Ponting toying with hapless England

First Test (Day 2 - Stumps)
Australia 602-9 dec. & 181-1 England 157

By Chris O'Keefe

Australia's bowling hero Glenn McGrath backed the seemingly odd call by skipper Ricky Ponting not to make England follow on. As it is he and his fellow batsmen set about hurting the pride of England bowling attack by quickly reestablishing a lead of more than 600 runs.

Ponting may have taken an ingenious decision by at least giving his bowlers a rest. Imagine the attack now with the to put the feet up before resuming twisting the knife. McGrath himself will look to add to his six first innings wickets.

The Australian pacemen led the "Dad's Army" on a destructive rampage through an England that didn't live up to any reputation tagged before them. England crucial duo of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were dismissed cheaply and England were immediately in trouble. Australia bowled (again) consistently in the right area creating doubt in each batsmen. Indeed so good was the hosts' bowling performance that the most impotent offering came from Shane Warne.

This pitch will still play fairly well, even with the cracks. Many of the shots chosen by English victims were lightweight and asking for trouble. Pietersen's leave - whilst showing to missing off stump on replay - looked out at first glance and really was his own fault. Again, Flintoff - unlucky to fall to a no-ball played a feeble prod at the ball. It was neither here nor there and invited an edge.

That kind of shot making will need to be eradicated if England are to stand a cat in hells chance of surviving. However, Flintoff, Fletcher et al. will be able to shake off a heavy defeat here because they are made of sterner stuff than previous touring parties, so we hope at least! They never bowed to their opponents when they were getting beaten at Lord's and it is the first test match.

The problem is that it looks like a change in selection might be required. As a personal choice, Sajid Mahmood has to play at the expense of either James Anderson or Steve Harmison. He has taken wickets this year at test level and, even with a less bouncy Adelaide pitch to come, Mahmood may be more confident of his ability.

Panesar seems an obvious choice as a spinner. England made the mistake of trying to defend their batting with Giles but 25 runs or so isn't enough compared to a five wicket haul, which Monty is probably capable of. He will not fear the Aussies, certainly not. His first ball in Test Cricket left the great Tendulkar hitting air, a statement of who he is.

This sounds like a look forward to better times and an admission that this match is beyond saving but until ten wickets are taken they shouldn't be written. The problem here though is that England may have competed with those two players this test as opposed to being left on the boundary.

For now England's top six or seven with the bat now need to believe they can bat against this attack otherwise an exodus of players from Perth may need to happen.