First Ashes Test Brisbane 2010

The first two days of the first Ashes test of 2010 saw honours fairly even, with a slight edge to Australia. On the first day good innings from Cook, Pietersen and Bell were quickly overshadowed by Peter Siddle on his 26th birthday. Siddle finished with figures of 6 for 54 off of 16 overs, which was of course crowned by his hat trick of Cook, Prior and Broad. Siddle‘s bowling can not be praised highly enough, with the debutant Xavier Doherty the only other bowler picking up more than one wicket. Doherty bowled well in his first test match, deservedly picking up the wickets of England‘s highest scorer Ian Bell and number 10 Jimmy Anderson. Australia safely saw off the day’s final overs finishng with 25 for no wickets.

Day two saw Watson and Katich both make good starts scoring 36 and 50 respectively, but Pontingand Clarke went cheaply, scoring only 10 and 9. But cometh the hour cometh the man. Mike Husseymarched to the crease under a huge cloud created by eastern states commentators and critics calling for him to be dropped. He came in with Australia starting to flounder on 3 for 100, then Clarke and North went quite quickly, to leave them on 5 for 143, still 117 behind England‘s first innings score. Hussey and Haddin saw off the rest of the days bowling, finishing the day on 81 and 22 not out with the score on 220 for 5.

Day three saw the partnership consolidate and get through a tough period of bowling from England. They then started to make hay, with both players scoring centuries and Australia taking a grip on the contest. They batted well into the third session of the day, with Haddin eventualy being dismissed for 136 after bringing up his century with a 6 straight down the field. Hussey fell agonisingly short of a double century, but with his highest test score of 195. He batted for eight and a quarter hours, scoring 26 fours and a six, so hopefully that will silence his critics for the rest of the series. The debutant Doherty scored a useful 16 being the last man dismissed by Finn, the pick of the England bowlers who finished with 6 for 125 off 33.4 overs. Australia were all out for 481 leading England by 221.

Strauss was almost dismissed off the first ball of England‘s second innings, leaving a rising ball from Hilfenhaus. Aleem Dar gave him not out. Australia appealed the decision and he was proved correct with the ball going over the wicket. England finished the day without loss, but did not score many runs, in what now appears to be a battle to save the match, ending with 19 for none.