2009 Ashes - Batting Master Class Halts England

Australia hold the balance of power at the end of day two of the first Ashes test but their cause wasn’t helped by their bowlers against England’s lower order.

As predicted here at BetUS.com yesterday, Australia mirrored their failures of the recent Proteas test series and could not dismiss tailenders who failed to quickly dismiss the final three batsmen who added 99 runs in 16.5 overs.

James Anderson (26), Graeme Swann (47no) and Stuart Broad (19) made Australia’s pace attack look foolish and edged their team onto the right side of 400.

Australia’s bowlers should have then been trudged out the back of the sheds at Sophia Gardens Oval in Wales and told they must keep on bowling in the nets, to 11 year old children, until they had learnt their lesson.

When Australia finally did dismiss the Old Dart for 435, thanks to two wickets to Nathan Hauritz who finished the first innings with the highly respectable figures of 3/95 of 23.5 overs, much to the chagrin of me.

My animosity aside, Hauritz was the only one of the bowlers who could hold their heads high on the second day with Ben Hilfenhaus (2/77), Mitchell Johnson (3/87) and Peter Siddle (2/121) guilty of bowling too loose to their bowling counterparts.

BetUS.com’s other prediction that Simon Katich and Phillip Hughes would put on a batting master class were however dismissed when the latter found Andrew Flintoff’s bouncer barrage too much to handle.

With Hughes gone for 36, it was left to Katich and captain Ricky Ponting to go to work and work they did.

The pair both notched not out centuries, Katich’s 104 coming from 219 balls and Ponting’s 100 coming from a brisk 155 balls.

With Australia now sitting pretty at 1/249, it will be up to England to force the hand of the current batsmen. To do that they must strike early, failure to do so will only lead to the current pair notching double centuries, an all likely possibility with Ponting’s innings faultless and Katich just giving one chance, a difficult one at that to Flintoff when he was on 10.

The batting pair are now in an enviable situation where they know the conditions, they have already got one century out of the way, their team is out of danger and they can go and make big scores on day three.

England must try and tighten the screws in any way they can, which will mean that Monty Panesar will have to tie up one end while Swann, Broad and Anderson try and strike early.

England has the trump card of Flintoff, who relishes this kind of challenge.

Day three is set for an interesting climax one expects.