How did you view the last session today after the Oi-Oi-Oi boys got 570? How bullish are you about Australia’s chances of winning the game? And what is the key to winning this game?
It would be unlikely to see Australia lose and it would be unlikely to see England win.
Australia bowl tight and it seems inconceivable Australia could be bowled out cheaply in the second dig.
But one can easily spot that if a team gets to 5/350, bowlers on both sides run out of gas, durability and ideas on this wicket.
Michael Carberry and Joe Root did a fine and courageous job after Mitch Johnson dismantled Alistair Cooks nerves in the final session.
One step back, one step on the spot, trapped on the crease and looking slightly sheepish when the castle went down.
That was the unfortunate picture for Al.
This is not Brisbane, so as soon as the ball loses shine completely it’s tough yakka for the quicks.
They can’t reverse it, they can’t bounce it at pace, they can’t intimidate like they can at Brisbane.
That brings spin into focus.
Outside off, the ball jumped and turned. But Carberry and Root showed if you are a good ‘leaver’, you can get it done.
Playing the ball that will hit the stumps became their only mantra.
Australia didn’t take an extra spinner to Adelaide. That means Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon and maybe Michael Clarke will have to bowl some overs.
Why? Because the four quicks (given Shane Watson bowls) are going to have it as tough as the Poms did.
What I saw from Lyon on Friday didn’t fill me with great hope.
He bowled around the wicket, he bowled off breaks exclusively, he varied his flight – but that was the only variety he had.
He does not have a slider, the ball that slides off the shiny surface and traps batsmen in front. He doesn’t have a doosra. He did not go over the wicket and pitch in footmarks.
He didn’t bowl a quicker one. And most turn was slow, except if it kicked out of footmarks.
There was some variable bounce for him, but he didn’t look like a match winner to me like a Stuart Broad or Johnson.
He looked like Graeme Swann with less variety – full of enthusiasm, but short on ideas.
Pete Siddle knows Adelaide. He knows he needs to rest tonight and be strong tomorrow.
There is variable bounce for the quicks, a little variable bounce for the spinners and as the game goes on into the fourth day, I suspect it will mark up and provide more variable bounce, which the Australian selectors are pinning their hopes on, because there is no Ashton Agar or Fahad Ahmed.
So day three shouldn’t hold too many fears for the Poms.
Carberry will be grateful he wasn’t given out on the final ball of the day, but apparently Johnson was the only person on the park convinced he was out.
Hard to refer when your captain and several other players weren’t convinced.
This is where England’s policy of having Cook, Prior and the bowler unanimously agree is the right protocol. It is disciplined.
Adelaide has a a fast and short outfield down the flanks and long on the drives.
Australia hit 320 runs to and over the boundary. The Poms will be looking to emulate those numbers.
They’ll want to bat into day four.
Lyon’s lack of variety is an opportunity for Steve Smith to pay off his meal ticket. If he can eke out a few wickets, it will go a long way to him retaining his spot.
From my recollection, Australia has not totalled 570 runs for some time now, maybe since Sri Lanka (did they go over 500 then?)
That tells me this wicket – if you let the ball come to you, if you use your feet well, and if you use the vast expanses of the oval well – will return a bucket load of runs.
Now the battle becomes one of wear and tear. One quick has already gone down in Ben Stokes. Who will be next on the Adelaide to Darwin Highway transplant?
It is going to be a bone-jarring ride for all the bowlers, and I wish them luck for Perth four days after this match concludes.
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