Lord’s, July 20: Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin attempted an amazing escape with a glorious partnership at Lord’s, undeterred by a succession of umpiring controversies including the dubious catch to dismiss Phillip Hughes.
Clarke played superbly for his first century on English soil and with the feisty Haddin helped Australia recover from deep trouble at 5-128 in pursuit of the improbable victory target of 522. Before taking the second new ball with Australia at 5-287, England captain Andrew Strauss called his players into a team huddle in an effort to fire up his team for another thrust at the tourists before stumps.
Clarke scored briskly for his third and best Ashes ton, rattling up is first 50 in 58 balls and later bringing up his hundred with an exquisitely placed shot through the on side. Haddin provided solid support for his vice-captain and they shared a fighting, unbeaten 6th wicket stand of 185 to plant some doubt in English minds. When play was abandoned for bad light Australia was 5-313 and Clarke and Haddin were set on 125 and 80, respectively.
Anxiety crept into England’s game before stumps when Haddin expanded his range and an edge flew fast and high over the slips cordon for four. The home side needs five wickets on the final day for victory, while Australia needs 209 runs.
The Australian pair provided a glimmer of hope after the catching controversy that cost the wicket of Hughes, one of three Australian batsmen to fall in contentious circumstances. Umpire Rudi Koertzen was in the hot seat with his colleague Billy Doctrove and Ricky Ponting was at the non-striker’s end when Hughes edged to first slip, where England captain Andrew Strauss claimed a low, scooping catch.
Hughes asked Strauss whether he caught it but Ponting told him to stand his ground. Koertzen consulted with Doctrove – who was a long way away at square leg – before sending Hughes on his way for 17 without referring the catch to the third umpire. Only a day earlier Ponting confronted Koertzen after Ravi Bopara was given not out on the strength of inconclusive video evidence after Nathan Hauritz was convinced he took a clean catch at mid-on.
This time the replays appeared to show the ball touching the ground before Strauss’s fingers curled around the ball and the Australians were entitled to feel aggrieved that the decision was not referred. He looked justifiably infuriated as Hughes walked back to the dressing room with the Australians in trouble at 2-34.
Ponting’s day got worse when he attempted a cut shot from Stuart Broad and dragged it onto his stumps for 38 just after lunch. The captain had a flinty look in his eye and looked in command, desperate to preserve Australia’s record at the famous place where the nation hasn’t lost for 75 years, but he was dismissed 25 runs short of Allan Border’s Australian runscoring record.
Play started 15 minutes late because of morning showers and England made an aggressive start with the words of Matt Prior, England’s top-scorer with 61 in 42 balls against a ragged Australian attack on Saturday evening, ringing in their ears. “You talk about putting your foot on someone’s throat and not letting go, and I think we have done that very very well,” Prior said. “They threw punches back like any Australian team does but we managed to cushion those blows and then come back even harder.“
With Simon Katich out slicing a catch to gully off what was later shown to be an Andrew Flintoff no ball, Ponting’s mood would not have improved when he watched from the dressing room as Mike Hussey was given out caught at slip of the off-spinner Graeme Swann, and the television ”Hot Spot” technology revealed that his bat had hit the ground and not the ball. From October, batsmen and fielding captains will be able to appeal a limited number of contentious umpiring decisions per innings under ICC’s referral system.
Umpiring controversies aside Katich and Hughes both played poor shots and Marcus North could not blame the umpires for his dismissal – he was bowled by a Swann for six. Flintoff was, as ever, the most menacing of the England bowlers, charging in on a busted knee with the Lord’s crowd at his back in his fourth-last Test.
England declared with a lead of 521, more runs than have ever been scored in a fourth-innings chase to win a Test. The home side has recently not had an easy time bowling sides out at Lord’s, having been unable to dismiss South Africa in the fourth innings last year and Sri Lanka in 2006. Strauss also had unpleasant memories of the last time they declared in an Ashes Test with 551 on the board in the first innings in Adelaide, where Shane Warne had a bit to do with Australia conjuring one of the great comebacks of all time to win the game.
–Agencies–