The Two Sides of Mojo Mitch - Day Two at Sydney

I said yesterday that if Australia could bat well then they were still in with a shout and, although two hundred and eighty looks a little below par, they are still in the hunt after two days, something which certainly wasn’t the case at Melbourne.

England bowled well again against Hussey, Haddin and Smith, although Hussey will count himself slightly unlucky to be bowled off both bat and thigh pad by Paul Collingwood of all people. Haddin is a fine batsman but looks a place too high at number six, rather as Matt Prior did in 2009, and Smith is not yet a test number seven, so it was no great surprise to see Australia slump to one hundred and eighty nine for eight. At that point England must have entertained thoughts of bowling them out for under two hundred, but Johnson and Hilfenhaus had other ideas.

A quick glance at Mitchell Johnson’s stats over the last year or so show a lot of failures with the bat, but when he gets in he can be dangerous, as he showed at Perth and showed again here. He was severe on Swann and played one or two glorious shots off the quicker bowlers. With Hilfenhaus, who isn’t the worst tail ender in the world, riding his luck a little but then joining in with an astonishing six off Bresnan, England briefly lost control of proceedings as they added a rapid seventy six. The last two wickets came as a relief to England as Australia closed on two hundred and eighty, a score that had seemed unlikely not long before.

Unfortunately for Australia, Johnson and Hilfenhaus then undid much of their good work by bowling horribly with the new ball, allowing Strauss, in particular, and Cook to get England off to a flying start. By the time Strauss was out for a better than a run a ball sixty one wondered if the damage had already been done.

Johnson then evoked memories of Perth by dismissing the prolific Jonathan Trott without scoring, but Cook and Pietersen then set about rebuilding. Cook had some luck when he was caught at mid-on off Michael Beer, only for the debutants celebrations to be cut short by the revelation that it had come from a no ball. There was sympathy for Beer from the commentary box, but it is hard to feel too sorry for any bowler who has a wicket chalked off due to a no ball and especially a spinner. Beer, though, bowled nicely without ever looking desperately threatening.

Pietersen had looked in decent touch but, with four overs to go before the close, he became the third England batsman in the last two innings to fall hooking Johnson, Beer taking a nicely judged catch at fine leg. This brought in Anderson as night watchman, much to Mike Atherton’s consternation, but he survived to the close.

England are on top but are by no means in control of this game. With Anderson in and then the out of form Collingwood due in next Australia will fancy taking a couple of quick wickets in the morning and gaining some momentum. If Collingwood does fail, which seems likely on recent evidence, then much will depend on Cook, Bell and Prior. If these three play well then the match could well be England’s, but if they do not then we could yet be looking at a drawn series. It’s all to play for.