Scots aim to mark 150 years with second win
IAN Bell and Joe Root’s twin 60s helped set Australia an Ashes record victory target of 412 after a hectic third day of the first Test in Cardiff.
Bell returned to form, and first-innings centurion Root stayed in it, to ease the hosts away from early trouble second time round en route to 289 all out.
England had stumbled to 22 for two, after bowling the tourists out for 308, when Bell took guard on the back of just 56 runs in his previous nine Test attempts.
But, in keeping with his team’s new brief to attack whenever feasible, he belied any personal anxiety to carry them to 170 for three at one stage.
On a sunny day which was to see 15 wickets fall, England took Australia’s last five for 43.
Yet they hit snags themselves either side of lunch, Alastair Cook spearing a catch to point off Mitchell Starc and Gary Ballance gone for a duck in the first over of the afternoon on a pitch of increasingly variable bounce – gloving Josh Hazlewood behind. Bell and Adam Lyth responded, however, with England’s new spirit of adventure and, when the opener slog-swept Nathan Lyon for six, 50 runs had come from the first seven overs of the session.
Lyon (four for 75) got his revenge when Lyth edged an offbreak to be brilliantly caught by Michael Clarke, diving onehanded to his left at slip.
But Bell oversaw a second successive half-century stand, adding 97 this time, with Root and passing his own 50 when he hit Mitchell Johnson over point for his tenth four from 75 balls.
The fourth-wicket pair ended up with the same number of runs from balls faced, and Ben Stokes chipped in importantly too – albeit after surviving on just five when Starc hit him in front on the back foot yet declined, along with all his teammates, to appeal for lbw.
There was no need for an appeal to account for either Bell or Root, both bowled on the back foot – respectively when Johnson took one away off the pitch to hit middle-and-off for his first wicket of the match and then Hazlewood got one through the Yorkshireman’s defence.
Jos Buttler joined Stokes, but not for long before he contrived to be caught behind trying to reverse-sweep Lyon. Stokes had England’s third middle-order 50 in his sights when instead he was bowled off an inside-edge trying to drive Starc and then Stuart Broad holed out off Lyon to Hazlewood at long-off.
But Moeen Ali, dropped by Haddin on nought off Lyon, stayed long enough under lights to help big-hitting Mark Wood take the lead above 400.
It all left Australia needing to eclipse the Ashes record run chase, of 404 by Don Bradman’s Australian side in 1948, in order to pull off an unlikely win.
Impressive bowling from Broad especially and James Anderson (three for 43) had made short work of the tourists’ tail before lunch. Broad and Wood gave the opposition no leeway from the outset, rewarded with two lbw verdicts and only one run scored – and then Anderson hastened the process again with the second new ball.
Shane Watson was perhaps marginally unlucky, pushing forward at Broad and unsuccessful with DRS after Marais Erasmus had given him out – balltracking demonstrating a mere clip on the top of leg-stump.
There was no semblance of doubt over nightwatchman Lyon’s departure, though, beaten on the crease by Wood. It took Brad Haddin 16 balls to get off the mark, achieved on the introduction of Stokes for Broad but in unconvincing fashion with a pull for four off an inside-edge which just missed off-stump.
Haddin followed up with two more conventional boundaries in the same Stokes over, and it was no surprise that Cook recalled Broad as soon as the new ball was taken. It was Anderson who struck, though, finding Haddin’s outside edge on the back foot and Buttler taking a low catch to his right.
After Johnson then chipped Broad tamely to mid-wicket, Anderson ensured the initial threefigure lead when he had Starc edging to third slip for a duck as Australia’s last three wickets fell for just four runs. SMRH are hoping last week’s bonus victory over Murrayfield DAFS can be the start of a run of wins that keeps them on the coat-tails of Glenrothes in the Baillie Gifford ESCA Championship title race, writes Gary Heatly.
The Edinburgh side, currently in second, know they have a lot to do over the next seven weeks to catch the unbeaten leaders – but they are determined to give it their best shot.
To date, SMRH have won seven league matches, tied one and lost three since they were relegated from the top flight and, seven days ago, they managed to get a game in with DAFS when all other fixtures were rained off.
In a 35-over-a-side contest at Inverleith, the hosts eventually got home by 21 runs.
A fortnight ago, Thomas Beattie, 22, was the hero for SMRH as they salvaged a tie against Edinburgh. Having made 151 all out at Inverleith, the Edinburgh bowlers were then in fine form in the SMRH reply and, when Beattie came to the wicket, his side were struggling on 66-7.
He dug in to score 53 not out, though, and, with help from Elliot Ruthven and Chris Bissett, managed to take the game to the last over. They needed eight to win and, by the last ball, Beattie was on strike and needed two to win.
“We only managed to get a leg bye off that ball and in a way I was disappointed with a tie after we had gone so close.”
Today SMRH host Marchmont, while Glenrothes are away to Mazars Grange II at Fettes School.
Third-placed Carlton II are at Campbell Park to take on Edinburgh, Murrayfield DAFS are facing Freuchie and Stuart&stuart Penicuik are at Arboretum facing Holy Cross. SCOTLAND’S cricketers will today attempt to mark the 150th anniversary of the national side’s first match by stepping up their bid to reach the T20 World Cup.
Preston Mommsen’s men face the Netherlands at The Grange, Edinburgh and are aiming for the second win of their qualifying campaign following Thursday’s nine-wicket demolition of the UAE.
The all-action hustle and bustle of T20, with its white ball and coloured kit, would not be recognised as the same game played by Scotland’s ground-breaking group of 19th century cricketers. Mommsen’s first predecessor Robert Balfour led out a motley crew – a combination of serious players and those there just to make up the numbers – for the country’s first representative game against Surrey at the Oval in 1865. They were good enough to win the two-day match, played at a much more sedate pace than will be on view today, thanks largely to the bowling heroics of David Buchanan, who claimed 11 wickets in the match.
Buchanan was one of the first great exponents of left-arm spin bowling, who played for Grange before heading south to make his name as captain of Warwickshire and one of the best bowlers of his generation.
His namesake, Colonel David Buchanan, also played in the match but is best remembered as a founding member of both Drumpellier and West of Scotland cricket clubs. The Scottish team included three Australians who were selected apparently only on the basis of having been educated in Edinburgh.
Scotland even looked for divine intervention with the inclusion of Rev John Hood for his one and only appearance for the country. Cricket Scotland historian Neil Leitch said: “John Hood must have been someone who made up numbers, as he had no known connection with Scotland, but he was no doubt a welcome addition to the team as he top-scored with 39 not out in the first innings. Obviously, that game 150 years ago is a far cry from the cricket we all watch nowadays but it is a very significant anniversary in the history of the Scottish game. It will be fitting if Preston’s side can mark the occasion with victory today.”
Meanwhile, Mark Watt, Scotland’s latest talented left-arm spinner, will again be handed a key role as Mommsen’s side attempt to stifle Holland’s hardhitting batsmen.
Grant Bradburn, the Scotland coach, will decide this morning whether to tinker with a winning line-up. Both Leicestershire’s Rob Taylor and Con de Lange of Clydesdale, who have been nursing minor injuries, are fit for selection. The Dutch meanwhile are bidding to bounce back from their opening day defeat to Afghanistan.