Carnage at Cardiff

Carnage at Cardiff

It could not have been more one-sided than this. In a show of great strength and character, Australia pummeled their way to secure a 239-run lead on the fourth day and with it set the tone for the rest of the Ashes. Centuries from Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, Marcus North and Brad Haddin have ensured that this Test will only have one winner. Your guess is as good as mine!

Ashes 2009
The Ashes series got a very lukewarm coverage from the media the world-over and much of it goes to the energy of the media being spent covering the Twenty20 Carnival that just happened at the same country and to host Ashes within a few weeks was ask.
However, cricket pundits have spoken different things on the series thus far. The most important moment of the Test was Ponting scaling the 11000-run mark in Tests, passed by legends such as Brian Lara, Allan Border and our home boy Sachin Tendulkar.

England cricket and Ashes legend Sir Ian Botham made a remark on it. “If you look at the guy he’s closing in on, Allan Border, those two could be two peas out of the same pod. The way they play, their doggedness, they’re tough, they  get stuck in and once they’re in you, need dynamite to remove  them. Ricky Ponting is a fantastic player. He’s one of those guys you really enjoy watching. He can play all the shots, but you know he’s not going to give anything away. He was in total control,” he was quoted by the Daily Mail.

Did England Miss (read Mess) a trick?
Hell Yes! Where was the gentle giant named Steve Harmison???? This question was raised by former fast bowler from Yorkshire Darren Gough. In an interview to Daily Mail, he said, “Where is Steve Harmison? We keep saying ‘he doesn’t like touring, he doesn’t like this, he doesn’t like that’. He should be playing. He’s a wicket taker. He bowls aggressively and, on this sort of pitch, you can’t have bowlers bowling little swingers to try to get Australia out. You need someone with raw pace who might get wickets on this sort of pitch.”
He went on to make some interesting and glaring errors in this Test. “I’m sorry, but no way. Andrew Flintoff was bowling at 93 mph and the keeper was about four yards back. When Broad was bowling, the speed cameras must have been turned up because there’s no way he was bowling at 94 mph. Flintoff was, Broad wasn’t.”
Well, one can surely say that the Poms have missed more than just one trick or two and Kevin Pietersen’s remark that spin will win them the Test may have to be eaten up by the tall-Englishman.
What is even more interesting is the fact that England had more variety in their attack and were allegedly spoken in high regard. But neither did the combination of Broad, Anderson and Flintoff brought them the purchase nor did their tweakers Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.

With Australia giving a solid batting display in the first Test, the onus will be on their bowlers to make it count. Will they?