Ashes 2010, 2nd Test, Day 2: Alastair Cook makes Ricky Ponting eat his own words
On day two of the second Ashes Test match at the Adelaide Oval, England began its first innings and was 317-2 by the end of the day, taking a 72-run lead over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 that is expected to grow when play continues tomorrow. The
man to watch today was Alastair Cook, who was 136 not out with 17 fours, when play ended for the day.
England took full advantage of the good batting conditions at the Oval and left Australians exhausted by punishing them in the field in that 37-degrees-Celsius heat.
England didn’t have a good start to their innings, as they lost skipper Andrew Strauss for a duck. Jonathan Trott then joined Cook at the crease and both players brought back memories of their second-innings partnership from the
first Ashes match. Cook, in particular, was absolutely brilliant. It would seem that he took to heart Australian skipper Ricky Ponting’s threatening remarks aimed at him after the first Test in Brisbane.
“He is a pretty composed, pretty cool sort of customer and we’ll have to make sure he’s not quite as composed in Adelaide, and try and rough him up a bit and get under his skin. But he played very, very well,” Ponting had said
after the first Test, which saw Cook score an unbeaten 235 runs.
Despite Ponting’s threats, Cook showed exquisite form and remained unbeaten by the end of the day’s play with 136 runs under his belt. This is Cook’s second century in a row and he is still not finished. At the moment, he is the
highest scorer of the Ashes 2010-11 series and is looking forward to add more to his total and make this series as memorable as possible. If you add today’s innings to Cook’s unbeaten innings at the Gabba, they add up to 17 hours without being dismissed.
Cook was well supported by Jonathan Trott, who is also on a dream run against the Australians. He continued his form from the first Test and scored 78 runs, including 11 boundaries, until being caught by Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 off a delivery
by Ryan Harris.
Kevin Pietersen then arrived at the crease. The Australians were hoping to cash in on Pietersen’s weakness against left-hand spinners, but their hopes were shattered as he played with confidence. The only weak moment in his innings
was when he edged the ball just wide of point. Apart from that, he was clearly building on that glimpse of form he showed in the first innings at the Gabba. (Remember that Pietersen didn’t get a chance to bat in the second innings due to the heroics of Cook
and Trott.) Peterson is at the crease with Cook and is on 85 not out with 13 fours under his belt.
There was no bowling performance worth mentioning today. With Mitchell Johnson dropped for this Test, the Australians are suffering from a weak bowling attack. Australian spinner Xavier Doherty failed to impress his critics today.
The only successful bowlers were Harris and Doug Bollinger, who took one wicket each.
England is in the driving seat now and will most likely be going in for the kill when play resumes tomorrow at the Adelaide Oval.
Match Summary: England 317 for 2 (Cook 136*, Pietersen 85*, Trott 78) lead Australia 245 by 72 runs.
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