England off-spinner Graeme Swann has described the exit of star batsman Kevin Pietersen from the remaining three Tests of the ongoing Ashes series as a major blow for the hosts, but believes that having all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be enough to win back the Ashes.
In article for The Sun, Swann recalls his over two-decade-long association [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Peter Siddle’
Swann sorry KP not there for Ashes, but says Freddie will do the job
July 23rd, 2009 |
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Flintoff vows to finish the job
July 20th, 2009 |
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• Relive all the final-day drama with our Lord’s video highlights
• Andrew Strauss hails ‘magnificent’ Flintoff after 115-run win
These are the days where the sporting gods are cruel. They dare to spin dreams and then crush them. First Tom Watson at Turnberry, and Lance Armstrong in the Alps, and now Australia at the English citadel they have made impregnable for the past three-quarters of a century. Australia, who even with innermost turmoils, never ever display anything but the utter conviction of their right to dominate, arrived here today believing they could overturn a century and more of Test history and with an unfeasible run chase to win a match that was unwinnable.
One hundred and five minutes later they were all out for 406, England triumphant by 115 runs, and the dream lay in tatters, blown away by a raging bull called Flintoff, in his Lord’s Test match swansong, and an upstart Swann having the time of his life. Andrew Flintoff rampaged in from the Pavilion end unchanged and unbowed since he took the new ball six overs before the close of play on Sunday. The three wickets he took today, beginning with that of Brad Haddin with his fourth ball and without addition to the score, and ending when he uprooted the stumps of Peter Siddle, gave him morning figures of 10-1-43-3 and five for 92 in all, the third five-wicket haul of his Test career and his first since The Oval against this same opposition four years ago. If he milked each wicket for all it was worth, hamming it up for the crowd, posturing and posing, then this was glorious teeth-jarring fast bowling, not a thing of beauty but driven by brute force and personality.
At one time, Andrew Strauss, sensing his steam running out, and wishing to protect him from himself, tried to suggest he might hand over to another. The captain was forced to hold his hands up in reluctant acceptance of the inevitable: he might as well have tried to stop the tide. Those who know Flintoff understand that the announcement of his retirement from Tests at the end of this series would impel him to greater things and, through him, perhaps the team. It has proved thus. He has earned a place on both bowling and batting honours boards, a double given to very few.
It was Graeme Swann, though, who cleared the passage to the win and then administered the coup de grâce. For more than five hours Michael Clarke had batted sublimely, and now he had the chance to complete one of the finest match-winning innings in history. Jimmy Anderson’s urgent opening burst had been repelled, and now Strauss turned not to another seamer but to Swann, whose Ashes debut jitters in Cardiff had held him back. Clarke had played him beautifully, twinkling feet and deft angles. This time he danced down to the second ball which drifted away from him at the last moment, eluded the outside edge before spinning back to hit off-stump.
The off-spinner kept his nerve at the end, too, when Mitchell Johnson, a bowler in tatters but dangerous batsman with a Test hundred in South Africa and now 63 good runs to his name, had licence to throw the bat in one last effort. Swann fired one in flatter, through the arc of the swing and took out middle. Four for 87 was his reward and proof that off-spin should not just be bowled dogmatically from the Pavilion end: if it spins it will turn up the slope sufficient enough while the same slope will help an armball.
If England leave here with some concerns, and will certainly consider a change for the third Test at Edgbaston in days time – probably in the form of Steve Harmison for Graham Onions – then it is Australia who are in disarray. Their batting is sound, although the manner in which Phillip Hughes has been hounded and harried makes the lack of a third opener in the touring party a concern, sound enough indeed to make 674 for five in Cardiff and 406 in the fourth innings here.
