Day 1 Report - Day 2 Report - Day 3 Report - Day 4 Report
Third Day Report :
It was a case of fluent and classic batting strokes; dropped catches and no balls
today, the 3rd day of the second npower Test at Lord's
Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist took the game to England after last night's
tense half hour with an array of strokes from the top drawer.
Both players reached their half centuries during a highly entertaining morning
session. But it was Martyn wo went first, caught behind off Andy Caddick a
couple of balls after reaching his 50. Ducking to a short delivery from the
Somerset man, he tried to get his bat out of the way but the ball caught the edge
of the bat on the way through to Alec Stewart and Martyn found himself walking
back to the pavilion with his head bowed.
Of the two players, Martyn could consider himself unlucky to be out because up
until that point he had offered a chanceless 52 runs, Gilchrist on the other hand
had had nine lives. Dropped four times during his innings, twice by Butcher and
Atherton in the slips, Gilchrist each time offering a wry smile as they went down.
With the dismissal of Shane Warne for 5, once again the Caddick - Stewart
combination working together, Brett lee joined Adam Gilchrist. Andy Caddick now
on four wickets in the innings was unlucky not to have Lee caught behind when
he was on 1, however it was his own fault this time as he overstepped the mark
and Steve Bucknor called a no ball. Up until lunch there have been 22 no balls and
it was inevitable that a wicket would be taken off an illegal ball sometime during
the innings.
At lunch Gillie was still there 13 runs short of another century and his third of the
tour, Lee playing the supporting role was not out on 10, a short innings that
included two superb fours including a glorious straight drive past the bowler.
Gilchrist managed only 3 more runs after lunch and his luck finally ran out when he
was caught behind off Darren Gough attempting a hook shot, he scored 90 runs
and included 12 fours.
Gillespie was the ninth wicket to fall, comprehensively bowled by Darren Gough for
9. Michael Atherton then brought back Andy Caddick to rap up the innings and he
managed to benefit from an inside edge and his first ball saw Lee clean bowled for
a highly commendable 20 which had included 3 fours. No runs were added and
Australia were all out for 401 runs, caddick finishing with figures of 5 for 101, the 10th
5 wicket haul and second time he had achieved the landmark at lord's.
Glenn Mcgrath immediately found a superb length straight from the off and troubled
Michael Atherton until he managed to hit a single and move away from McGrath's
end. However it was Gillespie that struck first, tempting Trescothick to push for the
ball outside his off stump and only managed to edge the ball to Gilchrist behind the
stumps. It was a carbon copy of his first innings wicket.
Butcher and Atherton took the attack to the Australian's and looked settled taking 16
off Brett Lee's first two overs. With McGrath and Gillespie rested, Steve Waugh
brought on Shane Warne who was turning the ball a long way out of the rough. And it
was Warne who got the breakthrough, with the score on 47; Atherton was clean
bowled around his legs, a ball reminiscent to Mike Gatting's dismissal a few years
ago.
Three runs later, Lee trapped Thorpe leg before with the final ball before tea. He had
been bowling consistently fast (at the top end of the 80's) and the quick ball beat
Thorpe for pace. In the space of 1½ overs, at tea England were in serious trouble, 164
runs behind and 7 wickets left.
Butcher and Ramprakash continued to keep the Australian bowlers at bay, Warne and
Lee bowled almost exclusively for the first hour after tea, both bowlers troubling the
batsmen without taking any further wickets.
The pair continued to play well throughout the final session with Butcher reaching a
well-earned 50 and Ramprakash confidently playing second fiddle to Butcher's lead.
Neither batsmen gave any chances and it was left to Dizzy Gillespie to achieve the
breakthrough 7 overs before stumps when he trapped Ramprakash leg before on 40.
Ramprakash was a little unlucky to be given out, the ball rising quickly and could well
have missed the wickets, however the umpire's decision was against the batsman and
the partnership ended four runs short of a century stand.
Alec Stewart was the next man in, unexpected to be honest as most were expecting a
night watchman. He looked very uncomfortable; similar to the first innings before he was
out, not at all the Stewart we have come to know. Shane Warne has dismissed Stewart
9 times in Test cricket however he was unable to break through in the limited time
available this afternoon and Stewart held out, looking more confident as the overs went
by.
Shane Warne had bowled unchanged for 20 overs this afternoon and looked weary in his
last over, Stewart punishing a loose delivery for four. It was left to Mark Butcher to face
Gillespie in the final over of the day and England held their nerves to finish at 4 for 163,
41 runs behind, a great fight back from the English batsmen. Australia will have to dig
deep tomorrow morning if they want to take a 2 nil lead in the series.
England vs Australia Scorecard
