The English seam attack was unable to pick up many wickets in the practice match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Victoria-c859. It raises that question that of who is going to replace Stuart Broad. The match was mostly dominated by the batsmen on the first day of the three-day tour
match.
The day was dominated by the opening batsman of Victoria, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Michael-Hill-c1955. The 22-year-old batsman scored his first century in first class cricket against the touring side. Although he reached the century, it was not without his good fortunes. Hill was dropped
four times by the English fielders including the first ball drop chance by Matt Prior.
Matt Prior was not fielding with the gloves on as Steve Davies was given a chance with the gloves. Prior dropped him off the bowling of Chris Tremlett who is likely to replace the injured Broad in the third Test.
Prior was standing at mid-wicket when the ball again followed him and he fumbled the catch again. This time the bowler was Monty Panesar who was also bowling the first ball of his spell like Tremlett. At this stage, Hill was batting on 21 and the teams were
just few moments away from lunch.
The luck continued to favour Hill as he was again dropped by the wicketkeeper and the unlucky bowler was again Chris Tremlett. Before reaching his ton, Hill enjoyed another lucky escape when Tremlett was unable to hold on to the ball when the ball came his
way. This time, the unlucky bowler was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489.
Although he had his chances, Hill played well to reach his maiden century by scoring some impressive boundaries against the England bowlers. Hill remained unbeaten on 105 before the surprise declaration came from the Victorian captain.
Apart from Hill, the other batsman who impressed everyone was David Hussey. He compiled a good innings of 67 runs and remained unbeaten alongside Hill. Hussey struck seven boundaries and constructed a 147-run partnership with Hill. Other than Hussey and
Hill, the other two batsmen were unable to capitalise on their starts. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ryan-Carters-c2386 and captain Cameron White both got starts but didn’t manage to carry their innings on. Carter and Hussey were dismissed for 16 and 23 respectively.
England bowlers would have liked to grab a few wickets but only http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Monty-Panesar-c2024 and Tim Bresnan were able to make the breakthroughs getting one wicket each. Tremlett and Shahzad could have had wickets if the catches were taken but they remained unfortunate.
The English batsmen batted comfortably and survived the new ball. Alistair Cook who has been difficult to dismiss in the Ashes series was the only wicket to fall for England before the end of the play. Cook was caught behind off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jon-Holland-c1724.
At the close of play, Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell were at the crease with 50 runs on the board.
England would have been disappointed with the stats of this match. The team has been performing exceptionally well in the series but the players were unable to impress in this tour game. England would hope that the batsmen carry on the momentum from the
second day of the Test which they have gained from the earlier matches of their tour.
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