The bowling, though, is a disaster, with Johnson’s timing, an essential ingredient in an unorthodox method, totally out of kilter and his confidence in the basement, while Siddle has huffed and puffed but blown down only Swann’s Cardiff house. They have few places to which to turn with Brett Lee unlikely to play in the game against Northamptonshire that starts on Friday and therefore too high a risk for Edgbaston, and the need to retain Johnson if the lower order is not to be weakened, but to have the option of a fourth seamer should his woes continue. The performance of the all-rounder Shane Watson will be intriguing for he might be pencilled in to replace Marcus North at six and bring a further bowling option.
Hindsight for England says that Harmison would have been a decent pick for this match, his pace and bounce a better option than Onions, who could not quite find the consistency of line and length that can create pressure and bring wickets. He cannot be expected to blast out batsmen. Edgbaston may not offer steepling bounce but no Australian batsman will relish the prospect of Harmison at the top of his game.
Meanwhile, there is the chance now to rest and recuperate: Flintoff his knee, the toss up being whether it is his knee or his gin and tonic which receives the most ice; Kevin Pietersen his achilles tendons that so restricted him in this match; Onions his sore elbow that kept him from the field on the fourth evening. And for Ravi Bopara to reflect that style is no substitute for substance. He has much to learn if No3 is to be his position.
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first Test win against Australia at the Lord’s in 75 years
July 20th, 2009 |
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London, Jul 20 (PTI) An inspired England recorded their first Test win against Australia at the Lord’s in 75 years as they pulled off stunning 115-run victory in the second Test and take a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series here today.
Chasing a record 522 for victory, the Australians put up a brave fight with [...]
Flintoff fires England to Lord’s victory
July 20th, 2009 |
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• Relive all the final-day drama with our Lord’s video highlights
• Andrew Strauss hails ‘magnificent’ Flintoff after 115-run win
You are not supposed to be able to tinker with fate. But Andrew Flintoff is doing his best.
This morning he bowled England to victory in the Lord’s Test. A couple of times Andrew Strauss tried to take him off without much conviction. But Flintoff would not allow it. In a spell reminiscent of The Oval in 2005 Flintoff pounded in until the job was done. In the process he took five wickets in an innings for only the fourth time in his career.
There were nerves jangling around Lord’s when play resumed with Australia 209 runs away from victory and England five wickets. Those home nerves eased considerably after the fourth ball of Flintoff’s first over. Brad Haddin jabbed outside the off-stump and Paul Collingwood took the catch at second slip.
This wicket provided crucial early respite but no certainty. Haddin’s replacement Mitchell Johnson can bat all right – after a torrid start against Flintoff he proved the point. With Clarke remaining restrained but composed the Australians had reached 356 by noon and the innings was gaining momentum again. Strauss turned to Graeme Swann.
Swann’s first ball was a full toss. But Clarke could not miss the fielder at extra cover. His second delivery looked like a full toss and Clarke missed the ball. Perhaps it drifted away; perhaps Clarke was being greedy. He was bowled and now England really were in charge.
Johnson swung defiantly, but Flintoff still pounded in from the Pavilion, whether Strauss liked it or not (he probably did), and shattered the stumps of Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle. A few more swings from Johnson and it was all over. Attempting to smash a quicker delivery from Swann into the Mound Stand, Johnson swung and missed, and the celebrations could begin.
Thus England won by 115 runs, a massive margin by the standards of recent Ashes Tests in this country, though there were times when it seemed closer than that. Edgbaston cannot come along quick enough for England except for their supermen, Flintoff – and Kevin Pietersen – who need to time to attend to their bodies.
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Flintoff inspires England victory
July 20th, 2009 |
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Second Ashes Test, Lord’s (day five):
England 425 & 311-6 dec beat Australia 215 & 406
Match scorecard
By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport at Lord’s
England took a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series and ended a 75-year wait for a win against Australia at Lord’s as they wrapped up a 115-run win before lunch on the final day of the second Test.
Andrew Flintoff, in his final Test appearance at the famous old ground, defied his injuries to take three of the five wickets England needed in an extraordinary 10-over spell to finish with 3-43 on the day and 5-92 in the innings.
