Australia pummel lightweight NZ attsack: T1 D1

Australia 2/389 (88ov, Warner 163/224b/1x6 19x4, Khawaja 102*/133b/2x6 10x4, Burns 71/120b/12x4/Smith 41*/54b/7x4) v New Zealand: T1/3 D1/5 at the Gabba, Brisbane. Toss: Australia.

Australia powered ahead after winning the toss at the Gabba and batting on a good wicket in conditions which the New Zealand attack was unable to use as effectively as some had predicted.

David Warner and Joe Burns played watchfully in the opening overs, where Tim Southee bowled tightly without beating the bat much, then accelerated as the other bowlers proved unable to sustain a consistent line and length.

At lunch Australia were 0/100 and such was the quality of Warner and Burns's batting I was tempted to call the match, and perhaps even the series, to Australia then.

Not much happened thereafter to change my mind. Burns was out for an aggressively fluent 71, Warner sailed past his century and 150, and looked set for many more when out of the blue he was well caught at slip by Ross Taylor.

Then Usman Khawaja. He'd been tried in the Test team before but had never broken through to cement a place. Today he confirmed, that he ia a hugely talented batsman with an unbroken century scvored at a rate marginallyfaster than the dashers Warner and Steve Smith, whose appearance at 2/311 was an ideal situation for him to deply his talent to build the Australan innings furthe.

So, is it too early to csll match and series to Australias? Perhaps, but New Zealand cannot afford another day remotely approaching the shambles that was today.

Footnote

November is now a popular month in which to play Test matches. Today, which is also my birthday, three were in progress; this one at the Gabba, Pakistan v Engalnd at Shrjah (won bythe "home" team) and day 1 of  what looks to be, judging by a few minutes' TV viewing, an intriguing Inda v South Africa fixture.

Better too late than never in this Ashes series as Warner & Rogers lay foundation for Smith: T5D1

Australia 3/287 (79.4ov, Warner 85/131b/11x4, Smith 78*/132b/1x6 9x4, Voges 47*/87/8x4, Rogers 43/100b/7x4) v England T5/5 D1/5 at The Oval, London. England won toss and sent Australia in to bat. England: unchanged; Australia: M Marsh, Siddle in, S Marsh, Hazlewood out.

David Warner and Chris Rogers hung on grittily until lunch against some sharp England bowling, especially (again) that of Stuart Broad who began with a 5-3-4-0 (initially 4-3-1-0) spell which tested the pair's judgment and resolve, but failed to part them.

0/82 at lunch in English conditions was English Test cricket at its best, and  not only because the openers had responded so well. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the players walked off, relieved that Australia hadn't imploded once more, but well aware that its brittle middle order needed, unless the Warner-Rogers stand went on and on, to show more than they'd done in most of tis series.

Well, it did (Michael Clarke's 15 excepted). After Rogers, and then Warner, fell Steve Smith stepped in, and up. He had his scratchy moments (and I'm not referring to his restlessness before facing the bowling) but he persevered and in time, as he got his eye in and took the measure of the home attack, flourished' leaving Australia, at the end of a day curtailed by bad light, comfortably placed to at least save the Test (which no Australian supporter would wish for) on with what looks (perhaps through rose tinted spectacles0 a half decent chance of winning the dead rubber.

Scorecard

Australia narrowly avoid defeat in two days...but still face big loss: T3D2

Australia 136 & 7/168 (55ov, Warner 77/62b/11x4, Nevill 37*, Finn 13-3-45-5) lead England 281 (67.1ov, Root 63/75b/1x6 9x4, Moeen Ali 59/78b/11x4, Bell 53, Cook 34, Broad 31, Lyon 3/36, Hazlewood 3/74, Johnson 2/66, Starc 2/71) by 23 runs with 3 2inns wkts in hand: T3,5 D2/5 at Edgbaston.

When Mitchell Johnson removed Johnny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in the space of three balls, England were 5/142, a lead of only 9. But that turned out to be the high water mark of Australia's day as the bowlers were unable to confine England to a total around 200-220 which the seam bowler friendly conditions (albeit with more sunshine) seemed to the experts and me to be both desirable and achievable.

But it was not to be. Joe Root took his score to 63, Jos Buttler went cheaply before Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad, the latter looking more comfortable with the bat rhan he'd done for some time, added 87 for the 8th wicket: no record (as far as I know) but very significant in the context of this Test.

Australia batted again, Chris Rogers fell cheaply but David /Warner played his natural game and raised hopes ( or wishful thoughts) that he might lead the team to set a target which would challenge England batting last.

But this wasn't to be either.  Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (a real worry this), Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh compiled 17 runs between them as Steven Finn, who was deemed unselectable during England's last tour here (18 months ago), cleaned them all up: 5/92. When Warner fell to Jimmy Anderson, who later walked off injured, Austrslia were 6/111. Peter Nevill marshalled the tail, and has taken the Test into a third day, but a likely short day ending in a heavy Australian defeat and a 1-2 series deficit.

Tonight I will grit my teeth, pour myself a glass of red, and watch England complete a well deserved victory. This doesn't mean that I believe that the Ashes will change hands, especially given the roller coaster nature of the first three Tests ( not dissimilar to the three Test series in Soiuth Africa last year. But then we had Ryan Harris. But now England may not have Anderson. Enough wishful thinking for now!



