Katich and Hussey settle Australia

The Bulletin by Alex Brown at Lord's

July 17, 2009

Tea Australia 87 for 2 (Katich 40*, Hussey 37*) trail England 425 (Strauss 161, Cook 95, Anderson 29, Hilfenhaus 4-103) by 338 runs

Michael Hussey and Simon Katich guided Australia through a treacherous, rain-interrupted second session, but still have quite the mountain to climb to reel in England's intimidating first-innings total. The Australian pair endured two rain delays and a testing period of short-pitched bowling from Stuart Broad to head into the final session with an unbroken 77-run partnership. 


Hussey, who has not posted a Test century since Australia's tour of India last year, was the more assertive of the pair, pulling with authority and driving when the bowlers allowed. Katich, meanwhile, was watchful after surviving a torrid early exchange in which Phillip Hughes and Ricky Ponting fell to James Anderson. 

The latter dismissal was a contentious one, and left Ponting decidedly unamused after being ruled out to a delivery he missed by a considerable margin. Playing across a sharp, slanting offering from Anderson, Ponting struck the instep of his shoe as the ball threaded the gap between bat and pad and lobbed to Andrew Strauss at first slip. Rudi Koertzen, officiating in his 100th Test, asked the third umpire, Nigel Llong, whether the ball had carried to Strauss, and subsequently ruled him out for two. A sizeable dollop of luck had gone the way of the English. 

Ponting's dismissal followed that of Hughes, who gloved an Anderson delivery to Matt Prior down the leg side. Hughes, whose run-scoring exploits for Middlesex prompted many to predict a profitable Ashes campaign, has yet to make his mark in the series, and will be most disappointed to have lost his wicket to a relatively unthreatening delivery. 

Katich and Hussey safely negotiated the final five overs to lunch, only to find themselves ordered back to the field to meet the Queen, along with their team-mates. It is uncertain whether Her Majesty ordered Katich to get a wriggle on - she spoke with him longer than any other player on her rounds - but the batsman certainly looked to attack more frequently during the second session, particularly against the unconvincing Broad. 

Katich and Hussey plundered 11 runs from Broad's final three deliveries before the second rain delay, moving Australia within sight of the half-century mark. They continued in a similar vein through to tea, which was taken at 4.20pm on account of the rain delays. In all, the players were off the field for 78 minutes during the second session, with play extended to 7.40pm. 


Earlier, Ben Hilfenhaus led a resounding Australian fightback in the first hour of play, seizing two quick wickets as England's first innings was closed out for a solid, though hardly impregnable, 425. Hilfenhaus claimed the vital scalp of Strauss with his second ball of the morning, then followed with that of Broad, as the hosts lost their final four wickets for 61 before the first drinks break. 

The events of Friday morning stood in stark contrast to the corresponding session on Thursday, during which Strauss and Alastair Cook sprinted to 129 without loss at lunch, as part of an historic 196-run opening stand. Thereafter, England squandered a prime opportunity to bat the Australians out of the match, losing their last six wickets for 123. 

Hilfenhaus began Australia's second day resurgence with a brilliant, swinging delivery that pegged back the off-stump of Strauss for 161. Speaking after stumps on Thursday, the England captain had emphasised the importance of batting through the first session of the second day, only to be undone by the aerial movement of Hilfenhaus, who obtained more new-ball swing in 30 minutes than either side managed in the entire first Test. 

Peter Siddle accounted for Graeme Swann nine balls later, using both angle and the Lord's slope to coax the batsman into a false stroke. Hilfenhaus then removed Broad in the next over - the third English wicket to fall in 15 minutes - en route to figures of 4-103, his best in Test cricket. 

Australia did not have it all their own way, however. As was the case in Cardiff, England's 10th wicket partnership proved problematic, as Anderson and Graham Onions added 47 valuable runs. With Siddle taken from the field with illness - effectively reducing Ponting to just two frontline bowling options, given Hauritz's dislocated finger from the previous day - England's tail enders took the attack to the out-of-sorts Johnson. He eventually accounted for the wicket of Anderson for 29, but not before his figures had swollen to 3-132 from 21.4 overs. 

Alex Brown is deputy editor of Cricinfo