There’s positive thinking, there’s wishful thinking, and then there’s cloud cuckoo land. Asked at the press conferences after the third day about the prospects for this First Test at Sophia Gardens, England’s James Anderson announced insouciantly that his comrades were ‘not thinking about a draw’; no, their aspirations were only of victory.
Even then, it was difficult to work out how Anderson saw this occurring, short of the Australians being incapacitated en masse by swine flu, or Freddie Flintoff developing a revolutionary reverse swing harnessing the power of carbon credits. And nothing observed today suggested other than that Anderson the night before had been talking through his expensively sponsored hat.
It was bad enough that, when rain ended proceedings almost on the stroke of tea, England was 219 runs in arrears with eight wickets remaining to negotiate the last day. What had preceded it was a catchweight contest all too reminiscent of the grim 1990s, Marcus North and Brad Haddin almost sauntering to hundreds, as Australia’s innings assumed the epic proportions of the country’s fourth-highest Ashes score, with an unprecedented four centurions. Their partnership was not perhaps so priceless as the 113 they added to turn the tide of the Johannesburg Test in February, but it was even more effectively sadistic.
With his huge reach, the 6 foot, 1 inch North presents a particular challenge to spinners; his sweep, a little rusty yesterday, became as unerring as a mechanical reaper. Not routinely strong forward of point, he also powered Broad through the covers early in the morning—as good a stroke as has been played this Test, and what West Indians call a ‘Not a Man Move’ shot. His luck was in too. He went into the nineties trying to leave Flintoff and guiding the ball inadvertently to the third man boundary; he could probably have batted right-handed for a dare and succeeded.
Haddin, who almost overhauled North despite his partner’s 54-run head start, was more inclined to find room in the air, sweeping Swann majestically for six, then repeating the dose from Panesar with a pitching-wedge drive down the ground. He celebrated his hundred, and the 1000th Test run of his late-blooming career, with a consecutive four and a six to mid-on, hit so precisely, with minimal backlift and abbreviated follow-through, that they might have been aimed at particular figures in the crowd—perhaps his parents, who are visiting from Canberra.
Andrew Strauss’s struggle to prevent boundaries left vistas of untenanted space for the batsmen to explore and exploit, it becoming almost difficult after a while not to score a run. Yet the boundaries barely ceased, and conceding singles to a left-right batting combination didn’t help much either, the bowlers having constantly to recalibrate—to try, anyway. For fewer than twenty overs of Australia’s 181-over entrenchment, in fact, were England’s bowlers not confronted by such contrasting combinations. It has not been enough to explain their errors of line on its own, but it has been another thing for bowlers who already have much to brood on to consider.
The rotation of the strike slowed England’s over rate to a walk; England’s negativity slowed it to a stagger. They propelled only forty-two overs in more than three and a half hours, even though twenty-two of these were from Panesar, Swann and Collingwood. Panesar in particular bowled wretchedly, so mechanical that he might conceivably be replaced by Merlyn, England’s semi-legendary spin bowling machine; with a bucket attached, the apparatus would be just as effective in the field. Swann looked as challenging as anyone for half an hour before lunch, bowling a little slower than the day before, and gaining far more purchase as a result. But when Strauss opted to take the new ball on its falling due, such pressure as Swann had been able to maintain was released.
North and Haddin’s first hundred runs took 170 balls, the second 98, squeezed in just before a sweetly timed declaration. Ponting was now doing everything right, deploying Johnson and Hilfenhaus from the opposite ends to the first innings, with immediate effect. Umpire Billy Doctrove then revealed a new characteristic: he gives them in the second innings. Inscrutable throughout the first ten sessions, he now fired Bopara out lbw without a second thought, although Hilfenhaus’s in-ducker would have cleared the stumps with airspace to spare. Cook, who places his front foot rigidly, like a dance student following the black instructional footprint on a rehearsal studio floor, had earlier provided a more legitimate casualty.
Them, however, is the breaks, and Australia deserved their good fortune. With fine weather forecast tomorrow, and ninety-eight overs to bowl, they can expect more: in such situations, the luck always seems to favour the hunter over the hunted. Australia has cornered the market in positive thoughts, and with good reason.