19/07/2009

Time for Lord’s Test virgins to come to the party

The proceeding on the day 3 of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s can be summed as follows:

Australia fell short and England refused to enforce the follow-on. Instead, England chose to pile up runs and ensure that there are no comebacks from Australia.

Let us begin at the beginning. England let Australia add 50 odd runs in the morning. Even though the situation was ripe to enforce a follow-on and pressure the Lord’s Test virgins, England preferred to negate the possibly of defeat and at the end of the 3rd’s play are 521 runs ahead.

Clearly, Strauss was concerned about denying the Australian’s time to overhaul whatever target he sets. His concern reveals that he considers Australian batting highly and his own bowling attack weak. In large part, it could be because Flintoff is patently unfit and despite their performance, Anderson and Onion are deemed sidekicks.

Despite evidence to the contrary, Strauss is not alone when it comes to overestimating Flintoff. The jingoistic English press has always inflated Flintoff’s ability by describing his minor achievements in mythological proportions.

For Strauss sake, let us hope that having made 30 in his second essay, Flintoff truly rises to the task.

Plainly, at this point, the Test match is meandering and even if England goes for some quick runs only positive intent from the gritty Australian’s can bring it to life.

2 comments:

LVISS said...

ENGLAND MAY ENFORCE A DRAW LIKE THE LAST MATCH BY DELAYING DECLARATION. THEY WILL BE WARY OF DECLARING UNLESS THEY CAN TARGET BEYOND ALL POSSIBILITY.IN THE SAME SITUATION AUS MIGHT HAVE DECLARED .

Viswanathan said...

If England plays for a draw, they will lose this Test.