Smith and Marsh bounce back as first test hangs in the balance
Again, what another exciting day of test cricket as Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh fight back against a highly charged England bowling attack.
England resumed at 4/196 before Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali took adavantage of a fairly lazy Australian bowling display. However, once Malan gave away his wicket with a weak pull shot, saw a collapse that lead to England being bowled out for 302 before lunch.
However a weak Australian reply with the bat, saw the likes of Bancroft, Khawaja, Warner and Handscombe being dismissed fairly cheaply. With Australia, stranded on 4/76, Steve Smith (64 runs) and Shaun Marsh (44 runs) lead an impressive fight back to see the Aussies at 4/165.
The Australian innings seemed to be steady with the likes of Camron Bancroft looking solid, before Stuart Broad found the edge to leave Australia at 1/7. Moreover, Usman Khawaja took liking to the Gabba conditions against the English pacemen before again he was dismissed against spin. This has been one of his most dissapointing features, his lack of application against spin. However, I feel that his class and eligance needs to be seen in the subcontinent if he is to ever improve his ability to play spin. If selectors continue not to select Khawaja for oversease tests but solidify his spot at home, I'm afraid that his sublime form will not continue. Persisting with Khawaja in spinning conditions will improve his confidence to play spin, thus will see an increase in his technique against spinners. But credit must be given to Joe Root for bringing Moeen Ali into the attack as soon as Khawaja was at the crease and he later found his wicket.
It seems that the first test so far has shaped out to be very "traditional" with low run rates and constant shifts in momentum that add to the mystery of this great game. Furthermore, I do like to emphasis that the Australian captain did miss a trick as far as his field placements, in that they lacked a direction and purpose into what the bowlers' intentions were. Whereas, Joe Root looked like he had a plan for every Australian batsman, hence why the Aussies are in such a tight position. Therefore, I would liked to have seen more aggressive bowling earlier in the day instead of the Australians waiting for errors by the English batsmen. This is a negative way to approach the game, as Australia have the better bowling line up (in my opinion) that really demonstrate their authority when they are given the right to express themselves in an aggressive manner. Nathan Lyon really lifted the side with his bounce and turn so early in the test match which saw most of the batsmen with little answers. This further referenced to the somewhat "unorthodox" pitch that was prepared at the Gabba, however later in the day after the wicket began to bake under the sun, saw the emergence of more extreme bounce and pace.
Overall the match has ended in the balance, as Smith and Marsh will look to build on their overnight scores.After being 4/76, the arrival of Shaun Marsh and his partnership with Steve Smith have given the Aussies some hope into crawling back into this game. However, if England fail to take a wicket in the first session, the match will slowly start to favour the home team. In that case, an early wicket tommorow morning will most likely expose the tail hence adding more pressure on the last recognised batsmen.
Congradulations to Steve Smith who continues his sublime form with the bat and his partner Shaun Marsh for hanging in despite some critiscm from the public, media and myself as well. His exeptional timing of the ball has demonstrated the form he is in with the bat. So when England do decide to take the new ball tommorow, the experience of Shaun Marsh against the new pill will be extremely valuable for the Australians as that will be one of their toughest periods of the match so far with only 1 recognised batmsan left in their first innings.
Therefore the game is so far in the balance, hence the first session on day 3 could determine the test match. Therefore, Australia should seek to be somewhat cautious going into the first hour and see to reach England’s total.
Lets hope to see another day of fantastic cricket for day 3.
England resumed at 4/196 before Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali took adavantage of a fairly lazy Australian bowling display. However, once Malan gave away his wicket with a weak pull shot, saw a collapse that lead to England being bowled out for 302 before lunch.
However a weak Australian reply with the bat, saw the likes of Bancroft, Khawaja, Warner and Handscombe being dismissed fairly cheaply. With Australia, stranded on 4/76, Steve Smith (64 runs) and Shaun Marsh (44 runs) lead an impressive fight back to see the Aussies at 4/165.
The Australian innings seemed to be steady with the likes of Camron Bancroft looking solid, before Stuart Broad found the edge to leave Australia at 1/7. Moreover, Usman Khawaja took liking to the Gabba conditions against the English pacemen before again he was dismissed against spin. This has been one of his most dissapointing features, his lack of application against spin. However, I feel that his class and eligance needs to be seen in the subcontinent if he is to ever improve his ability to play spin. If selectors continue not to select Khawaja for oversease tests but solidify his spot at home, I'm afraid that his sublime form will not continue. Persisting with Khawaja in spinning conditions will improve his confidence to play spin, thus will see an increase in his technique against spinners. But credit must be given to Joe Root for bringing Moeen Ali into the attack as soon as Khawaja was at the crease and he later found his wicket.
It seems that the first test so far has shaped out to be very "traditional" with low run rates and constant shifts in momentum that add to the mystery of this great game. Furthermore, I do like to emphasis that the Australian captain did miss a trick as far as his field placements, in that they lacked a direction and purpose into what the bowlers' intentions were. Whereas, Joe Root looked like he had a plan for every Australian batsman, hence why the Aussies are in such a tight position. Therefore, I would liked to have seen more aggressive bowling earlier in the day instead of the Australians waiting for errors by the English batsmen. This is a negative way to approach the game, as Australia have the better bowling line up (in my opinion) that really demonstrate their authority when they are given the right to express themselves in an aggressive manner. Nathan Lyon really lifted the side with his bounce and turn so early in the test match which saw most of the batsmen with little answers. This further referenced to the somewhat "unorthodox" pitch that was prepared at the Gabba, however later in the day after the wicket began to bake under the sun, saw the emergence of more extreme bounce and pace.Overall the match has ended in the balance, as Smith and Marsh will look to build on their overnight scores.After being 4/76, the arrival of Shaun Marsh and his partnership with Steve Smith have given the Aussies some hope into crawling back into this game. However, if England fail to take a wicket in the first session, the match will slowly start to favour the home team. In that case, an early wicket tommorow morning will most likely expose the tail hence adding more pressure on the last recognised batsmen.
Congradulations to Steve Smith who continues his sublime form with the bat and his partner Shaun Marsh for hanging in despite some critiscm from the public, media and myself as well. His exeptional timing of the ball has demonstrated the form he is in with the bat. So when England do decide to take the new ball tommorow, the experience of Shaun Marsh against the new pill will be extremely valuable for the Australians as that will be one of their toughest periods of the match so far with only 1 recognised batmsan left in their first innings.
Therefore the game is so far in the balance, hence the first session on day 3 could determine the test match. Therefore, Australia should seek to be somewhat cautious going into the first hour and see to reach England’s total.
Lets hope to see another day of fantastic cricket for day 3.
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