Nottingham: 'If ifs and buts were pots and pans then there would be no use of tinker’s hands', this what the Australian team would be thinking after the end of first test which they lost by the slender margin of 14 runs at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
A great fight back from Brad Haddin, who played an astonishing knock of 71 runs, and a very well accompanied supportive role by James Pattinson, who knitted a beautiful partnership of 65 runs with him, nearly took the match away from England. But Anderson struck at the right time to send Haddin back into the pavilion and gave England a 1-0 lead in the series.
It was some fine bowling from James Anderson in the first hour of day’s play which pushed Kangaroos on the back-foot. He un-did the whole of Asutralia's lower middle order on his own with the new ball taken by his captain, Alastair Cook after the 82nd over in the fourth innings of the match.
Before the start of the day’s play, Australia needed 137 runs to win this match and balance was surely in favour of England, who were having some quality pace bowlers in their attack. Ashton Agar was busy playing a steady role while Haddin was trying to get some odd boundaries to keep the score board ticking. But the dismissal of Agar, who was setup beautifully by Anderson, almost panicked the Aussies tail. Anderson struck in his next over to get rid of Mitchell Starc, who was caught at slips by the English skipper.
Peter Siddle managed to add another 20 runs with Haddin and departed after scoring 11 runs off 22 balls he faced and it was Anderson again who got this wicket. With just one wicket needed to seal the match, England surely made the mountain off a molehill and allowed Pattinson to get settled, who was in no way looking like a number 11 batsmen with the kind of defence he was showing.
Haddin showed great deal of confidence in Pattinson and started rotating the strikes. With every run scored, pressure started mounting on England. The turning point came in when Steve Finn gave away 15 runs in his first over of the day which was just a start of his bad day on the field. With those 15 runs, also came the very important half-century by Haddin, who was fighting his way out to lead his side to a sensational win.
As this partnership went past 50, it was almost looking as if the match might slip away from the hands of the hosts. The first session was extended by seven overs which gave Australia a chance to come close to the winning total but they could manage to add just 20 runs. The lunch came at very right time for England, who were just trying too much and were ending on the wrong side.
The English players regrouped quite well and Anderson got the wicket of Haddin in his second over after the lunch. This was the second five wicket haul for Anderson in this opening test and he also picked up 10 wickets in a match for the second time in his career.
Brief Scores- Australia 2nd innings (Brad Haddin 71, James Pattinson 25*, Chris Rogers 52, James Anderson 5/73, Stuart Broad 2/ 54, Graeme Swann 2/105)
England 2nd innings (Ian Bell 109, Stuart Broad 65, Kevin Pietersen 64, Peter Siddle3/85, James Pattinson 2/ 101, Mitchell Starc 3/81 ,Ashton Agar 2/82)
Australia 1st innings (Ashton Agar 98, Philip Hughes 81, Steve Smith 53, James Anderson 5/85, Steve Finn 2/80, Graeme Swann 2/60)
England 1st innings ( Jonathan Trott 48, Jonny Bairstow 37, Joe Root 30, James Pattinson 3/69 , Peter Siddle 5/50, Mitchell Starc 2/54)