;Scorecard

Warner powers Australia to good position despite late India fightback: T1D1

Australia 6/354 (89.2 ov, Warner 145/163b/19x4, Smith 72*/130b/9x4, Clarke 72 ret hurt 60*/84b/9x4, Marsh 41) v India T1/4 D1/5 at Adelaide Oval. Australia won toss and chose to bat.

On a quintessential Adelaide summer's day - clear blue sky, temperature in low 30s and a true Adelaide Oval first day wicket - and after a moving pre-match tribute to Philip Hughes David Warner batted magnificently....yet again. 

He attacked from the outset, making the India opening attack look toothless as 40 runs - 35 off his bat - came from the first 4 overs, before Ishant, one of three Sharmas in the Indian team, bowled a maiden to Warner, which slowed his progress temporarily,

Wickets fell and a promising partnership with Michael Clarke was truncated by injury to the skipper, leaving Australia effectively if not strictly accurately (despite what the scoreboard recorded) 3/206.

When Warner was eventually out at 258, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh continued to accumulate runs. India made it easier for them by using (over using?) spin in an attempt to improve a very slow over rate, 

This strategy appeared to have failed as the total approached  350, but against the run of play, three late wickets fell to the second new ball, leaving Smith to muster the lower order tomorrow.

With Clarke unlikely to bat, or perhaps even to play any further part in the match, the Test is more evenly poised than the scores might suggest. Well as Mohammed Shami and Varun Aaron bowled at the last half hour, I thought that Ishant Sharma's economy in the first half of the day's play kept India, if not in the game, at least not quite out of it.

<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/engine/match/754737.html">Scorecard <a/>

Australia lose edge as England regroup with help from weather & umpire pedantry: T3 D4

Australia 7/527dec & 7/172 (36ov, Warner 41/57b/5x4) lead England 368 (139.3ov, Pietersen 113, Cook 62, Bell 60, Siddle 4/63, Starc 3/79) by 331runs with 3 2nd inns wickets in hand: T3/5 D4/5 at Manchester.

England avoided the follow on more comfortably than the Australians would have wished (why did Ryan Harris bowl for so long?). They then batted on in the knowledge that time and the weather would minimise Australia's chances of winning. Australia batted in a kind of limited overs mode until the umpires decided in the final session that, floodlights notwithstanding, in their opinion it was unsafe for play to continue everyone trooped off the ground half an hour before the rain came down.

On paper England clawed back a bit but their cockiness, exemplified by Stuart Broad & Graeme Swann walking before the umpire gave them out, was underpinned by their meteorological foreknowledge.

Of the Australian batters David Warner, promoted to open, looked more at home than in the first innings until one of his biffs (this time willow on leather) was intercepted by Joe Root. Despite the celebrations this prompted among England supporters, it didn't IMO remove Broad  and Swann's walking from joint winners of the play of the day award. 

If this doesn't sound like Test cricket, you're probably right.  But as the day progressed and the weather moved in England became more secure from defeat. The umpires' decision to stop play in the floodlit gloom (oxymoron anyone?) was the last act of a ragged day's play and probably, if the forecast of 60% chance of "precipitation" is anywhere near the mark, the prelude to a dull and interrupted day, a face saving draw for England and disappointment for Australia.

So the Ashes will remain in England, but the series is still open. And if Australia is savvy enough to play the long game, in the remaining two Tests it will have chances to remind England that the gap between the teams may not be as great as many believed until very recently.

<ahref="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/engine/match/566934.html">Scorecard </a>

Australia's batting juggernaut hammers weak South African attack: T2D1

Australia 5/482 (86.5 ov, Clarke 224*, Warner 119, Hussey 103) v South Africa; T2/2 D1/5 at Adelaide.
 
A very good (and typical).Adelaide cricket season day, sunny and temperature in upper 20s.

The Oval surrounds are, because of redevelopment construction, far from typical, though the playing area, notwithstanding some downsizing as part of the redevelopment, looked (and turned out to be) its usual billiard table self.

So when Michael Clarke won the toss it followed that Australia would bat. And bat rhey did, recovering aggressively from the loss of three early wickets and taking advantage of South Africa's bowling injury woes (Vernon Philander, out before the toss, and Jacques Kallis,  2/19 before he was sidelined in the first session) and ineptitude to post a huge 5/482.
 
David Warner 119/112b (4x6, 16x4) made the early running with a characteristic innings, then Clarke 224*/ 243b (1x6, 39x4) and Mike Hussey 103/ 137b (4x6, 9x4) kept the ball rolling to all parts of the ground.

3/55 became 3/102 at lunch before some hard to fathom bowling changes (none involving Dale Steyn) helped open the floodgates: 108 runs from 12.2 overs in the first hour, 178 from 26 for the session. And then another 202 from 35.5 in the long final session.

So much for the stats. While each of the three century makers had a little bit of good fortune in addition to the weakened opposition attack, their batting was superb. Each of us who were present would have some special memories of the many to choose from. For me it was Clarke hitting five fours from one Morne Morkel over: most of them beautifully and classically driven along the ground.

For supporters of  Australia and cricket lovers in general, a day to remember. For South African supporters, a day, if not to forget, at least to hope that there is no repetition, or anything approaching it, for the rest of this brief series (and beyond).

Scorecard