What promised to be a nervy morning for England fans soon became a more pleasant prospect when Flintoff, with a typically inspirational spell of Ashes bowling, picked up a wicket with his fourth ball of the day, the 10th in all.
Flintoff had Brad Haddin, who had survived for more than three hours on Sunday, caught at second slip by Paul Collingwood for 80 and Australia were 313-6, still 209 runs away from completing an all-time record chase in a Test match.
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Mitchell Johnson came in and rode his luck, adding 43 with overnight hero Michael Clarke. He eventually finished with 63, playing some fine shots towards the end, as Australia were bowled out for 406.
But it was Clarke who was the second man to fall in the day, for 136, when he tried an ambitious shot in Graeme Swann’s first over.
By now, even the most pessimistic of England fans was scenting victory. And that mood became even brighter when Nathan Hauritz lasted just five balls before falling to the irrepressible Flintoff, who also dismissed Peter Siddle.
Swann wrapped it all up, flattening Johnson’s middle pole as the left-hander charged him.
As well as being the first Ashes win for England at the home of cricket since 1934, it was also only their second since 1896.
They now move onto the third Test at Edgbaston starting on 30 July with all the initiative, while Australia will surely be forced into changes – with their seam-bowling department sure to come under the microscope.
There was a spectacular, expectant atmosphere at the start. Unusually, all tickets had been pre-sold for the final day of the match, and with the members also turning out in force, only some of the corporate areas looked a little thin.
England started with a ball that was six overs old, and their overnight nerves were settled when Flintoff tested Haddin outside the off-stump and Collingwood held a low, but indisputably clean catch.
Flintoff continued to pose a threat with almost every delivery he bowled. Clarke did not look like a batsman with a century to his name, and by the time Johnson had reached four he had already enjoyed two lucky escapes.
First, he nicked towards slip, the catch not quite carrying, and then an excellent lbw appeal had to be stifled by Rudi Koertzen’s call of no-ball.
James Anderson was not quite the same sort of threat, and after three overs was replaced by Stuart Broad. Johnson edged, but again the ball bounced just before reaching the slip cordon. The resulting single brought Clarke back on strike, and he hit a beautiful off-drive for four.
Anderson kept changing his bowlers at the Nursery End, and after three overs of Broad opted for the spin of Swann.
It proved an inspired move. The off-spinner has developed quite a knack for taking wickets in the first over of a spell, and Clarke – who crucially had been kept quiet by the accurate seamers – felt the need to impose himself.
He skipped down the wicket, yorked himself, and the ball turned to clip off-stump. Soon afterwards, Hauritz compliantly chose to leave a Flintoff delivery that bowled him on the angle before Johnson got lucky again, Swann dropping a sharp caught-and-bowled chance.
Australia were not about to give England any last-minute heartache, however. Flintoff beat the number 10 Siddle for pace, scuttling one into his stumps, leaving Johnson and last man Ben Hilfenhaus needing 134 for the win.
That was never on the cards, and with lunch still 20 minutes away Swann supplied the coup de grace.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Prior wants huge England effort
July 19th, 2009 |
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Matt Prior has urged England’s bowlers to dig deep and produce a huge effort as they push for victory in the second Test against Australia at Lord’s.
The wicketkeeper top-scored with 61 as England reached 311-6 at stumps on day three to open up a 521-run lead.
With England set to declare early on Sunday, Prior said: "We’re asking for one more big push from all the bowlers.
"We’ve seen over the last three days the minute the cloud cover comes over, the ball starts swinging."
Prior revealed England would have pressed for a declaration in the final hour to give Australia’s openers a testing half an hour to contend before the close of play.
However, the intervention of rain ended any hopes of England bowling again on day three.
"It would have been a great opportunity to come out and have half an hour to bowl at them this evening and pick a wicket up," Prior told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Unfortunately, due to the weather, that was not to happen.
"But we will come back tomorrow knowing we are in a great position and push really hard to win this Test match."
