| England vs Austrailia, 3rd Ashes Test, Trent Bridge 2nd-6th August 2001, Day 1 |
| Firstly I should apologise for having no report for the second test, as I was away in monmouth Friday-Sunday of that test. However, I am not obliged to do this report column, and therefore anyone who expects an apology can get stuffed. The final elevens for this match: England: Austrailia: M. Atherton (c) M. Hayden M. Trescothick M. Slater M. Butcher R. Ponting M. Ramprakash M. Waugh A. Stewart (w) S. Waugh (c) I. Ward D. Martyn C. White A. Gilchrist (w) A. Tudor S. Warne R. Croft B. Lee A. Caddick J. Gillespie D. Gough G. McGrath Michael Atherton, the acting England captain in Nasser "Feeble-finger" Hussain's continuing absense, did something that no recent England captain had managed to do, winning the toss. He decided that England should bat first, as it would be pointless Austrailia unnecessarily batting twice. Atherton followed this by achieving something a lot more common among recent England captains, getting out for a duck - Glenn McGrath getting him second ball - though as camera replays show the ball struck Atherton on the arm-guard, and should not have been given out. This brings us back to the old debate that if camera can detect this, why are our umpires so shit? Butcher was dismissed not long after for 13, again by McGrath, and then Ramprakash soon after for 14 (In five of his last six innings against the Aussies, Ramprakash has scored 14 - perhaps he misheard someone talking about forty being a good average in test-level cricket as fourteen; perhaps he's just crap. Either way, it's a point which needs to be addressed), from a ridiculous attempt at aggression against Gillespie. Trescothick looked in excellent form though, racing to his fifty off 70 or so balls before lunch. In the afternoon session it was all Austrailia though, Trescothick being finally dismissed for 69 by Gillespie. This started the standard England collapse, with Ward scoring only 6 before being dismissed by McGrath. Craig White walked to the crease, faced a few balls and then walked back into the pavillion, dismissed for a duck by McGrath. Alex Tudor, coming back from a long gap in test cricket since scoring 99* against New Zealand, scored 3 before he was dismissed by Shane Warne lbw for 3, and Robert Croft fell soon after to the same bowler for the same score. Stewart decided to test Mark Waugh's slip catching, seemingly guiding the ball to him in the air on purpose, and being dismissed therefore for 46, giving McGrath another 5 wicket haul. Brett Lee finished off by removing Caddick's off-stump for 13, and England were all out at tea for 185. However, England were determined to make sure that if they lost it would happen in three days maximum, and therefore put on a determined bowling performance in the evening. Hayden and Slater put on 48 for the first wicket, before Hayden was dismissed by the returning Tudor for 33. Slater and Ponting both looked desperately out of touch, Slater being dismissed 8 runs later for 15, and Ponting 13 runs later again, being dismissed for 14; both of these wickets fell to Gough. The fun continued when Steve Waugh was dismissed by Caddick for 13 at the start of an inspired spell by him. With Mark Waugh falling soon after for 15 to Tudor, Austrailia were struggling at 94-5. But it wasn't to end there! Caddick took the wickets of Damien Martyn (4) and Shane Warne (0) in successive overs, leaving Austrailia at the close of play on 105-7, in an England-like position. Go to Day 2 Back to The Daily Crigg Back to the Homepage |