Andrew Flintoff gets five-for

It is with a sense of Titanic relief that I am writing about an England win.

I woke up at 4am on Monday (Australian time, about 7pm the night before in Blighty) and hurriedly checked the Day 4 score. I then tossed and turned for hours after I learned of Clarke and Haddin’s mammoth stand. My Inner-Australian was getting a bit lairy and hurling empty tinnies against the inside of my skull (I don’t know where he came from, he just turned up one day with his mates and an esky full of VB). Surely England couldn’t throw this away. Surely!? I kept running all the possibilities through my head. “If Haddin and Clarke add another 100….”

This fear comes from a very deep place in my psyche. It is born of 27 years supporting Manchester City and watching the England Cricket Team. If you’ve never been an England fan, or even a sports fan, you’ll never understand. But as the day’s play drew nearer, I sought reassurance from my fellow sufferers in England. They failed to provide any, so, thinking positive and before heading out the door to go to the pub, I declared to no one in particular that England would have it won by lunch. Positive thoughts.

And didn’t they do well! Dispatching Australia with a ruthlessness that we’ve often seen from the Aussies themselves. Flintoff, seemingly running on a knee that must surely have been fixed the good old Lancastrian way, “with nowt but glue and a bit of paper”, came steaming in for 10 unchanged overs. Bowling some of the most ferocious deliveries I have seen from him. Certainly the best he’s bowled since the last Ashes series in England. At the other end he was ably supported by Swann, who was finally finding his line and length. His delivery that got Clarke was a pearler.

Is was an excellent all-round performance from England, and one they thoroughly deserved. I think Andrew Strauss was unlucky to miss out on man-of-the-match, since it was his 161 and opening wicket partnership with Cook that set the tone for England and set them up nicely going into Day 2. It was a little concerning to see the middle order have a bit of a hiccup, but the bowlers more then made up for that. Unlike some, I also think it was an excellent decision from Strauss not to enforce the follow-on. At that point, the batting conditions were perfect and he clearly wanted his bowlers to have a bit of a rest before bowling at Australia again. However, I would have liked to have seen England bat for an additional hour on Day 4, just to get the lead above 600. Fortunately, in the end, it wasn’t needed.

It’s a shame that the match will be shrouded in a certain amount of controversy. 3 of Australia’s wickets were fairly dubious, the catch Strauss took to get Hughes to worst of the lot. Having watched it again, I can sort of see why the umpires sided with the fielder, but it seems strange that they didn’t refer it to the 3rd umpire, particularly when a catch by Hauritz the day before was referred. This inconsistency is what galls the Aussies the most, with some die hard fans slamming the online papers, labeling England as cheats. A touch harsh I feel, but fortunately the intelligent Aussie fans know better, admitting that these poor decisions didn’t lose Australia the game. As is often the case with these things, the luck often goes with the team in the ascendancy, and I’m sure that before this series is out, England will no doubt receive their fair share of dodgy calls. Bopara in the first test for example.

England now head into the week’s break ideally placed. And although they are 1-0 up in the series, they cannot afford even a hint of complacency. The Australian batting line up is still fearsome. They have proven test centurions all the way down to 7, and England will know that they will need plans for all of them if they are to keep their scoring to a minimum.

Australia will now re-group and head off to Northampton to try and gain some confidence before Edgbaston. The area they need to work on is clearly the bowling, having now failed to take 20 English wickets twice. The sudden decline in form of Mitchell Johnson is a real worry, however, Brett Lee should be fit for the 3rd test and Stuart Clark must also be chomping at the bit to face England. Johnson must surely be dropped. When you go into a game with only a 3 man pace attack, there is no room for passengers. Traditionally, with Warne and McGrath, Australia have never had this problem. But it was obvious that Hilfenhaus and Siddle started to tire as they had to pick up the slack left by Johnson. You would think it would be a straight replacement with Lee.

Another possible solution for Australia is to consider Johnson as an all-rounder. He can certainly bat. And Haddin has proved he is more than capable. I would consider dropping North, moving Haddin to 6, Johnson to 7 and bringing in Clark or Lee.

It’ll be nice now to have a week off from the stresses and strains of following an Ashes series. These late nights were starting to take their toll as well and so I’m looking forward to a few early nights this week.

Ah. But then there’s the cycling….