket stand of 189 taking them to 249 for one, with Katich on 104 and Ponting exactly 100. The deficit of 186 offers the most solid of platforms from which to hunt down England’s first-innings 435 and then, perhaps, take a lead from which they, rather than their opponents, can benefit from a wearing pitch.
The England attack yesterday, pace and spin alike, was found wanting, never taken apart but control coming only when Swann sent down four successive maiden overs and Flintoff stampeded in. There was no swing with the new ball for James Anderson, his cutting edge thus removed, and insufficient pace for Stuart Broad to worry top players on a slow surface. Broad took no further bowling part after limping from the field in the final session for treatment on his right calf, although he did return to the field. Nor was there the predicted bite for the spinners, awaited so eagerly, especially after the Australian off-spinner Nathan Hauritz managed to turn the ball sharply in the morning.
For the first time since assuming the mantle of England’s premier spinner Swann was played with ease if not contempt, any invention or movement nullified by technique and a pitch that, rather than deteriorate as anticipated, was playing as sluggishly as any they endured in the Caribbean or subcontinent during the winter.
Neither was Monty Panesar able to make an impression on his return, his pace predictable, and both Katich and Ponting milked him like a Guernsey cow for runs. Only as the day drew to a close and Anderson returned at the Cathedral Road end for one last tilt did he find any reverse swing and he was able to send a delivery roaring past Katich’s outside edge. But even that was short-lived.
Instead, as has happened too often in the past, there was an expectation and reliance on Flintoff. With hindsight Andrew Strauss might contemplate whether he missed a trick in not giving Flintoff the new ball and challenging him to go round the wicket to Phillip Hughes, who against both Broad and Anderson was able to flail away through the offside.
Quite simply he requires no more width than a supermodel does food, but enough is enough. So it took Flintoff’s bullish bowling and personality, and the bounce that remained in a relatively new ball, to dismiss him.
His first over, from round the wicket, was thunderous as he welcomed Hughes to Ashes cricket by belting the middle from the pitch. Hughes looked uncomfortable but it was not until Flintoff opted to go over the wicket that he cracked, flirting crookedly outside off stump to the second ball thus bowled and getting an inside edge that Matt Prior did extremely well to take.
What followed was a total reversal of England’s fortune. There had been a strut to them that, in the face of Hauritz finding his spin and some rousing batting from the lower England order, might have led them to expect better progress later on.
For the 75 minutes in which it took Australia to take the last three England wickets they looked an un-Australian rabble, as first Broad and then Swann climbed in while Anderson showed a solid technique, a world away from the hapless tailender he once was.Broad was unfortunate to be bowled behind his legs, and Anderson, going for a big shot, was caught at mid-on. But Swann remained undefeated on 47.
Guardian Service
Cardiff Scoreboard
England:first innings (336-7 overnight)
A Strauss c Clarke b Johnson 30
A Cook c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 10
R Bopara c Hughes b Johnson 35
K Pietersen c Katich b Hauritz 69
P Collingwood c Haddin b Hilfenhaus 64
M Prior b Siddle 56
A Flintoff b Siddle 37
J Anderson c Hussey b Hauritz 26
S Broad b Johnson 19
G Swann not out 47
M Panesar c Ponting b Hauritz 4
Extras (b-13, lb-11, nb-12, w-2) 38
Total (all out wickets; 106.5 overs) 435
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-67, 3-90, 4-228, 5-241, 6-327, 7-329, 8-355, 9-423, 10-435.
Bowling: Johnson 22-2-87-3, Hilfenhaus 27-5-77-2 (4nb, 1w), Siddle 27-3-121-2 (5nb, 1w), Hauritz 23.5-1-95-3 (3nb), Clarke 5-0-20-0, Katich 2-0-11-0.
Australia: First Innings
P Hughes c Prior b Flintoff 36
S Katich not out 104
R Ponting not out 100
Extras lb6 w1 nb2 9
Total 1 wkt (71 overs) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-60.
To Bat:M Clarke, M Hussey, M North, B Haddin, M Johnson, P Siddle, B Hilfenhaus, N Hauritz.
Bowling: Anderson 13-1-57-0; Broad 12-1-58-0; Swann 20-7-49-0; Flintoff 15-3-48-1; Panesar 11-2 -31-0.