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Prior’s superb cameo – coming off just 48 deliveries – and Paul Collingwood’s 54 injected fresh impetus into England’s stalling innings after a laboured afternoon session when Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara were pinned back by Australia’s bowlers.
"Ravi and KP went through a real tough spell, I though the Aussies bowled really well in that period," added Prior.
"They stuck in and ground it out and left the door open for Colly and I to have a nice period."
With two days remaining, England are perfectly placed to record their first Test victory against Australia at Lord’s since 1934.
Although weather forecasts predict rain showers on Sunday, Prior believes the overcast conditions and a wearing pitch will favour England’s bowling attack.
"The overheads might come into it – and don’t forget (Graeme) Swanny," he added.
"It’s just started to spin a little bit and we’ve seen what he can do with the ball. We’re in a great position."
Nathan Hauritz, who contributed 24 in a spirited 44-run ninth-wicket stand with Peter Siddle in the morning session, was the pick of Australia’s bowlers, taking 3-80.
And the off-spinner called on Australia’s top order to frustrate England’s quintet of bowlers as they search for the opening victory of the series.
"We have the opportunity to bat for a very long time and the wicket is still very good," said the 27-year-old.
"It’s going to be a good battle – we’ve got a lot of experience in the batting order to get the job done.
"We scored over 600 in Cardiff on a very good wicket and we always back ourselves to win the game.
"The wicket still looks very good – there was a bit of turn and bounce for me. But the key is the new ball – we have to get through that period and take it from there."</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
England open up huge Lord’s lead
July 18th, 2009 |
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Second Ashes Test, Lord’s (day three, stumps): England 425 and 311-6 v Australia 215
Match scorecard
By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport at Lord’s
England put themselves in a powerful position after three days of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s as they reached 311-6 in their second innings to lead Australia by 521 runs.
After bowling out Australia for 215, they held a 210-run lead but opted against enforcing the follow-on – and put the tourists’ bowlers to task again.
Following a sterile session between lunch and tea when England added just 73, Matt Prior’s sparkling 61 off just 42 balls turned a turgid innings into a run spree.
The Aussies will need to shatter the previous record for a fourth-innings chase when England declare their innings – an event that will surely come early on day four as the hosts seek to secure the lead in the five-match series.
Most of the damage had been done on Friday, when Australia crashed to 156-8 in reply to England’s 425.
The excellent James Anderson was unable to add to his four-wicket haul, leaving Graham Onions to mop up the tail, which he did after Peter Siddle (35) and Nathan Hauritz (24) had added 44 for the ninth wicket, all but four of those runs coming on Saturday.
Stuart Broad disappointed from the Pavilion End, but two edges fell frustratingly a metre short of Paul Collingwood at third slip when Anderson was bowling.
England’s irritation ended as soon as he was replaced by Onions – a third edge heading in Collingwood’s direction was smoothly held to end Hauritz’s stay at the crease.
Nevertheless, the follow-on was a tantalising 30 runs away when Siddle was joined by last man Ben Hilfenhaus, and three more Siddle boundaries off Broad brought the deficit down even more.
But it was Onions’ morning. He intelligently probed away in the channel outside off-stump and finally, in his third over, picked up the last wicket when Siddle sliced a drive to Andrew Strauss at first slip.
Strauss now had to decide whether to let his bowlers loose again, or strap on his pads. He made the more cautious choice of batting and that immediately took the tension out of the game.
In some of the most placid conditions of the match, Strauss and Alastair Cook laid into Mitchell Johnson, whose three dreadful overs were hit for 17 – and we did not see him again until the final hour of the second session.
Hilfenhaus was more accurate, but Cook had the confidence to go after him with some bold off-drives and at lunch England had rattled up 57-0 to lead by 267.
Hauritz bowled a terrific spell after lunch, however, to remove both of England’s openers for 32. Cook, playing around his front pad, was lbw for the third time in succession and Strauss nicked a lovely off-break to slip.
