Until today, mentioning the words ‘five hundred and fifty one’ and ‘Adelaide’ to an England supporter would probably lead to them either rocking gently in the corner or having an extended phone call to their therapist. Now, though, we can only sit and marvel at what has happened since the midway point at Brisbane and hope fervently that it isn’t all too good to last.
The Australian quick bowling certainly can’t be accused of a lack of effort – they kept running in and giving it their all in punishing heat and against batsmen who were in no mood to be merciful, but they were, for the most part, unable to exert the sort of pressure that brings wickets. Ryan Harris bowled well for scant reward but both Doug Bollinger and Peter Siddle served up too many four balls, meaning that the England batsmen could simply wait for the bad ball to come along and punish it.
They weren’t helped by the presence of Xavier Doherty in the side. It is no fault of Doherty’s that he isn’t good enough for test cricket, it is the fault of the selectors for putting him there, but given that he was chosen in response to Kevin Pietersen’s perceived weakness against left arm spin and that Pietersen is currently 213 not out it cannot be said to have been a success. In conditions in which the quick bowlers desperately needed some respite he went at five an over – if he plays at Perth then the selectors are abdicating their responsibility and Nathan Hauritz might as well retire.
In the end it was left to Shane Watson, whose bowling has improved dramatically since the Ashes tour of 2009, to provide some control and he thoroughly deserved the wicket of Paul Collingwood for an intelligent spell of bowling. This, though, was but a crumb of comfort for the Australians who would have welcomed the rain that fell in the afternoon but whose body language was increasingly of people that simply didn’t want to be there.
That said, England, for the second successive day, batted beautifully. They recovered from the early loss of Cook, well caught by Brad Haddin to take his tally for the series to two dismissals and two missed chances, to move serenely to a huge total, mainly thanks to Kevin Pietersen’s return to his best. It is often forgotten that in his poor run of test form he was also the player of the tournament at the World Twenty20 and he showed that class in this innings, hitting the ball with withering power and, at times, contempt for the bowlers. He had one or two moments of good fortune but deserved them for the sheer élan of his batting.
Worse news for Australia is that the pitch was starting to show signs of wear towards the end of the day, with quite a number of deliveries going through the top. Assuming that they aren’t saved by the weather then they are going to have to bat very, very well to avoid going one down in the series.
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