3rd test - DAY FIVE REPORT:

(Karthik Narayan)

English hopes of putting up a fight rested on the shoulders of Flintoff, Pietersen and the tail. Warne as always bowled with his wizardry to spindle out some batsmen, to surmount the pressure on England again. Clark chipped in with two useful wickets, McGrath had done the damage late on day four with two wickets off 3 balls.

England had nowhere to hide now. It was all but over, with Pietersen resisting the assault.

Day five was a test for the Aussie bowlers, how often they can gather wickets, how better they could take catches, how accurate their bowlers were at hitting the stumps and how good their appeals (read screams of “howie”). If it was anything else, do let me know. It was Aussie might against Aussie might – more on the lines of a net practice.

Englishmen lasted, squirmed, played around, did their gardening, tried wasting time at the crease. One thing was sure, both the teams had done better than their first innings, but for England, it would not be enough.

Flintoff’s 51 delayed the obvious, but when Warne had succumbed him to a “bowled” victim across his nearing 700 list, it was 336/6, good, not good enough.

Jones, Mahmood, Harmison and Panesar hit nothing but the dust and by lunch on day 5, England were 349/9, hanging on to dear mother earth for nothing, really. As soon as they were back, Warne bowled Panesar, and that was it!

Aussies had regained the Ashes, and that too in clean straight wins.

There was no doubt regarding the Player of the Match – Mike Hussey. Australia won by 206 runs, with Warne needing just one wicket on his home test to get to the magic figure of 700!

3rd test - DAY FOUR REPORT

(Karthik Narayan)

England had a bad start, Strauss and the team didn’t trouble the scorers, but they recovered with good partnerships from Cook and Bell, Cook scoring his 4th century before he has turned the age of 22, something commendable for a youngster.

That partnership of 170 set up the platform for a decent fightback from England – they have to make a world record to win the test (which is unlikely), but at least if their hearts don’t sink in earlier than their wickets, we may see some cricket yet.

At the end of Day four, England were 265/5, the face off between pride and time – whichever would be salvaged was the question on anybody’s lips.

3rd TEST - DAY THREE REPORT

(Karthik Narayan)

Australia most certainly had the upper hand in both this test and the series – all they had to do was knock up their killer punch. That is precisely what they did!

Hayden and Ponting’s stiff resolve to fight up their skins brought the hosts up to 206-3, a position of respect, if not anything lesser. This was but a glimpse of the ferocity that was yet to come!!

Hussey (he is really ruling the cricketing world right now) and Clarke (good ol’ pup) came to the crease. They both rummaged through the English attack as the “Men in White (shirt and trousers) and baggy green (caps)” and simply left the Englishmen panting. So much chasing after the ball, so much running back to bowl another delivery at these men brought only “@#&^!*&” rather than wickets.

Just when they saw the back of Hussey, the Englishmen might have sighed relief – please hold your breath, said the guily Gilly. The “walk man” came in with about 2 hours before declaration and had clear instructions to go out there and have a party. And the party came – 8 boundaries took Gilchrist to 50 in 40 balls and the demonic attack of pulverizing anything short, wide brought him a ball short of equaling the World Record for the fastest test hundred. Viv Richards might not have had tasted fear when he faced the lethal bowlers, but he most certainly would have had a dollop of fear when his record was nearly thrashed out.

Gilchrist made 100 in 57 balls, the second fastest in test history, Clarke stood for his sterling 135* and that said it all. England were done in, Ashes had passed hands and 557 looked like a mountain of sorts.

End of day three – England were 19/1, with Strauss falling to Brett Lee on nought.

DAY TWO REPORT, 3rd test, dec 14-18, 06

(Karthik Narayan)

England started with a little bit of sun and a lot of Aussie hopes for the day – more Warney’s than “Kevin”, “flint” or even “monty” (cos he wouldn’t be bowling today, perhaps?) Nah, Aussie hopes were high as it is, and their fans were never let down.

England’s late evening troubles were to be laid at rest by the reliable Collingwood & Strauss, but sorry – McGrath had ideas to break them off, Collingwood departed with 4 more runs to the total.

Flintoff and Strauss had a brief partnership, but England were destined to be slayed by Aussie demonic bowlers (McGrath isn’t demonic, nor is Clark, they are just good enough not to be ignored).

55-3; 82-4; 107-5; 114-6; 128-7 – just meant one thing. Aussies were on top and Englishmen were rock bottoming themselves into the gutter. It took a “brave” rescue innings from Pietersen (70 runs), and a decent 42 from Strauss to bring England even closer to the 244 runs that they had given. 215 isn’t a big total, neither is 29 a great lead, but in this low scoring match, it could be devastating yet.

Day two belonged to Australia, as they wrapped up the end of day – their second innings was a promising one: Hayden and Ponting finding the runs. Ponting’s runs were no doubt, he has had the silken touch with the willow, but Hayden’s innings will give Australia the comfort they have always enjoyed – one of their opening batsmen firing, if not both!

This test is taking shape again – and it looks like the Aussie second innings could be the crucial. Whether it crunches enough numbers for Warne, Lee & the others is the question that remains.