Reckoning his spinner would be less effective against the right-handers, Ponting now teamed Siddle and Hilfenhaus together and could have had England four down for under 100.
But when Kevin Pietersen, on 20, went walkabout following a big lbw appeal off Hilfenhaus, Ponting himself – from second slip – missed a golden opportunity to run him out, rushing his shy at the stumps.
606: DEBATE"I think he’ll set them maybe 600 – and that’s at least 50 more than we need in my book"
Tastytunes
Then Ravi Bopara, having made just nine, saw Ponting drop his edge off Siddle – the easiest slip catch imaginable – and the crowd guffawed at the error in a way that Lord’s crowds of previous vintages would never have done.
But as Bopara and Ponting searched for form, the run-scoring dried up, and there was a fallow period of 11 overs without a boundary before Pietersen square-cut the tiring Hilfenhaus to the cover-point fence.
Bopara now played a horrid pull off Johnson, in the last over before tea, that almost carried to Hauritz at mid-on. The fielder claimed a catch, but it did not look a clean one to the naked eye and the decision was referred before the appeal was rightly rejected.
Ponting and Pietersen had a friendly discussion about the incident and soon afterwards the players took tea, with England on 130-2, leading by a very healthy 340, despite some very scratchy form shown by the two batsmen at the crease.
Early in the long final session, Bopara cover-drove Hauritz sweetly for four, but in the spinner’s next over he was surprised by a slower, straighter delivery and pushed the ball meekly to short-leg. He had made 27 from 93 balls, with just 13 scoring shots.
Pietersen now tried to impose himself, driving Siddle for two boundaries, but his painful 101-ball innings was ended on 44 when an inside-edge off the same bowler was caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
England’s number four had looked badly hampered by his Achilles problem, and a number of runs went begging because he was struggling to run between wickets.
But any danger that Australia might end up with an attractive target vanished when Collingwood and Prior added 86 from 73 balls.
Hitting plenty of boundaries, they also scampered twos, threes and an all-run four, the scoring rate rapidly improved.
Prior was particularly impressive, with some booming drives off the seamers and some sweeps off Hauritz that were timed and placed to perfection.
He fairly raced to his half-century and was unlucky to get out when he did, a victim of a brilliant bit of fielding from Marcus North, who ran him out with a direct hit from the deep.
Flintoff sauntered out to play his final Test innings at Lord’s and was given a rapturous welcome. With no pressure on him at all, he smacked the bowling about merrily, adding 51 off 48 balls with Collingwood until Siddle took Australia’s sixth wicket.
But just moments after Collingwood had edged to Haddin, the rain came down and the final 10.4 overs of the day went unbowled, with Flintoff unbeaten on 30.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Strauss defies Australian fightback
July 16th, 2009 |
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England 364–6
Australia
A position of strength, a chance to nail Australia with the game still in its infancy, was squandered wantonly by the fragile England middle order. An opening partnership of 196 between Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, the highest England have made against Australia at Lord’s, had the shirt-sleeved crowd bubbling. England were romping, Australia a rabble.
But this is England and it had to be too good to last. Cook, five short of a third century at Lord’s, became an unexpected victim for Mitchell Johnson, whose bowling had been so inept, such utter garbage, that doubts were being cast on whether his South African heroics were a myth, concocted in the same studio in which conspiracy theorists insist the moon landings were fabricated.
The wicket set in motion a change in fortune in which Australia, held together by the excellent swing bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus, regained their composure as a drunk might sober up. By the time Andrew Flintoff – fit to play and greeted rapturously as he bounded helmetless down the pavilion steps – edged him to second slip, six wickets had tumbled in the afternoon for 137 runs, bringing Australia back into the game without the benefit of the new ball.
Ponting took it with four overs of the day left, to no further avail, and England must attempt to capitalise tomorrow morning. Much will depend on Strauss, who, leading magnificently, batted all day in reaching an unbeaten 161, 16 short of his Test best and his fourth and highest Test hundred on this ground. Shortly before stumps he reached 5,000 Test runs.
