No Ashes for the Aussies this year. Jonathon Trott recorded a century, and England closed play on Day Two with 444 for 5. They have a whopping 346 run lead, and now have only to decide when to turn things over to the hapless Australian batsmen for the coup de grace.
I missed almost all the good action, which happened after the lunch break. Before lunch, the Aussies recorded a couple of wickets, and then Kevin Pietersen and Trott took over for a long slog while the Australians waited for a new ball to be put in play. Apparently, a new ball makes bowling easier, but you wouldn't know it by Jonathan Trott. The Aussies did bowl out Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell after lunch, but Trott just kept on trucking. He's at 141 and counting.
Also after lunch, Australian captain Ricky Ponting managed to get himself fined 40% of his match fee for haranguing umpire Ranjan Madugalle after Pietersen had been ruled out for an apparent wicket that was later rescinded after replays showed that the ball had not touched his bat. Ponting kept after Madugalle, mostly in frustration at the Aussies dwindling chances, wagging his finger at one point. This is all pretty unseemly behavior in cricket, and Ponting could be suspended by the ICC, the sports governing body. Obviously, the ICC has never seen Bobby Cox.
I also missed a rare occasion when running makes a difference in cricket. Trott hit a short ball and took off, and had to dive to make it to the other wicket before being run out.
There was also an interesting no-ball called when I was asleep. Mitchell Johnson had gotten Matt Prior out on a catch by the wicket keeper, but Johnson had run too far into the seam when delivering the ball, and Prior was given a reprieve. Absolutely nothing went right for Australia yesterday, basically.
Somewhere, Andy Zaltzman is feeling the same way I did when the Patriots clinched home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs yesterday.
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