Ashes 09: Dare to dream?

Australia can win this Test. Say it. I know it may feel a bit stupid, but not only can they win it, they should. At their disposal is a flat pitch; a benign looking England, a captain killing partnership, and the fact that there will be no more new balls to come once this one is blunted.

It should be a day where we talk about umpiring bloopers. Australia lost five wickets today, three of those were mistakes.  That is not the story though.

Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin came together not long after Lunch, at that stage most of the press core started planning something else to do on Monday, I was thinking of a lie in and maybe a movie (Public Enemies or Moon).  It was North’s wicket that was particularly draining for the Australians, as he is a batsman who can make very big scores, and he went out to an extremely innocuous looking straight ball.

From the moment Clarke hit the pitch he looked fresh and carefree, far from batting for the draw he raced his way to 50 off only 58 balls.  It was an innings of artistry.  If I could paint, I would paint different angles of Clarke’s cover drive. It was magical, every single time.

The pitch was alarmingly good, but the English had no cause for alarm at that stage. Australia were 394 runs behind, had half their team back on the balcony, and only a person of cranial damage or a sado-machochistic Australian fan would have really thought Australia was a chance.

The Australian press had resorted to gallows humour, while the English press was still laughing at the earlier decisions. As the Indian online cricket community was reveling in the fact Australia was shafted by the umpires, Haddin took a back seat to Clarke. Not in scoring rate, just in the strike. For a while after tea Haddin faced 16 balls to Clarke’s 61. Eventually Clarke let Haddin play, and then he unleashed some breathtaking shots.

These are two hard to ignore batsman when they are in form, and when you distanced yourself from the game situation, it was easy to get sucked in by their stroke play.  England never looked like getting them out. The one serious LBW appeal against Haddin was too high, and when the new ball was brought out Anderson got Haddin to edge one over the desperate hands of Freddie Flintoff at slip.

Freddie put in a fire breathing spell in the middle session, but as usual, he was short, and didn’t get the break through. The rest of the English bowlers never truly looked in top form. Anderson and Onions were easy to score off, and Broad and Swann looked easy enough to keep out.

England looked likely to bat on today until it rained in the morning, and the decision seemed to be made hastily based on that. England had then set Australia a total that was gettable. This is not the Strauss way. In the West Indies he only declared when the total was unreachable. Now he has dangled a carrot, and half way through the day it seemed safe enough, now it does not.  When England took the second new ball he huddled his charges together, it was a sign of desperation, only one small step away from a group hug.

Australia now finds themselves only 209 short.  Australia now finds themselves only 209 short. Sorry. It just seems so odd.  A couple of quick wickets will end Australia’s chase, but somehow, with more than 200 to chase, Australia looks the more likely to win.

Tomorrow one record will fall, either Australia wins and breaks the world record (by more than a hundred) for the highest Test chase, or England win and finally end their 75-year misery at the hands of Australia.

If Australia loses, Ricky will be under the pump, if England does, it will be fucking hilarious.