The Brisbane battle seemed, in football terminology, a game of two halves. The first reflecting an absorbing old produced Test match of hyped up tension; the second a trademark new millennium run flood on a totally flat track. The pitch it seemed had been
rolled on just to make it a run making machine. If it behaved off plan, the Christmas presents would be taken away.
The initial pay had 130 overs and it brought 403 runs against 15 wickets overall. The next 284 overs gave the fans solid 962 runs and just about 7 wickets in all. These 7 wickets also included two tail-enders and two centurions. The pitch behaved in a manner
that was so flat that it turned the spectators away after the 4th day. The batting display from the centurions presented an outstanding form. The resistance in place by England was absolutely ideal, which saved the game for them in the end. Thanks
to some school-boy fielding display by the Aussies and some off track captaincy and some feeble bowling.
England managed one of their over whelming Ashes moral conquest. The real winners however, were the pitch and the great Kookaburra ball. The ball seemed like drowsy baby as it went passed Strauss and Cook, if not world class. The looks of the ball was only
that seemed decent, but did nothing for the bowlers. The batsmen capitalised and scored centuries, which on another pitch and another ball would not have been an effortless task. The bowling from Mitchell Johnson reflected the quality of ball, which has been
described in detail above.
In the current perspective, it is a straight forward task to evaluate how did the players do. The Aussies seemed absolutely off plan, off track, off everything. Their fielding was below par, bowling excessively miserable and batting some how a bit better.
Still if the batting stats are analysed, would reveal that the top order collapsed, particularly in the first innings. It was Hussey and Haddin who lived on to stabilize the dented Aussie heart with a timely stunt.
Not one in the crowd or outside for that matter, would claim that the Australian bowling attack is the greatest. Even the legends of the Australian cricketing history, might be scratching their heads so as to evaluate what went wrong there.
This is when the game turned to the second half, from fascination to arithmetical snooping and point scoring. Of course in this department too, England bagged the highest points.
Thereafter it all turned to an ultimately glorious moment for England, agonising for the Kangaroos and absolutely mind-numbing for the neutrals. Overall it left http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 more worried than their opponents, for obvious reasons.
And it became refreshing for the English to witness that the Aussies are more than willing and able to drop their simple catches at the time when it mattered. Even more refreshing for them was that their left handed opener struck a marvellous double century,
rather than suffering like others did in the first innings. It was majestic for them.
However, Adelaide Test is nearby, waiting for both the teams to clash again. Brilliantly below par performance of the Aussies is haunting them. The English on the other side are ready to bat well again. This time will it be a match as flat, below par, boring
and tedious as before? Will there be more wickets to fall on this ground or will each fall after a 48 hour break like at the Gabba? The answers to these questions are difficult to predict at this point in time. The coming Friday will hold the fate which is
not that far now.
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