Chris Tremlett
Chris Tremlett stole the limelight on his return to the national squad after 3 years as he ran through the Australian top order with a fiery spell and laid the foundation for England at the end of Day 1 of the third Test of the Ashes.
Strauss won the toss and put the underperforming Aussies in and put them on the backfoot right from Over 1. Anderson had Watson caught behind in the sixth ball of the day but Watson took the review which gave him a lease of life. But there was no such luck for fellow opener Phillip Hughes. Chris Tremlett, sharing the new ball in the absence of Broad, roughed him up with a few short balls before cleaning him up with a fuller delivery. 2/1 at the end of the second over.
Ponting struck a couple of sweetly timed boundaries but Collingwood came up with something special to remove the Aussie skipper. Anderson got some extra bounce which hit the top of Ponting’s bat and flew away. Collingwood, at fourth slip, dived high to his right and plucked the ball from thin air. You beauty!
Clarke’s place in the team became even more debatable after he edged Tremlett to give Prior his 100th catch in Test cricket. After half a dozen tight overs, the Poms struck again as Finn’s straight and full yorker hit Watson on the boot and even the review couldn’t save him this time. Australia were 36/4 and were crumbling yet again.
Mike Hussey began to counterattack and in the company of Steve Smith, ensured that there were no more hiccups as both the teams went into lunch at 65/4. It wasn’t long before lunch when Tremlett was brought into the attack and got Smith to edge one into the waiting hands of Andrew Strauss. As it was in Brisbane, it was left to Hussey and Haddin to do the repair work.
The duo combined and put on a free flowing 68 run partnership as Hussey brought up his 4th consecutive half century. Swann was brought into the attack and it took him only two overs to strike gold. Hussey got a faint edge and was given out after England had taken the review. Haddin put on another half century partnership with Johnson and brought up his 7th half century in the process before Swann took a sharp catch to reduce Australia to 189/7. Johnson continued striking the ball cleanly and made 62. A tenth wicket partnership of 35 ensured that Australia limped to 268.
Cook and Strauss saw off the remaining 12 overs of the day and will resume Day 2 on 27/0 as Australia will be hoping that Mitchell Johnson’s success with the bat will reflect in his bowling. And they need that to happen if they have to have any chance of winning the Ashes 2010.
Tags: 3rd Test, Australia, Chris Tremlett, Cricket, England, James Anderson, Michael Hussey, Perth, Ricky Ponting, The Ashes, The Ashes 2010, WACA
