Records tumble as England draw first Ashes Test
Alistair Cook reigned supreme as England bested http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in a moral victory after they appeared to have all but given up on the first Ashes Test. However, the last two days of the Test proved England’s mettle in trying conditions, none harder than playing
before a fiery Australian crowd, to save a Test match that had chances of Australia annihilating England in brutal fashion.
Ricky Ponting was gracious enough to accept that fact as English batsmen Alistair Cook and Jonathan Trott batted on to break records. Cook became only the fourth English batsman to score a double hundred in Australia. In the process, he eclipsed Sir Don
Bradman’s record of the highest run score ever at the Gabba in Brisbane. He joined Wally Hammond, Paul Collingwood and Reg Foster as records tumbled like dominoes on the last day of the Test.
England started off the day in fashion and Jonathan Trott’s century broke the first record; it was the first time three English batsmen had scored hundreds in a single innings since 1924. The last time this marvellous event took place was when Jack Hobbs,
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 at Lord’s.
Alistair Cook also passed his previous best score of 173 when he scored his first double century. He went on to score 235 not out. On the other hand, Jonathan Trott remained unbeaten on 135 as England pulled back from the brink of disaster and not only overcame
the 221 run deficit, but also went on to score 517 for one before Andrew Strauss decided the Australians had gotten too much of a hiding and declared.
The English batsmen also made another record as they shared the highest partnership by two English batsmen. They shared 329 runs between them that eclipsed the previous best partnership of 323 runs between Jack Hobbs and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wilfred-Rhodes-c96605 in 1911 at Melbourne.
Australia tried their best to avoid collateral damage as they finished the day at 107 for one with Ricky Ponting bringing up his 56th Test half century, and Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 remained not out on 41. It was a hard day for Australia all around as they
were on the brink of winning the first Test after inflicting a crushing 221 run deficit on the English. Cook let his bat do the talking as he silenced his detractors with his profound performance. A lot of question marks had been raised on his form before
the start of the tour, and Cook was seen trying to defend his inclusion in the squad. Cook’s 235 not out is the 6th highest score by an individual batsman in Ashes history.
After being humbled by the English batsmen in the last two days of the first Ashes Test, Australia are expected to make some changes to their squad. Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris have been called up and have been added to the 13-man squad after the Australian
bowlers failed miserably to capitalise on a 221 run lead.
With the second Ashes Test starting on Friday, England’s hopes and spirits will be flying high. They not only conquered the Australians on their home turf, but they also rescued a seemingly lost match. In addition to their sublime performance, the English
batsmen proved their mettle and their rising statures as being the new batting sensations to hit cricket in a long time. England will be looking to heap more misery on the Australians in the second Ashes Test after the resilience they showed to rescue the
first Test. Ricky Ponting’s seemingly innocuous acceptance of his bowlers' lacklustre performance would also have been received with joy in the English camp. With a traditionally batsman friendly pitch at the Adelaide Oval awaiting the two warring teams, there
is no doubt that the English batsmen will be rearing to go head to head once again with the Australian bowling attack after their awe inspiring performance.
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