England Won the Toss and Decided to Bat
By and it’s been reassuringly, precipitously, downhill since that moment.
England 102, Australia 196-4, close of play first day, fourth test.
Unless the English bowl the Australians out quick, and then somehow re-learn how to bat overnight, this test is as good as done. A first innings of 102 all out is ludicrous, the scorecard embarrassing. The following small numbers represent, in order, the run contribution of the English batsmen for the first innings: 3, 30, 1, 8, 0, 37, 3, 0, 0, 3, 0. With Flintoff out for this test, the English tail is effectively lengthened by one. Not even a half century from your first five batters combined ? Even I, as an American, recognize this as perhaps not an advisable approach, unless you believe that luring your opposition into a false sense of giddy security represents your only chance.
The flip side of course is that one of the Ozzie bowling lines stands out: Siddle 21-5. However, four of those five came from picking off the final four English batsmen (Swann, Harminson, Anderson, Onions), which in baseball terms is rather like pitching to four straight pitchers. However, Siddle’s dispatch of Strauss on only three runs off of 17 balls set the tone for this innings. Strauss has been having an effective Ashes in 2009. Clark’s 3-18 is perhaps more impressive as he secured the wickets of both Cook (for 30) and Collingwood for a duck.
While Mike Atherton wrote in The Times the other day that the 2009 edition of this series lacks quality of any sort compared to 2005, Simon Barnes replies in the same pages that the drama is more important than the relative quality, and this series does have the potential to match 2005 on that criterion. Or at least did, because if Atherton is correct in another observation, that who wins this test at Headingly will win the series, then it’s looking rather over. An England win would capture the Ashes for England, but a Australia win will even out the series, requiring an outright England victory at the Oval in the final test to win the series.
As with previous tests, I’ll write one followup to this post towards the end of the test. Which very well could be in only a couple days at this rate . . .
In other obscure sports, Celtic managed to win away in Europe for the first time in over six years on Wednesday, which I somehow managed to watch. Indeed, it was a historic victory for the Bhoys, as they had never recovered from an initial home defeat in a two-legged European tie before.
The reward for a job well done? Drawing Arsenal in the playoff round of qualification for the Champions League proper. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. And in one of life’s delicious ironies, the BBC reports that in this final round of qualifying:
If two of the four – from Arsenal, Lyon, Sporting Lisbon and Panathinaikos – fail to qualify, Rangers will move up from the third pot to the second, in theory giving them an easier group.
Meaning if Celtic overcome Arsenal, it could directly help their occasional light-hearted rivals from across town.
Excellent.
