Ashes Test 2009 – Oval – Day 1 – Roundup
The enthusiastic home crowd left the Oval in South London somewhat disappointed as England slumped to 307 for eight in their first innings on the opening day of the fifth Ashes Test. A mixture of indifferent shots and powerful Australian pace bowling has led to their demise.
The England top four batsmen contributed to their own dismissals with the Australians deciding to leave out off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, bowling with sustained aggression and control. Peter Siddle being the best of the Aussie bowlers with figures of four for 63.
Andrew Strauss won his fourth toss of the series and play began under threatening black clouds, which rolled away during the morning session and gave way to bright sunshine after tea. Alastair Cook (10) was the first of the England top four to gift his wicket when he played the impressive Siddle with angled bat to Ricky Ponting at second slip.
Strauss, England’s key batsman in the absence of the injured Kevin Pietersen, responded with an impressive half century, clipping 10 fours square of the wicket on the lightning fast outfield. However, Bell continually threatened by Mitchell Johnson, fending unconvincingly at three successive bouncers. He survived to play some superb drives but lost Strauss in the third over after lunch after one further boundary, caught behind from a terrible defensive shot off Ben Hilfenhaus.
Paul Collingwood made 24 before he also played a terrible shot, slicing a wide delivery from Siddle to Michael Hussey at gully. Bell then dragged his first delivery after tea, a full delivery from Siddle, on to his stumps and Matt Prior (18) lobbed Johnson to Shane Watson at cover.
Andrew Flintoff (7), on walking on to the pitch was given a standing ovation by the Oval crowd in his final test but ultimately disappointed hugely when he slashed Johnson to Haddin. Trott’s promising start to his innings was cut short when he was brilliantly run out by a direct hit at the batsman’s end by short-leg Simon Katich.
A late flurry of runs by Stuart Broad (26 not out) and Graeme Swann (18) took the hosts past 300 before Swann was caught behind to give Siddle his fourth wicket.
There were glimmers of hope for England in the form of Ian Bell, who top-scored with 72 playing at number three, and a confident start for debutant Jonathan Trott who made a useful 41.Also, England can also take heart from the Oval pitch, which after having been baked by the hottest day of the year on Wednesday, was starting to take spin from Marcus North offering real promise to Swann when he takes his accurate spin attack to the Australians. But at the end of the day, Australia will be the happier of the two teams after a full day’s play.
