TOURISTS STUMPED
Aussies pile on the pain
AUSTRALIA is on the verge of clinching a remarkable landslide Ashes victory in Brisbane, after a resounding team effort left England back at square one.
David Warner and Cameron Bancroft breathed life into a promising new opening combination, and bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood turned what was a pulsating arm wrestle into a technical knockout in the blink of an eye.
England is facing a multitude of problems heading into the second Test in Adelaide after its carefully crafted game plan to suffocate Australia failed to come off and ultimately blew up in its face.
Australia need just 56 runs to go 1-0 up in the series when play resumes today, after Warner and Bancroft ruthlessly batted England out of contention to finish 0-114 at stumps on day four.
Chasing just 170 for victory, the bull and the young buck from Western Australia carved out their first hundred-run partnership that left England spearhead Jimmy Anderson frustrated.
Steve Smith’s inspiring hundred has undoubtedly been the catalyst, but the most promising thing about this looming triumph for Australia is that so many players have rallied in what was for the most part a ding-dong battle.
When England captain Joe Root passed 50 before lunch, the visitors were looking ominous, only for Hazlewood to put an inconsistent Test behind him and crash into the skipper’s pads to trap him lbw.
The turning points just kept on coming when some sharp work from Tim Paine off Nathan Lyon stumped the dangerous Moeen Ali for 40 — with the third umpire convinced there was not a millimetre of his boot behind the white line.
Starc then delivered his best Mitchell Johnson impersonation when he decimated Stuart Broad and the English tail with a withering spell of fast bowling that saw three wickets fall in the space of just 10 balls. Shane Warne was adamant England needed only to set a target of 230 to pave the way for an epic finish, but in a flash, that dream was over and it failed to pass 200.
Suddenly there are serious question marks hanging over this England squad.
Alastair Cook failed twice to leave England great Kevin Pietersen questioning whether the former captain has lost his drive.
Then Anderson fell in a heap as he hunted desperately for a late breakthrough, repeatedly throwing the ball back at the stumps — at one point striking an unmoving Bancroft flush in the thigh.
Stuart Broad defended England’s tactics to slow down run-scoring and take time out of the match — but it would appear it learnt a hard lesson that you need to advance the game if you want to win on Australian soil.
Starc’s short-pitched bowling was merciless, leaving Broad, Chris Woakes and Jake Ball ducking for cover.