England battle to survive in first Ashes Test
BRISBANENov 23, 2013 England were fighting to save the opening Ashes
Test after a demoralising third day dominated by Australia at the Gabba
on Saturday.
Skipper Michael Clarke left the tourists toiling in the field chasing
after the ball, before calling a halt with just over an hour left and
setting England an improbable 561 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the
five-Test series.England will have to create Ashes history to win the
Gabba Test, with their previous highest winning fourth innings score at
332 for seven in Melbourne in 1928.
|
Australia’s David Warner plays a forward defensive stroke.
AFP |
The world record for the highest successful run chase is the West
Indies' 418 for seven against Australia in Antigua in 2003, while the
highest winning chase at the Gabba is Australia's 236 for seven against
the West Indies in 1951.
England had a wretched start to their marathon salvage operation when
Michael Carberry was bowled by Ryan Harris through his legs for a duck
in the fifth over, and Jonathan Trott completed a sorry match when he
pulled straight to Nathan Lyon at deep square leg for nine.England went
to stumps at 24 for two with Alastair Cook on 11 and Kevin Pietersen not
out three.
Pietersen almost ran out his skipper when he took off for a quick
single on his first ball faced and Cook just made his ground.
Clarke held on to his declaration decision, seemingly to inflict
maximum mental damage on Cook's team to set the tone for the rest of the
Tests, after England's 3-0 series win three months ago for their third
straight Ashes triumph.
Clarke and David Warner hit centuries as Australia accumulated an
imposing 401 for seven, representing an overall lead of 560 as the home
side set out to protect their 25-year unbeaten run at the Gabba
ground."We'll take the third wicket tomorrow morning and hopefully we
take the rest after that," Warner confidently predicted. "Our bowlers
are bowling fast at the moment. England are on the back foot. It does
look like they've got scared eyes at the moment." Dashing opener Warner
scored his first Ashes Test century, and skipper Clarke raised his 25th
Test ton and sixth against England as the Australians rammed home their
159-run innings lead to seize control.
Clarke bounced back strongly from his first innings failure when he
was caught off a Stuart Broad lifter for one, and has now scored 1,029
runs at the Gabba at an average of 114.33.Warner raised his fourth Test
ton with three runs off part-time spinner Joe Root a half-hour after
lunch but later became another victim of Broad when he was caught behind
for 124 off 154 balls with 13 fours and a six.
SCOREBOARD
AUSTRALIA - 1ST INNINGS - 295
(B. Haddin 94, M. Johnson 64; S. Broad 6-81)
ENGLAND - 1ST INNINGS - 136
(M. Carberry 40; M. Johnson 4-61)
AUSTRALIA - 2ND INNINGS
(overnight 65 for 0)
Chris Rogers c Carberry Broad 16
David Warner c Prior b Broad 124
Shane Watson c Broad b Tremlett 06
Michael Clarke b Swann 113
Steve Smith c Prior b Tremlett 00
George Bailey b Swann 34
Brad Haddinc Anderson b Tremlett 53
Mitchell Johnson not out 39
Peter Siddle not out 04
Extras (b4, lb8) 12
Total (7 wkts declared; 94 overs) 401
Fall of wickets: 1-67 (Rogers), 2-75 (Watson), 3-233 (Warner)
4-242 (Smith), 5-294 (Clarke), 6-305 (Bailey)
7-395 (Haddin)
Bowling: Anderson 19-2-73-0
Broad 16-4-55-2
Tremlett 17-2-69-3
Swann 27-2-135-2
Root 15-2-57-0.
ENGLAND - 2ND INNINGS
Alastair Cook not out 11
Michael Carberry b Harris 00
Jonathan Trott c Lyon b Johnson 09
Kevin Pietersen not out 03
Extras(lb1) 01
Total (2 wkts; 15 overs) 24
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Carberry), 2-10 (Trott)
Bowling: Harris 5-2-7-1
Johnson 4-2-7-1
Siddle 3-1-6-0
Lyon 3-1-3-0
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
TV. Umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA) |
