Smash hit

England have been made to work hard for every Australia wicket, which is, of course, exactly how it should be in Test cricket, something the home team’s bowlers could mention during the next team meeting. Not that Australia have been defensive, the runs coming at an even 3½ an over throughout the innings.

At the outset, in the nine overs before the new ball became available, the flow of the game resumed firmly in Australia’s direction, 32 runs coming without a sniff of a chance. Five times the ball went to the ropes, mostly off England’s spin twins, who erred too often in line, length and direction.

When Ricky Ponting hit yet another full toss from Swann down the ground, the thought occurred that maybe the pre-match attention had focused on the wrong off spinner. The new ball came and the new ball went, twice to the boundary in James Anderson’s first over, as Ponting executed textbook illustrations of how to drive and pull.

But then things changed quickly, as things tend to do in Test cricket. In the slightly warmer air than the day before, the ball began to respond to Anderson’s aching desire, and when the ball swings for Anderson he is a completely different animal, as Simon Katich, too far across to a full inswinger, found to his cost.

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Mike Hussey bustled out to the crease like the eager beaver he is, confidence restored after some pre-Test runs against England Lions. Hussey’s recent form has mirrored the FTSE index, his past 19 Test matches returning an average of 34.69, as opposed to his first 18, which brought him a Bradmanesque return of 86.18.

Was his hundred at Worcester the equivalent of a dead-cat bounce or the harbinger of a more permanent recovery? Time will tell, but his stock plummeted a little more yesterday, when Anderson tempted him to drive to a ball that maintained its line rather than swinging in as Hussey expected.

Ponting was up to 150 now, celebrating another milestone curtly, his thirteenth score of 150 or more in Tests, before settling down to more mischief. But trying to dismiss a short ball from Panesar through the off side, he got through his stroke too early and dragged on to his stumps.

Panesar will not care how the wickets come, but a lower-key celebration, just a skip and jump rather than the normal orgy of self-congratulation, indicated his 126th Test wicket came as a result of batsman error.

England were immensely pleased to see the Australia captain depart, but, as opening statements go, his innings was a mightily impressive one. Australia’s lead stands at 44 and there is plenty of time remaining in the game. England need a good first session on the fourth morning, otherwise it is time to start scanning the forecasts.