Chris Tremlett
The 4th Test Match between England and Australia in the Ashes series couldn’t have started better for the Brits and couldn’t have gone worse for the Aussies.
England skipper Andrew Strauss won the toss and decided to send Australia out to bat first. This ended up being the master stroke as Australia were all out for 98 in the first innings and within 227 mins, giving England the rest of the day to come out and finish day 1 in Melbourne.
The bating score card of the Australian side is truly a page to be memorized; the highest score was by Michael Clarke who made 20.
Either all the Australian’s went overboard on the eggnog the night before or somebody told them it’s a T20 match not a test, though to be fair, 98 is a pathetic T20 score as well.
James Anderson and Chris Tremlett cleaned out almost the entire team taking 4 wickets each; admittedly Anderson took out almost the entire middle order which consisted of dangerous players like Clarke, Michael Hussey who almost always makes a contributing to his side, made only 8, Steven Smith made 6, Mitchell Johnson who proved to be as deadly with the bat as he is with the ball walked away on a duck.
Chris Tremlett decided to fill in the gaps, dismissed opening batsman Shane Watson who managed to make only 5, our favourite Pinky Ponting who with our without injury cant make a difference made only 10, good for him, has finally reaching double digits. Finally Tremlett took out two of the tail Enders Ben Hilfenhaus on 0 and Peter Siddle on 11.
All bowlers must however thank Matt Prior for their wickets as he took 6 catches, what was most surprising was both Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen who are fantastic fielders dropped Shane Watson on 0 though Pietersen finally held the catch a few balls later.
Tim Bresnan from Yorkshire managed to take two bites of the Aussie side getting opener Phillip Hughes who made 16 and Brad Haddin who managed only a 5.
Day 1 ended with England basking in the sun at 157 for no loss after 57 over’s, Andrew Strauss on 64 and Alastair Cook on 80. Not only have England rubbed Australia’s nose in the Melbourne Cricket Ground by helping them make the 2nd lowest total ever at the MCG, but they’ve also put the ball back in England’s court. For all we know, England just may wing it and end the game on day 3 itself. Boxing Day came as quite a whack in the face for Australia indeed.
Tags: 4th Test, Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ashes Series, Australia, Boxing Day Test, Chris Tremlett, Cricket, England, James Anderson
