Australia needs something special
The Sunday Age
Sunday August 23, 2009
"SOMETHING special" is needed, Australia conceded, but it retained enduring hope as the Ashes slipped from its grasp at the Oval.The urn is set to change hands for the third time in as many series with England building its lead to 256 runs early on day three. The home side will be comfortable in its ability to down Australia for a similar total as its first showing of 160 as the controversial pitch continued to deteriorate.Australia wanted to strike in the first half hour, but captain Andrew Strauss (44 not not out) and Jonathan Trott (13 not out) survived the opening exchanges as Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark were given quick spells, having taken three wickets the previous evening.Australia's below-par effort with the bat has made its task infinitely more difficult.Opener Simon Katich was the only batsman to grind his way, and scored Australia's only half-century in its first innings collapse, while the others attempted to play strokes as they would a normal wicket and were soon undone.The match is not lost, however, Katich said. "You never know, you just have to keep believing and keep fighting."We know it is going to be hard work but that is the beauty of playing Test cricket €” you don't expect it any other way. And the Ashes are up for grabs, so hopefully we can pull off something special."We know it's going to be tough work. Whenever you bat last in a Test match, you understand that. You can always assume the wicket will get worse, but who knows what's around the corner?"Peter Siddle nearly struck with the first ball of day three, beating Jonathan Trott's edge and flicking his hip as a roaring shout by Australia's field was correctly turned down by umpire Asad Rauf. His sixth delivery veered wide, skidding across the surface and ricocheting into the slips cordon off Brad Haddin's glove.Neither side wanted to make an issue of the pitch after day two, despite its resemblance to a sub-continent surface and 15 wickets falling €” which, had it occurred during a county match, would have resulted in an inspection by officials. The inconsistent bounce troubled all batsmen, but Australia knew better than to publicly moan about the turf."It's starting to deteriorate but both teams have got to play on it and the game is not over yet,' Katich said."I guess there will be a fair bit said about that, but the bottom line is England bowled well [on Friday] and unfortunately we couldn't stop the momentum."A fair bit of credit deserves to go to Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. The rest of the guys bowled well, but they obviously got the rewards. They deserve a bit of credit, rather than talking about the wicket."Katich said Australia had expected the pitch to turn as it had in 2005, despite not choosing a specialist tweaker in its line-up."You expect wickets over here to turn and four years ago they turned on day one, but there weren't a lot of balls that disturbed the surface," he said."There were a few, you could see them on the slow-mos, but I think the bottom line is England got the momentum and after the initial partnership we had we just couldn't string another one together and stop that momentum."It only takes one partnership to stop that and unfortunately that was just the way the day panned out. I think the English bowlers deserve some credit. Both teams are playing on the same wicket."English paceman Stuart Broad agreed, forcefully arguing that his side bowled better and the wickets had more to do with accuracy than assistance."It probably played a bit like a fourth-day wicket," Broad said. "But I don't think any of the wicket-taking balls misbehaved."It was Broad who lit up the match with a sizzling spell, at one stage taking 5-19 in 47 balls."Broad's spell cracked the game wide open," said Katich. "He changed his pace well and he swung the balls both ways. The crowd got involved and it was hard to stop them. But we've just got to keep fighting hard and make sure we restrict England to something that will allow us to make amends second time round."
© 2009 The Sunday Age
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