Kate Laven
|
1st Test: England v Australia at Birmingham, 5-9 Jul 2001 Kate Laven |
|
|
England 2nd innings:
Australia 1st innings: |
Nasser Hussain, who was earlier hit on the finger by Australian paceman Jason Gillespie, was unable to bat after an X-ray revealed an undisplaced fracture of the little finger on his left hand. He is to see a specialist tomorrow but this latest injury is the fourth in three years.
He broke a finger earlier this summer when he was hit by Shoaib Akhtar and last year, was injured during an Essex game and missed the Lord's Test. In 1999 he was hit during the match against New Zealand at Lord's missed the Old Trafford Test, his place as skipper taken by Mark Butcher.
Without Hussain and England's other injured batsmen Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan, the task for Australia's bowlers proved straightforward and their job was finally completed a minute after 2.00pm, with nearly five sessions remaining.
Ashley Giles was dropped on the first ball from Jason Gillespie after lunch by Mark Waugh but in the next over, Marcus Trescothick who had been at the crease for three hours for his 76 was caught by the same fielder off Shane Warne.
Warne trapped Darren Gough leg before with his next ball but the hat-trick ball was pushed away safely by Andrew Caddick. The same Warne-Waugh combination brought the England innings to an end with Giles' wicket, the score a disappointing 164 all out after seven England wickets fell for 22 runs in 63 balls.
Both Gillespie and Warne finished with three wickets a piece with the leg spinner taking 3-29 from 10.1 overs and Gillespie 3-52 from 11. The innings was wrapped up in 42.1 overs and the win gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the npower Ashes Series.
Nasser Hussain has an undisplaced fracture of his little finger. He will not bat again and will see a specialist tomorrow. He was hit while fending off a hostile delivery from the Australian quickie. It is his third break in two summers and could rule him out of the next Ashes Test at Lord's.
England's batsmen were subjected to a morning of fast aggressive bowling and after the dismissal of Butcher, caught behind off a sizzler from Brett Lee after 12 overs, the wickets fell thick and fast giving England little hope of saving the match.
Opener Marcus Trescothick survived the barrage and despite being to forced to slow down his runmaking after a blistering phase mid-morning including two sixes, was unbeaten on 76 at lunch but others proved less resilient.
Ian Ward played on to Lee for three and Alec Stewart, looking to steer Gillespie through the leg side, squirted the ball into the outstretched hands of Shane Warne after he had made five.
England were 148 for four but Nottinghamshire's Usman Afzaal became another Gillespie casualty shortly before lunch when he pushed forward and was adjudged lbw and Craig White was the fifth and final batsman to depart when a superb delivery from Gillespie swung a fraction to dislodge his off stump.
At lunch, having been 99 for two after an hour's play, England were 154 for six with the outstanding Gillespie finishing with 3-4 in 15 balls.
Resuming on 48 for one, the pair of left-handers who came together in the last session yesterday when Mike Atherton was caught at slip, played a mixture of defensive and attacking shots against the pace of Glenn McGrath at one end and Shane Warne's spin at the other.
Warne found prolific turn but both batsmen judged the ball well and when the partnership had added 50, they started to hit out with Butcher kicking off with a stylish flick off his legs to a Warne delivery that kept low and turned more than a foot.
He drove at consecutive balls from McGrath for four and Trescothick joined the free-flowing approach by hooking McGrath over square leg for six.
But in the 23rd over, Warne was replaced by paceman Brett Lee and the change in tempo had an immediate impact as Butcher gloved his eighth ball to keeper Adam Gilchrist, having made an attractive 41 from 73 balls.
England were 99 for two, the second wicket pair adding 95 runs to the total. Butcher's exit made way for captain Nasser Hussain who got off the mark with a powerfully struck drive through the covers.
Gilchrist made a Test best 152, gaining momentum as his total built. He set a new record for the number of runs scored by one player in an Ashes Test over, making 22 runs off Butcher, who saw the first, third and final ball go for six, the fourth for four and the second reflect off his hands in a difficult caught and bowled chance.
Until then Butcher was England's hero. He bowled the first maiden of the day just before tea, then with his unspectacular medium pace, made a remarkable breakthrough by having Damien Martyn caught at gully by Marcus Trescothick, just two balls after the Western Australian had made his maiden Test century.
Like yesterday, England had waited more than 40 overs for their second wicket, after Steve Waugh was lbw to Darren Gough's seventh ball of the morning. In that time, Gilchrist and Martyn put on 160 for the sixth wicket, having both been dropped on 14 and 64 respectively, in the space of five balls shortly after lunch.
