For the second time in a row it was the English batsmen who stood firmly against a sloppy Australian bowling attack and dominated the 2nd day’s play of the 2nd Ashes Test match at the Adelaide Oval. A tremendous
display of batting by Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen has surely taken the game away from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at the same ground where they manhandled the visitors four years back.
England had trouble early on in the day when their skipper, Andrew Strauss misjudged a swinging delivery from Bollinger which was shaping in to his off stump, consequently giving away his wicket by only adding one to his overnight
score. As Strauss’ wicket fell down Australia might have thought that England was on the same footing as they were in their first innings but they were up for an overwhelming time by the English batsman.
Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott stood up to the challenge of the game and played responsibly from the start of their innings. Both placed the ball with proficiency and a high degree of concentration by punishing the poor deliveries
and letting the good ones go. The duo was successful for the second time in the row to have horrified the hosts with an incredible exhibition of glorious strikes.
Cook has proven to be the hero for England in both the test matches by standing out from the beginning as their frontline batsman. He was confident with his batting, knew exactly where the ball pitched and executed his shots perfectly
to the uncovered parts of the ground. He needed someone on the other hand to carry on the mission and got that truly in the shape of Trott and then Peterson. His glorious shot selection brought his 15th Test century in a relatively shorter Test
career. Cook was still on the crease to solidify England’s position in the game with 136.
Pietersen, who had trouble playing the spinners, was on a roll from the time he came in to bat. Australia who did not fear him much due to his weakness against left arm spinner Xavier Doherty, were proven wrong by the prolific
player who played confidently for his knock of the unbeaten 85. He used his feet rather sensibly against the spinners as well as the seamers and guided the ball with execution to all corners of the ground. Along with Cook, he has added 141 for the 3rd
wicket and both are still at the crease with England finishing the day on 317-2.
Dropped catches and poor fielding constituted massively to Australia’s downfall in the day. They failed to convert the half and full chance into a possible wicket thus giving the English batsmen an opening to score runs freely.
The spills started when Jonathan Trott on 6 tried to run back to the striker’s end for a second run but the throw by Xavier Doherty from square leg was too wide for wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to collect. Micheal Hussey gave Trott another life by putting down
a simple dolly in the gully region by not getting hands on the grip of the ball neatly when the batsman was on 10. Trott was lucky enough to scamper pass another chance, this time by Brad Haddin himself who despite stretching full could not grab the ball and
giving the batsman another life when he was on 76. Finally the show ended for the centurion at Brisbane by Micheal http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 off Harris.
Australia will have to work really hard in both bowling and fielding to get England back to the pavilion because if the two set batsman at the crease keep going, the 34,000 fans would be leaving home stressed and disappointed.
Ricky Ponting must take his job seriously and shuffle the bowlers regularly by not allowing the English players to settle early in the day.
A high first innings lead for England may aid them getting the edge in the game with a clear competitive advantage against Australia who suffered throughout the day. England on the other hand would be relaxing and aiming to pose
as strong target as they can with the highest run scorer in the series, Alastair Cook still at the wicket and increasing their hopes.
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