Damien Martyn: The Man for the Moments

(Karthik Narayan)

Elasticity was found in inanimate things in the late 20th Century, but amongst humans, the elastic Damien Martyn was born on 21st October 1971 at Darwin. He is so elastic in the field, stretching every limb to its edge and maybe even further.

Martyn came into the scene in 1992-93, when he got a hitchhike from Dean Jones, now a famous commentator, at his expense though! The lean patch and age of Dean Jones helped Martyn get a break into a team where one has to fight for a place in the side and further survival!

While one majestic square drive from the bat of Ian Bradshaw has been talked about so highly, the very same square drive was nearly the Waterloo for this simple yet stylish in his own way - right-handed batsman. In the 2nd test at Sydney in 1993-94 against the Proteas, he made that very extravagant drive…the drive drove him back to the drawing room. He was ousted from the team immediately. The Aussies don’t like losing, and they lost that test by a narrow margin of 5 runs! Chasing just 117 runs for an important test win, the Aussies collapsed just 7 runs short of victory. Damien would never have been so crossed with himself. Timid McGrath could not last that final frontier of 7 runs and gone, the Aussies had lost at home!

Sporting an average in the high Forties in tests, this technically savvy super star boasts of 13 hundreds in 67 tests till date, with 161 against the Sri Lankans on the spinner friendly pitch at Kandy in 2003-04, which is something really commendable. He helped Australia get a stranglehold on the game, and shave the Lions’ beards in their own Den!

Talking about Martyn’s ODI stints, he was never the quickest scorer to begin with, but slowly he learnt what it takes to be a ODI player, and he learnt it quick. He was not in the team for most of his early twenties, when he was the freshest face in the Aussie team. Well he is still no less fresh than what he was, but after missing 4 years of his cricketing career, he clawed on to an opportunity against India in 1998 with all the guts to make a Golden Comeback of sorts.

Getting back into a team where every performance counts and every run counts is the toughest for any player, however great his records may be. Damien Martyn knew how hard it was to get a test place in this Aussie team that does not take shirkers! Finally after 5 years of exile in Test Cricket, he was finally chosen to play for the series in New Zealand. He managed to wedge a decent 78 at Wellington and then an 89* at Hamilton. At that time, that was his highest score in Test matches.
His first hundred in tests came against England at Birmingham in the Ashes 2001.

Soon after this, his test place was in no danger as he started to score runs at free will. Splendid strokes matched one another from his willow, and soon he was back in business as one of Australia’s best middle order batsman in contemporary times.
His first world cup was the 1999 World Cup in England; where he could not impress anyone with just the two matches that he played. He scored 18 against the Pakistani steamrollers before being bowled, and 11 against SA both at Leeds. I doubt if that’s a record for a person having played all his matches at the same location in a single world cup.

But as World Cup 2003 came, he started off with a duck in his first match against Pakistan again, but soon found his rhythm with good scores in that series, amassing runs when Australia needed them most. Four fifties at quick scoring rates helped Australia redeem their position in this game as the World Champions. He was injured during the course of this world cup and missed out on the Semi Final versus Sri Lanka, but managed to mesmerize in his own way in that all-important Final against the Indian team. After his captain showed the way with a classy and all aggressive brilliant hundred, Martyn came into the party with a super 88* at Johannesburg.
Ever since his comeback in the team in both tests and ODIs, he has been pure ecstasy to watch whether with the bat or in the field.

A typically aussie adding flavor to the table, his best year was 2004, when he went to Sri Lanka and India (instrumental in Australia winning in India after 35 years). He scored 6 centuries in that one year and was a force to reckon with.

A martin is a bird that builds its nest the hard way, mostly where humans live, in buildings. Damien Richard Martyn is like a bird, he flies every now and then for his great catches and he also builds his innings with the bat slowly. 67 Tests, 14 years, 4406 runs at 46.37, plus 208 ODI’s – soldier, you have done well! Its true that your services to this great game and this great team would most certainly be missed, but decisions are to be made. I personally wish you well in the future aspects of your life.

2nd test - DAY FOUR REPORT:

(Karthik Narayan)

Even though the Aussies had gotten out of trouble, they were not far from it. A mini collapse would enable England to sneak in back into the test – they had a healthy first innings score. Here is where the Aussies are so good – they have enough heroes in their midst. Clarke came to the fore with a decent century – it wasn’t by any means enterprising, or his normal speedy ones, but it was highly effective. At the other end, the wily stumper, Adam Gilchrist pounded the English attack and made 64 in good time (about 80 balls) and made up for lost time and strengthened the Aussie total.

The Aussies were dismissed after Tea for 513, but they had saved their skins! Clarke’s century, Warne’s stubborn 43 had kicked them out of the hole England had tried to dig for them. Hoggard had all the honors of one of the best bowling performances at the ground with 7 wickets in the innings. He really relishes the aussie batsmen, as he has made quite a bit of five-fors against them.

England resumed where they left off – the batting was never in question in this test.

With just 4 sessions left in the test, it looks very much to peter into a draw. The pitch just seems too good a batting surface for any miracles to happen at this stage.