The Ashes - First Test Review

I've been too busy watching the cricket over the past few days to write about it! What follows is a complete recap of the match, and I've tried not to let hindsight change my views.

Day 1

At Lord's 2005, Steve Harmison's first delivery was a fast, on target delivery outside off stump. His second delivery smacked Justin Langer square on the elbow. He continued aggressively, badging Matthew Hayden, then splitting open Ricky Ponting's cheek, on his way to 5/43. That set the tone for the series and was a harbinger for the relentlous fast bowling to come in the remaining matches.

16 months later, Andrew Flintoff gave the ball to Steve Harmison, aware that a similar statement of intent had to be made. Unfortunately, Harmison gave it straight back to him, with a wild delivery that went straight to second slip. The second ball, was short and a metre down the leg side. From then on, it was all Australia as Langer took calculated risks and edged his way through the cordon early in the innings, but was 68 at Lunch.

36 runs were taken after lunch in the 4 overs before Langer was out, to the inspirational Andrew Flintoff, who had removed Matthew Hayden with a beauty earlier.

Damien Martyn came in, batted like Mark Waugh for a while, then gave his wicket away, in a similar way to Waugh.

Meanwhile, Ponting was playing a flamboyant, flawless innings, the likes of which only batsmen of his calibre are capable of. From the start, his usually sluggish footwork was sharp and decisive, and one sensed that he was settled in for stumps. He got off the mark with his 1000th four in Test cricket, as Harmison invited his swivel pull with a short ball, then caressed another four off the next delivery, a delightful shot with both feet in the air to a ball at the top of its bounce through cover.

Ponting raised his inevitable 32nd Test century in the final session, as he and Michael Hussey put on an unbeatable 148 run partnership. Hussey had to endure yet another stirring spell from Flintoff, but wore him down and struck a textbook off drive from the last ball.

Australia finished on a dominant 3/346 - a far cry from being bowled out for 190 at Lord's last year. Flintoff was the only bowler that looked like taking a wicket, and while the fieldsmen were sharp, the other bowlers did not create enough chances.

Day 2

The day started as the previous had ended, with both Ponting and Hussey batting freely on what was seemingly a road of a wicket. The partnership was extended beyond 200, before Andrew Flintoff again made things happen. After being cut to the point boundary by Ponting, Flintoff responded with a devastating ball, which spat off a length and had the little Tasmanian leaping for his life. In the process, he may or may not have gloved it to the wicket keeper - Steve Bucknor said not out.

Flintoff, though, was convinced and hardly celebrated when he bowled Hussey through the gate with an off cutter from around the wicket. Hussey fell short of a maiden Ashes century by just 14 runs.

Michael Clarke nearly fell first ball, but was not good enough to edge Flintoff to the keeper. He battled hard for 56 and his play of Ashley Giles was excellent. Surely the selectors must keep him for Adelaide, if only because he plays spin infinitely better than Shane Watson.

Ponting continued on his march towards a fifth double century, until his innings was cut short when he again played across a straight delivery on 196. The frustration showed upon dismissal said a lot about the man, not least his hunger for runs and his determination to personally bury the nightmares of 2005 through the weight of runs.

From then on, the tail had a bit of fun against some luckless England bowlers. Twice in two balls, Lee struck fours off Flintoff - albeit off the back of his bat, and then its edge. Stuart Clark batted like a tailender from yesteryear, as he swung his bat for a quickfire 39.

The declaration came at 9/602.

The pitch looked a different one when England came out to bat.

Andrew Strauss' fallibility with his pull shot had been noted by Shaun Tait in the Prime Minister's XI match. The trap was set with Hussey specifically positioned 3/4 of the way out to the square leg boundary, and Brett Lee at fine leg. It was so obvious that Australia might well have put flashing lights out there to signal their intent. Yet Strauss fell for the bait, and hooked Glenn McGrath into that region. As Hussey and Lee converged on the skied pull, my mind's eye kept replaying images of the infamous Steve Waugh/Jason Gillespie collision of 1999, which landed them both in hospital (and the chance was dropped). When Hussey came up with the catch, I was pleased - but Lee was lying on the ground after being spiked by Hussey's boot! Australia will be pleased that it was only a cut.

McGrath took the wicket of Alastair Cook with his next ball as he looked to play through the leg side, and in two balls, McGrath had claimed the wickets of his assigned "bunnies".

Stuart Clark worked Paul Collingwood over and put England into deeper trouble as they finished 3/53 - many, many runs behind the follow on target.

Day 3

Glenn McGrath announced his rearrival into the Test arena with 6/50.

What was previously a batting paradise for the Australians became a minefield for the English, according to one Mike Selvey. In truth, it was just the huge gulf between the quality of the bowling. McGrath, with unrelenting accuracy maintained a good length just outside of off stump and kept hitting the cracks in the pitch.

Kevin Pietersen looked in poor touch as he was worked over by balls jagging away, or jagging back off the cracks and in the end was leg before padding up to a ball that would have missed off stump. However, he had already used up his luck as he miscued a pull shot off Lee and was dropped.

Australia's good luck continued as Andrew Flintoff was caught behind off yet another undetected no ball from Lee, who was generally poor.

Ian Bell batted with a lot of fight, and I saw a bit of Rahul Dravid in him. Against good bowling, he put his head down and kept the good balls out with excellent technique, and hit the bad balls away with attractive shots. Bell has definitely improved out of sight since his miserable 2005 series, where he averaged 17 with 7 single digit scores in 10 innings and a pair at The Oval.

