Australia
Their front line bowlers were pathetic; their back up bowler saved their ass. Then the ball stopped swinging and they eased the ball around the poorly throughout field.
Pakistan
Didn’t make enough of their great position with the bat, and yet again let Shane Watson get to them. Once Australia got on top they seemed to lose all real energy and played like they were bored.
Who’s in front
According to the bookies, Australia is. Barely. They still have a big job to do, but they were definitely playing like the winners in the afternoon. Pakistan will need someone to ignite them otherwise… Poor bastards.
Play of the day
There was some competition for this today, Shane Warne seemed to laugh so hard at the comedy run out of Danish Kaneria he couldn’t speak. But Umar Amin beat that. Amin faced a bouncer from Hilfenhaus that he dropped under, but left his bat up for. The classic periscope. Not only did he leave the bat up there, he held it form enough so when the ball crashed into it, the ball rebounded to square leg and he was caught.
Testicular moment of the day
No matter how much you hate him, Shane Watson is here to stay. Like Chlamydia. Pakistan probably wish there was pill or ointment to get rid of him. He was the perfect bowler for this situation; slow enough that the ball would swing, and innocuous enough that they would attack him. I don’t really understand how he got six whole wickets, but it seems fairly impressive to me.
Working class moment of the day
Mohammad Asif is perhaps the best bowler in the world at the moment. But that pesky potential teenager keeps getting all his media. Just before the bad light in the afternoon he bowled a spell were there were two amazing deliveries that deserved wickets. There were close LBW shouts, appeals for caught behinds and more than a few play and misses. No wickets came. And I bet the Katich dismissal will be played a few times.
Weird factoid of the day
Only Hussey and Ponting of Australia’s top six batsmen do not have a wicket haul. Katich (6/65 vs Zim), Clarke (6/9 vs Ind), North (6/55 vs Pak) and now Watson. Hussey and Ponting are massively under performing with only bests of 1/3 and 1/0 respectively.
To read about how Marcus North is nondescript go here.
To read a full review of the day go here.
North is playing his last test.
Hussey should be as well. Does he ever score runs when Australia needs them?
This has been a wonderful tour for the Ausses. Gutted at every turn.