PERTH.. WIN AND FIRE
Malan admits he was nearly overcome with emotion after scoring his maiden ton.. as batsmen finally get in groove BATTERED STONEMAN SO GUTSY
SCOREBOARD Perth ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS A Cook lbw b Starc .................. 7 M Stoneman c Paine b Starc .... 56 J Vince c Paine b Hazlewood...25 J Root c Paine b Cummins .... 20 D Malan not out ..................... 110 J Bairstow not out ................. 75 Extras (b-8 lb-2 nb-1 w-1)...12 Total (4 wkts, 89 overs)...305 Fall: 1-26; 2-89; 3-115; 4-131 To bat: M Ali, C Woakes, S Broad, C Overton, J Anderson Bowling: Starc 19-3-79-2; Hazlewood 20-7-62-1; Cummins 21-6-60-1; Lyon 19-4-61-0; M Marsh 7-1-25-0; Smith 3-1-8-0 CENTURIONS AT THE WACA England players who have scored their maiden Test hundred in Perth: Brian Luckhurst ......... 131 Chris Broad .............. 162 Jack Richards ........... 133 Ben Stokes ..... 120 Dawid Malan ............ *110 MARK STONEMAN added his own personal piece of evidence to the claim that ‘they make em tough up North’ with a performance full of bravery.
It is never great to see players get hit in the head as he was here by Josh Hazlewood which drew blood from his right cheek, but there was a noble quality to the way he carried on fighting in the face of a pace barrage.
Mitchell Starc had earlier broken Stoneman’s bat handle with a 92mph thunderbolt, while Hazlewood had him ducking and weaving, but also wearing a few bruises for his efforts.
Geordie Stoneman used to be called ‘Pebble’ but now he is ‘Rocky’ and he lived up to the name with a performance that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a boxing ring. “He took a bit of battering and it was a pretty gutsy knock,” said Aussie stumper Tim Paine. “Particularly as that spell from Josh Hazlewood was a real working-over. “He stuck it out and gutsed it out when it was pretty difficult. “I thought that spell to him was as good as you’ll see, to be honest. “It was pretty quick, Josh hit a good area and every time he bowled a bouncer it seemed to be right on the money, he certainly worked him over.” In the end Starc got him with a snorter that flicked his glove, but the way the decision was overturned on review by the TV umpire without using all the evidence left England deeply unimpressed.