Geraint Jones played well, smacked Warne straight into Billy Bowden's radio for the day's loudest cheer, before being claimed by a ball that darted in and kept low.

Stuart Clark bowled as well as McGrath, if not better, and took an excellent 3/21 as England were dismissed with a 445 run deficit.

Surprisingly, and against all the judgements in the commentary box, Ponting elected against the follow on and sent England out to field again. I would have prefered to put a shellshocked England back into bat again, but I'm no Test captain!

A past Test captain, Ian Chappell, was quite vocal in his disagreement, saying that if he had done it in his own time as captain, that his players would've given him hell for delaying the celebrations! Presumably, Ponting wanted to rest his ageing bowlers, let the sun shine on the pitch a bit more, make England run around again before putting them into bat when the wicket is at its worst. On the other hand, the break allowed England to regroup, allowed their bowlers to get more match practice and with a thunderstorm forecast for late Day 5....

There are two sides to every argument.

As Australia went out to bat again, the Selvey minefield was replaced by a batting paradise as Australia went to stumps at 1/181 - the only wicket coming from a run out.

England's fieldsmen were utterly demoralised as they dropped catches, misfielded, and gave away overthrows. Their shoulders were down as Australia's batsmen collected some of the easiest Test runs they will ever get.

The apparent difference in the pitch for each batting team was reminiscent of Ashes 2005. From Edgbaston onwards, England looked like they were batting on featherbeds as they amassed large first innings totals. Then, the pitch would appear to change when Australia batted as Simon Jones and Flintoff employed the reverse swing, that Australia could not get. Then, as it is now, it was just the bowling.

Day 4

Finally, an intriguing day of Test cricket after Ponting declared Australia's innings closed at 202, an overall lead of 647. The thirty minutes of batting in the morning was enough for Justin Langer to record his 23rd, and probably least memorable Test hundred, and for Ponting to strain his back.

There were good signs for England before the declaration as Matthew Hoggard beat an injured Ponting 4 times in 5 balls outside off stump. The fifth ball was guided just above a jumping gully.

However, this was tempered by Andrew Strauss, gifting his wicket on the pull for the second time of the match, and Ian Bell's failure against Warne - again trapped lbw by a slider.

Stuart Clark bowled a magnificent spell before lunch that Collingwood was fortunate to survive, after being dropped on 1.

What transpired after lunch would have given a lift to the England dressing room. Collingwood, rather unexpectedly, and Kevin Pietersen took the attack to Warne and made him look ordinary.

With Ponting injured in the sheds, Australia looked flat in the field as Collingwood and Pietersen dominated the session. At one stage, Warne was going at 5 runs per over against the pair.

Meanwhile, McGrath was on and off the field as he received treatment for a painful blister on his left heel. This injury was a result of McGrath's lack of bowling in the lead up to the Ashes and probably vindicated Ponting's decision not to enforce the follow on, knowing that McGrath's workload had to be carefully managed.

Pietersen completely dominated Warne as he danced down the pitch and struck several blistering on drives. When the line was changed towards off stump, Pietersen took out his slog sweep and smacked Warne to square leg. Frustrated, Warne threw the ball petulantly towards Pietersen, who hit it away before replying "f*** off"! More unpleasantries were exchanged, though I'm not sure if one should call a friend a "f***wit"! So much for being too friendly on the field.

The fun lasted over 153 runs, until Paul Collingwood's brain exploded as he went down the pitch to Warne, attempting to reach his maiden Ashes century with a glory shot.

Flintoff replaced him and played some delightful shots through cover, before committing suicide against Warne as he swiped across the line to long on, where Justin Langer celebrated before taking the catch.

Pietersen appeared to tire towards the end of the day as he swiped across the line on several occasions and was fortunate to survive to the end of the day. The win is out of the equation, as England require a further 355 to win with only 5 wickets in hand.

Day 5

Ponting recovered sufficiently to lead his players onto the field as his team took the last 5 wickets in only 90 minutes.

The last resistance, Pietersen, fell to the fourth ball of the day, an ordinary leg side half volley from Brett Lee that Pietersen managed to hit to short midwicket. Thereafter, against the lower order, Lee went back to his thoughtful habit of short and full balls - and not the good length deliveries that made him successful last summer.

Geraint Jones played a sprightly innings with some elegant cover drives, before trying one too many against a McGrath ball that kept low.

Stuart Clark was again the best of the Australian bowlers as he cleaned up the tail with intelligent and consistent bowling. He was the best bowler in the game over both innings.

Final thoughts

Australia go 1-0 up with a 277 run victory, but there were enough signs in England's second innings that England will fight hard, not least Pietersen's genius and Collingwood and Cook's determination.

Strauss' pull shot might be a problem, but he should be fine at Adelaide with its short square boundaries. He's a smart cricketer anyway and is due for the rest of the series.

With a niggling injury to McGrath, and Warne bowling below par - can Australia carry Brett Lee in a four man attack? He took two wickets for 149 runs at an economy rate of 4.02. One was a no ball and the other was a gift. Will Brett Lee be this year's Jason Gillespie?

I still expect England to retain the Ashes, but it will be difficult. England will hope that Flintoff wins the rest of the tosses and England bat Australia out of every remaining game.