|  OOH
AAH GLEN MCGRATH;
AAH
OOH DÉJÀ VU
It was with great trepidation that
I accept the position of Ashes Tour Australian Correspondent
because of our lacklustre early 1 day form. But with
the eloquent dry throated comedy of David Donovan
lost somewhere in outback Queensland, who else was
going to carry the load?
I
guess as Ali Wilson will testify, I had some solid
experience in occupying the sofa and watching TV,
so I said, “let the games begin”.
Before starting on the 1st Test
coverage, I thought it pertinent to point out that
us Aussies did manage to find some form in the last
2 games of pyjama cricket, and upon reflection, our
poor form was really only due to the fact that we
were coming off a long break and were confronted
with pitches that even yours truly would be able
to extract some life. Also had me wondering if Sean ‘Bronco’ Lane
had renamed himself and broken into the English side
as G. Tremlett?
There was much press in Australia
of the new combatants that would plunder our bowlers
and claim the scalps of our seasoned run machines.
Well lets see how they went shall we…
1st Day’s play
Day 1 and a very interesting decision
by Ponting to elect to bat. Juicy wicket and Glen
McGrath champing at the bit to get his 500th wicket.
One would have thought put those new boys under some
pressure early, but not our punter.
 In the first session runs flowed (as they usually
do with the Australian positive style of test match
cricket), but unusually, so did the wickets.
Not a lot to crow about on the batting side, but
Justin Langer (who is my choice for leading run scorer
for the series) managed a 40, Simon Katich held the
tail together well, and Warne’s little cameo
would see Australia to a meager, yet defendable 190.
(lets not forget new cult batsman Glen McGrath’s
unbeaten 10).
Enter Glen McGrath with the ball – if ever
there was going to be a guy that wouldn’t stand
for the lip of ‘high average against inferior
opposition bowlers’ (and that means you Strauss!)
it was the Pigeon. Within an hour the home side were
languishing at 5-21, with all of them going down
to McGrath, including his bunny Trescothick, captain
Vaughan, and loud mouth hack Strauss. Game over!
Same old story…
Well in truth there still was another 2 and a half
innings before the test was to end, but effectively
the job was done the night before. A creditable innings
from debutant, ‘I can pick Warney’ Pietersen
and should be Aussie Geraint Jones was about all
the Poms could take out of the first dig (oh, and
the fact they got triple figures).
The Aussies got back in there and went about business
as usual, banging up 384 at around 4 per over. Loud
mouth Strauss was at it again, giving a send off
to Martyn after he made 65 (lets see if you can make
that many for the Ashes Tour buddy!). Young gun Clarke
racked up a quickfire 91 and Katich completed a handy
test with the bat with 67.
The Poms went in to bat needing a near impossible
430 for victory, and only fickle London weather was
going to stop the rampaging Aussies from chalking
up another win over the old enemy. Again, another
solid score was compiled by Pietersen and an ok start
by the openers, but generally nothing else to support
them. This time Warne and Lee did the job with the
ball early and McGrath cleaned up the tail.
Summary
Yes I know it’s a parochial match summary,
but what else did you expect!
 Congratulations
to Glen McGrath on his 500th test wicket. Very impressive
career stats with the wickets coming at around 21
in just over 100 tests. 3 appearances at Lords for
3 man of the match performances and around 30 wickets.
And you can add 30 runs with the bat without loss
too!
Well done Mathew Hoggard on your pair with the
bat! Is Andrew Flintoff the great pretender with
the bat?
Granted that Strauss has around
40 runs to take away from the 1st test so he should
probably eclipse Marto’s 65 in the next 4 matches!
The future
 Ominous
sign for the Poms is the lack of relative output
with the bat from Adam Gilchrist. He has a genuine
test average of over 55 so look out.
I know Gillespie has been battling so who knows
if he will be there next test. Kaspers form over
the last 18 months has been great, and we have a
young gun by the name of Shaun Tait who will terrorise
your batsmen given half a chance. Very similar to
Geoff Thomson. Sadly I think he will be restricted
to terrorizing the women in English pubs over the
course of the tour, along with Brad Hodge.
On the batting front, if one is to go (highly unlikely
though) Mike Hussey will walk in and average 50 no
problems.
Tour prognostication – 3- 0 Australia’s
way (I’m sure we’ll get some rain!)
Damien Devola, LhB (Aus)
[Damo's
views are not necessarily those of APCC and are
probably just the result of too many tinnies
in the midday sun. MB]
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