Butcher struck again two overs later having Shane Warne caught at first slip for eight off the last ball of an over and then he snapped up another two wickets in one over when Brett Lee was also caught by Mike Atherton at first slip, to leave Butcher on a hat-trick, and Jason Gillespie was leg before for a duck three balls later.
By then, Butcher had taken four wickets in 14 balls for just five runs. But the prized wicket of Gilchrist proved elusive and on reaching his century, his first against England, the Australian vice-captain launched a brutal assault on the bowling.
He had completed his century in 118 balls. The next half-century came in just 25 as Gilchrist, who made two ducks and two ones in his last two Tests in India, hit four sixes and six fours in a superb swashbuckling exhibition of big-hit batting at its best.
He and Glenn McGrath added 63 for the final wicket though McGrath contributed just a single and with the score on 576, Gilchrist was finally caught in the deep off Gough going for yet another boundary. Not since the Fourth Test at Headingley in 1993 had a side recorded three individual centuries against England in one innings.
Australia's lead had grown to 282 and when England batted again, having spent two days in the field, it was almost inevitable that the drama would continue Atherton and Marcus Trescothick survived two overs and two balls in the murky light before they accepted the umpire's offer of a recess but on their return, Atherton perished with the very first delivery, edging the ball to Mark Waugh at second slip for four.
Predictably it was McGrath, who for the 14th time in the history of their riveting confrontations, sent him on his way after he had made a disappointing four runs.
But Butcher and Trescothick played out the remainder of the day safely taking England's second innings total to 48 for one when bad light caused another interruption.
This time it was terminal and England shut up shop trailing Australia by 234 runs with Trescothick not out 21 and Butcher unbeaten on 15.
Martyn who has struggled to establish himself as a regular in the Australian side since making his debut in 1992/92, was unbeaten on 99 at tea, having faced 162 balls.
His partner Adam Gilchrist was also in attacking mode having recovered from a run of form that saw him score two ducks followed by two ones during Australia's recent tour of India.
After a tentative start against Warwickshire spinner Ashley Giles, he hoisted him over long on with two successive deliveries, the first going for four, the second for six.
At tea, he was 81 not out and looking almost certain of his third Test century. Both batsmen were earlier dropped in the space of five balls after the resumption of play following a rain break.
The pair, who came together after the fall of Steve Waugh from the 12th delivery of the morning, added an unbeaten 150 for the sixth wicket to take Australia to an intimidating 486 for five, a lead over England of 192.
Following a 59-minute break for bad light and rain, the players returned after lunch, having lost 15 overs. But the break affected England fielder's concentration more than Australia's batsmen who resumed on 381 for five.
In Andrew Caddick's first over, Adam Gilchrist attempted to cut but sent the ball at shoulder height to gully where Craig White lurched to his right in vain, the ball scraping his fingertips as it hurled passed.
It would have been a brilliant catch but instead Gilchrist was let off the hook on 14.
Five balls later, Alec Stewart dived in front of first slip to retrieve a ball edged faintly by Damien Martyn on 64 but his reach was not broad enough and the ball tumbled through his gloves to give Australia their second reprieve in two consecutive overs.
After half an hour's play, Australia were 409 for five, with Martyn unbeaten on 69, from 112 balls and Gilchrist having raced to 37 from 51.
In a pattern reminiscent of the start of yesterday's play, England snapped up a vital wicket in the opening minutes having Australia's captain, who resumed on 101 after rain and bad light ruled out play in the final session last night, trapped leg before having added another four runs.
Gough's appeal was strenuous and umpire Steve Bucknor nodded his head then raised the finger to signal the end of Waugh's formidable innings.
He came in when the score was 134 for three and departed nearly five hours and 181 balls later having struck 13 boundaries and moved the total on to 336 for five.
It was just reward for England's pacemen who this morning stuck to a better length with the new ball which had been used for two deliveries last night. They troubled Damien Martyn, who resumed on 34 and new batsman Adam Gilchrist, forcing the batsmen to play their shots in the Birmingham gloom.
Yesterday England had to endure 40 wicketless overs before they earned their second wicket of the day, and the bowlers needed more strikes this morning to stay in this First npower Ashes Test but after 56 minutes of play, the batsmen accepted the umpires offer of light with the score 381 for five, the lead 87.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 08 Jul2001 - 18:27