Ashes 2009, England v Australia, 1st Test, Day 5 Report

WOW! What a day of Cricket. This is what Ashes is all about – tension, excitement, and suspense. The crowds were on their feet for the whole last hour of play. Will England suffer an innings-defeat or will they save the match? That was one question that thousands in the crowd and million of viewers had on their mind and they had to wait till the last minute for the answer.

The day started with some pre-play action. There were words exchanged between Kevin Pitersen and Mitchell Johnson during practice. England having lost 2 crucial wickets on Day 4, were left with only 8 wickets to play with. Surviving against a motivated Australian attack for the whole day would be quite a challenge.

Early in the day, Ben Hilfenhaus bowled the magical delivery to knock out the off-stump of Kevin Pietersen who didn’t offer a shot and looked absolutely clueless. It looked like what I call – a Brain fart. A few overs after Andrew Strauss gave his wicket to Nathan Haurtiz playing a rash shot. Hauritz next victim was Matt Prior, who was surprised by the spin and bounce. Nathan Hauritz who was able to extract a lot of spin from the foot holes was the most impressive and dangerous bowler of the session.

Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood were building a good partnership – defending the good balls but also scoring runs off the bad balls. But Mitchell Johnson bowled a good delivery, drew Flintoff into the shot and caught in the slips by Ponting. Stuart Broad was able to hold the crease for an hour but was deceived by a quick delivery by Nathan Haurtiz. Paul Collingwood continued to hold his end, while wickets were falling on the other end. After this it was Swann v Siddle. A furious and motivated Siddle hit Swann several times leaving Swann in great pain but Swann was able to hold on to his wicket.

After tea, Graeme Swann was scoring freely and at a faster pace. Australians took the new ball and were threatening with it. While Ben Hilfenhaus bowled well with the new ball, Mitchell Johnson was all over the place and wasn’t looking to take wickets at all. Just when we thought that this pair would take it home, Graeme Swann played a lose shot and lost his wicket. James Anderson came in but he didn’t let the pressure affect his batting and was looking to score runs. Then Peter Siddle took the big wicket of Paul Collingwood. Collingwood was devastated giving his wicket away at this crucial moment, when he had worked hard for this all day.

Monty Panesar, not known for his batting, came on. First two balls, he defended them in a stylish way looking in full confidence. Anderson and Panesar continued to hold on. I would like to quote Mark Nicholas’ remark about Ricky Ponting – “Does he have any nails left” [Ricky Ponting was biting his nails]. There were delay tactics being employed by England by sending the 12th man and Physio when Australia were trying to push for more time. Since England got a lead on Australia, there had to be a 10 minute break between innings which cut Australia short by 10 minutes of bowling time. At 6:40 local time, they shook hands and there was relief on the English balcony. It was extraordinary scenes at Cardiff with thousands of people cheering James Anderson and Monty Panesar, the saviors of English cricket.

Quotes:

I don’t think it was required, he changed [the gloves] the over before and I don’t think they’d be too sweaty in one over. I’m not sure what the physio was doing out there. I didn’t see anyone call for the physio to come out. As far as I’m concerned, it was pretty ordinary, really. But they can play whatever way they want to play. We came to play by the rules and the spirit of the game. It’s up to them to do what they want to do.” – Ricky Ponting

“But once I was out and there was nothing I could do any more the nerves really got to me. The last hour was the most painful hour I’ve ever been through. It was hard work and emotionally very tiring.” – Stuart Broad

“I wouldn’t be facing up as quickly every ball. It’s an extremely nervous situation and that one wicket determines the 1-0 or 0-0 scoreline. They did their job. If I’m in that situation and I call for gloves, they won’t care.” – Nathan Hauritz