Warner, Clarke set up Brisbane Test Brisbane, November 23 England were buried under an avalanche of runs by David Warner and Michael Clarke, who scored contrasting centuries to put Australia in complete command by the end of the third day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba. While Warner maintained an aggressive tempo throughout his innings, Clarke slowed down after the formers dismissal for 124. Australia, posted 401/7 declared, taking a mammoth 560 run lead before Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson struck once each to reduce England to 24/2 by the end of Day 3. While Michael Carberry failed to defend a short of the length delivery from Harris, Trott was once again done in by Johnson, pulling the left-arm seamer to Nathan Lyon at deep square leg. The English attack had looked listless Friday afternoon but it was that man Stuart Broad again, who gave his team the first breakthrough this morning, removing Chris Rogers in the second over of the day. As the visitors started to exert pressure on the new pair of Shane Watson and Warner, it looked like England could make some more inroads before lunch. It came soon enough when Watson, attempting to hook Chris Tremlett, only managed to mistime and offer a simple catch to Broad on the leg side. As Clarke joined Warner in the middle, England had their tails up, hopeful of another Australian collapse. But that was not to be. As many as 20 wickets had fallen in the first two days of the Test, but the Aussie captain and his deputy were in no mood to repeat the mistakes of the first innings, choosing instead to be aggressive. Clarke, in particular, looked to take on the short balls from Broad and even looked ungainly, attempting to pull and hook, but his method was effective and had the desired effect. Warner, on the other hand, having cracked a fluent 49 in the first innings, looked just as confident in the second, driving, punching and pulling with disdain. The stocky southpaw found the gaps with ease and was harsh on Graeme Swann, the off-spinner who has been key to Englands recent run of success. When Warner drove Joe Root for three, life came a full circle for him, after a controversy ridden year, which was triggered by a twitter outburst at two journalists in May. And then in June, his punch at Root, got him on the front page again, forcing Australian selectors to drop him from one of the Champions Trophy matches and two warm-up games in the Ashes in England. Having been sent to South Africa with the Australian A team while the seniors battled in England, it seemed like Warner had started his reintegration but he was back in Cricket Australias bad books again, when in October, he missed a club game, only to be relegated to grade level cricket. But with some serious runs in domestic cricket Down Under, Warner said he was ready after a much needed kick up the back-side. And ready he was. The century, Warners fourth and first in the Ashes, had class written all over it. Once he got past the three-figure mark, Warner even dispatched Broad for a straight six over his head, before nicking one from the same bowler to Matt Prior, walking off in disgust. Clarke meanwhile, was in his own zone and though he had to slow down after Warner was promptly followed by Steve Smith for a duck, the stylish captain brought up his 25th Test century in his 98th match without much fuss. Clarke had polarised opinions over the last two months, for obvious reasons after losing the Ashes in England. However, his own batting form was never in serious doubt and after a blip in the first essay, when he failed to fend off a short ball, Clarke bounced back in typical fashion, leading Australias onslaught before charging down to Graeme Swann and perishing for 113. Australia were also perked up by George Bailey, who got off to a poor start in his debut Test match but the 31-year-old bettered his first innings three, with some big shots, never letting Australia lose the momentum. He hit a six each against Root and Swann but became the latters second victim for 34. However, Brad Haddin, who had made a superb 94 in the first innings took it upon himself to this time play a scintillating cameo as the lead surged past 500. It was the Australia of old, batting with aggression, scoring at over four runs an over throughout the innings and batting the opposition out of the game. Meanwhile, as Australias lead ballooned, Clarke was clearly in the mood to extend Englands agony, taking his own time to declare and finally put an end to the visitors misery when he called time on his sides second innings when a Tremlett delivery deflected off Peter Siddles pads for two leg byes in the last ball of the 94th over and Australia went past 400.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:04:03 +0000
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