England vs Australia 1st Ashes Test: 25-29 November
Day 4
After surviving the last hour on Day 3, England started Day 4 on 19/0. Andrew Strauss smacked the ball all around the park and Alastair Cook batted with such determination as if he would never get out. His place was under scrutiny against Pakistan where he scored a ton to retain his place. But I, and many experts, doubted if he would succumb against Australia. England have been a good team for long, they have had the good players, they have been hard working. But now, they are also finding winning ways and are more consistent. There have been quite a few series in which all Ali Cook did was scoring a ton. In the 1st innings of this Test, he made 67 and is not out on 132 in the 2nd. That's a total of 199 runs. On his previous Ashes tour, he made 276 runs, though he still struck a ton at Perth. I reckon times are changing because of his determination and 67. The pitch was flat and on top of that, Australia dropped a few catches. Mitchell Johnson dropped Andrew Strauss when he was on 69. Siddle, Clarke also dropped catches. Clarke dived and almost caught it but couldn't hold on, Trott was the batsman.
It's probably going to be a draw but a result is possible. Australia would need to get England out very early and England would need to get to 500 quickly, declare and get Australia out in about 50 overs. Both are unlikely though. The highest successful chase at this ground is 236. The pitch helped the bowlers on Day 1 and slowly became flat.
Brief scores:
- Eng 260 (Bell 76, Cook 67, Pietersen 43, Siddle 6/54, Doherty 2/41)
- Aus 481 (Hussey 195, Haddin 136, Katich 50, Finn 6/125, Anderson 2/99, Swann 2/128)
- Eng 309/1 (Cook 132*, Strauss 110)