On Tuesday evening, at a dinner in the Long Room for his benefit, footage of Strauss’s career had been played. It had reminded the viewer that the 2005 Ashes success was not all about Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen and that at Old Trafford and The Oval, Strauss had made centuries. There was no reference, though, to the tribulations that followed in Australia in 2006-07, when brilliant planning and execution deprived him of his square cut and pulls. It took him a year to recover.
Yesterday, as if in an act of benevolence, he was fed once more, a mere handful of his runs coming in areas other than the segment between midwicket and extra cover. One on drive apart, late on in the piece, his 22 boundaries were carved away square of the wicket, clipped, angled to third man or, twice, slog-swept to midwicket.
While Cook was there, swatting boundaries across an outfield as fast as Turnberry’s greens, the sky had seemed the limit, although the Essex opener will play better for less reward. He was spoon-fed mediocre longhops by Johnson. The pitch was good – not fast as had been seen earlier in the summer against West Indies but not sluggish like Cardiff last week either – but had Australians other than Hilfenhaus had the capacity to exploit it there was movement in the air and a little off the seam down the slope. Top bowling all round would have had its reward.
Instead, galácticos from the great Australian sides sat in their commentary positions and hospitality boxes and saw, Hilfenhaus excepted, a display of shambolic incompetence. Perhaps the Lord’s experience proved overwhelming for those on their first trip. Bowling was off target, fielding ponderous and wicketkeeping comedic (although the ball dipping and swinging after it had passed the batsman did not help).
A blow was suffered shortly after lunch, when Nathan Hauritz dislocated the middle finger of his bowling hand in attempting to catch a straight drive from Strauss, then on 52. It was the only real chance he was to offer in more than six hours, although four runs previously Brad Haddin had dropped him from a Hilfenhaus no ball.
Cook’s dismissal brought in Ravi Bopara, who played with panache for 20 minutes or so, as if trying to prove a point. If he is to survive at No3 he has to learn, fast, about substance over style. A three-card trick from Hilfenhaus, the oldest of ploys on this ground, saw Bopara middle a couple of away-swingers, only to play outside the sucker ball that shaded down the slope.
A frenetic effort followed from Pietersen, either side of tea. It was the sort of innings that would be played by someone overdosing on SunnyD and it ended when he feathered an away-swinger from Peter Siddle, who had begun to find his feet after a shaky start. Paul Collingwood’s insipid chip to mid on and Matt Prior’s extravagant drive, beaten and bowled by Johnson’s in-swing – rare as hens’ teeth this summer – brought the only headshaking emotion from Strauss.
Much tomorrow will depend on the fortunes of the lower order against the new ball, and the weather. Heavy rain is due to pass through in the night but England, having included Graham Onions in their side at the expense of Monty Panesar, and sent Steve Harmison to Trent Bridge to rejoin Durham, will want to see the ball swing as it did for Hilfenhaus. If they can harness that, and Jimmy Anderson and Onions can flourish, then they can put Australia under real pressure. If not, there could be some long hours in the field once more.
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Ponting takes rookies on a spiritual journey at Lords
July 16th, 2009 |
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Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting became a tour guide for his rookie team at Lords on Wednesday.
Ponting, on his fourth Ashes tour, didn”t have to wear one of the green blazers of officials who guide visitors around the game’’s spiritual home.
He took pacer Peter Siddle and spinner Nathan Hauritz, on their first visit to the [...]
Ponting hosts black tie dinner for cricket WAGs in London
July 15th, 2009 |
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Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting hosted a gala black tie dinner for some of his team mates and their WAGS here on Tuesday.
While beauty Lee Furlong and her boyfriend Shane Watson joined 800 guests, including the entire British cricket squad to raise money for the charity foundation, absent from the group was the highest profile [...]