Cricket ... the Second Ashes Test

England 266 runs for 3 wickets
Played at Adelaide, in South Australia, 1st to 5th December.

Day 1
The second Ashes test between Australia and England started with England winning the toss of the coin. At least England will be able to say they won something :laugh:

England chose to Bat first, usually a good decision, and have made a good solid start, at close of play on the first day they are 266 runs for 3 wickets down. Probably a bit slow, (300 would be considered about normal) but the batting is going well, Collingwood is 98 not out, would be nice to see him make his hundred, and Pieterson is 60 not out and looking as though he could score well. The Australian bowling was agressive, but not that successful, the best performance was by Suart Clark, who has taken 2 wickets for 25 runs, but he seems to have been under used - maybe because he's still the new boy on the team.

Regards
Bob

 

Second Test - Day Two

Definately England's day.

England first Innings 551 runs for 6 wickets - declared
Australia first Innings 28 runs for 1 wicket at close of play

There were two outstanding performances, firstly Collingwood scored a double century, finally being out for 206 runs - secondly Pietersen scored 158 runs before being run out by Ponting in a brilliant bit of fielding. Now if their bowlers can perform as well as their batsmen did England could be in with a chance of winning this test.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/249223.html for full scorecard.

Regards
Bob

 

Second Test - Days 3 and 4 .....

England First Innings 551 Runs for 6 wickets Declared
Australia First Innings 513 Runs All Out
England Second Innings 59 Runs for the loss of 1 wicket, will continue tomorrow


Looks like it will end in a draw as only 1 day's play is left. It is a match that has been dominated by the batsmen, with 2 Englishmen (well, one's a South African - but we won't quibble) and 2 Australians scoring centuries or better. Ponting became the holder of the "Most centuriesby an Australian" record with his score. Mathew Hoggard of England provided excellent bowling figure with 7 wickets for 109 runs, the rest were a bit ordinary.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/249223.html for the full details of the scorecard.

Regards
Bob

 

Second Test - 5th Day

Shouldn't have happened, but it did! Australia won when they should have lost!! At best Aus was in a position to maybe draw the match, but some woeful batting by the English in the second innings gave the match away.

Result, _ Australia Won and now lead the series 2 - 0 (best of 5 series)

England First Innings - 551 Runs for 6 wickets declared
Australia First Innings - 513 Runs all out
England Second Innings - 129 Runs all out
Australia Second Innings - 168 Runs for 4 wickets

Ricky Ponting was given the 'Man of the Match' award, not really quite sure why - it was a good match for him, but wasn't really that outstanding,would have thought Collingwood of England or Hussey of Australia would have had a stronger claim.

Still, the result makes one wonder if England can lose from where they were, can they ever win?

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/249223.html for the full scorecard

Regards
Bob