| Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire.
Third Test 2nd to 6th August 2001 |
| Umpires: JH Hampshire
and S Venkataraghavan (Ind) |
| Result: Australia
Won by 7 Wickets |
| Match Reports - : Day 1; Day 2; Day
3; Day 4 & 5 not required |
| Toss: England (elected
to bat) |
First Day Report
Michael Atherton won England's first toss in 10 matches today and immediately decided
to bat. Alex Tudor passed a late fitness test, Johnson and Afzaal missing out and were
sent back to their clubs.
Play started on time and Atherton and Trescothick walked out to a rowdy welcome from
the home fans, the Australian's already out at the middle and waiting to unleash their
bowling attack.
McGrath opened and with his second ball of the day, had Michael Atherton caught at
second slip by Mark Waugh, taking the ball above his head. However action replays
suggested that it had infact hit his arm guard and therefore should have been given not
out. Atherton suggested something was wrong when on walking back to the dressing
room, he shook his head in disgust.
Waugh decided Lee was the man for the job from the other end, replacing Gillespie as
number one bowler. It proved a costly decision by Waugh, Brett Lee going for 20 runs
in his 4 overs. Gillespie replaced him and his first over went for 5 runs.
With the rain threatening, McGrath made another breakthrough, Butcher edging the ball
to Ricky Ponting at third slip. Butcher had looked more than capable of dealing with
whatever the Australian's threw at him and apart from Trescothick has looked the most
comfortable English batsman this series. Two balls later at 11:51, rain stopped play.
17 minutes were lost to the rain delay and on resumption, the England pait continued
their attack on the bowlers, Trescothick hitting 14 off one of Gillespie's overs including
three 4's. Ramprakash who had looked uneasy at times, became the third batsman to fall
when he had reached 14 (his unlucky Test number) and the total 63. Gillespie had the
batsman pushing at a ball and it went behind for Adam Gilchrist to make the most of the
opportunity.
Stewart, promoted to number 5, looked uncomfortable right from the start, he really has
looked uneasy all series. Trescothick made the most of some loose bowling and reached
a well deserved half century. shortly after he had reached the landmark, Alec Stewart in
attempting to pull a short delivery off Brett Lee had a lucky escape when Glenn McGrath
dropped him at mid off. The pait managed to bat until lunch without any further scares,
the total 3 for 93.
In what has become the norm in this series, England lost their 7 remaining wickets between
Lunch and Tea (taken 9 minutes late due to 9 wickets down) and scoring only 92 runs. It
was a pitiful display against some superb bowling, not least Glenn McGrath who took 5
wickets in an innings for the second match in succession. It was the fifth time he has
managed it against England, and the 20th time in international cricket.
Trescothick was the first to go after lunch caught behind by Gilchrist off McGrath's bowling
for 69. Wickets fell at regular intervals, the only problem was that the intervals were getting
shorter and shorter throughout the innings. Only Alec Stewart looked in any sort of form in
the afternoon, although not a spectacular innings, it was an important one nonetheless.
Ian Ward failed once again and when Craig White was caught at Short leg for another duck,
England were in dire straits at 6 for 147.
Warne then chipped in with the wickets of Tudor and Croft with some tight accurate bowling.
No one expected the ball to turn as much on the first day but when warne bowled his first
delivery of the day, the crowd and the players knew they were in for an entertaining afternoon
from the spin king who has now taken 99 wickets against England.
McGrath's fifth wicket came when he had Alec Stewart caught at second slip by Mark Waugh,
giving the Australian fielding practice as the ball slowly made its way into his hands and the
ninth wicket fell. Caddick and Gough offered little resistence and with his fifth ball of his 7th
over Brett Lee bowled Caddick to end the England innings at 3:49pm.
In a bizzare and unusual twist, England fought back this afternoon and have taken the 3rd
Test by the scruff of the neck and with only 3 wickets left of their first innings Australia are
80 runs behind.
Loose bowling saw Hayden score freely at the start of the innings but his innings was the
highlight of a poor batting performance.
After an opening stand of 48, Hayden became Tudor's first wicket in 2 years, trapped leg
before for 33 which included 7 fours. As I mentioned earlier, that was the highlight of a
pathetic batting performance from the World champions.
The wicket spurred on a lacklustre bowling performance and soon wicket after wicket fell
with no batsman offering any degree of resistence. Tudor took another wicket, Caddick took
3 and Darren Gough 2. Craig White did get two overs but after a maiden, he was hit for two
fours and was promptly replaced by Atherton.
When bad light had stopped play for the day, 3.3 overs short of the minimum overs to be
bowled in the day, Australia were deep in trouble with only Adam Gilchrist a recognised
batsman left at the crease. Australia will have to dig deep tomorrow when they walk out to
the middle.
Ashes
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