The worm has turned

I would just like to clarify that I would still happily take 350.

After we were blitzed by Siddle on day one I tried to look at the picture rationally. Figuring we still had to bowl and until we did that it was tough to know just how good a batting surface this Gabba pitch is a score of 260 was perhaps not too far short of par. I also knew that it was two or three inspired bowling spells in the last Ashes that swung it our way. And our response the following day justified my way of thinking.

It’s now lunch on day three following a session where Hussey & Haddin somehow got through unscathed and it’s tough to see a way back into this Test for England. Quick afternoon wickets and getting to stumps only one or two wickets down is the best I can think of. Surely we can make the Aussies bat again?

The other aspect in every sporting encounter is the way luck is evened out throughout a series. And biased though I am it was incredible how much of it the Aussies had in that session. Hussey was given out when he shouldn’t then reprieved when he shouldn’t. Haddin was dropped, nearly chopped on and drove airily past or in front of cover fielders on three separate occasions. While the spell of bowling by Jimmy Anderson was one of the best I’ve ever seen from him on an unremarkable bowling surface. Time after time he went past the outside of the bat or jagged it through the gate. It’s tough to take but I feel our time will come, maybe not in this game but at some point. Let’s hope it’s not too late before luck swings back our way.

And fair play to the two Aussies who strode out at the start of play and who batted their team into what should be a winning position. Hussey’s reaction to his century reminded me of David Beckham’s against Argentina in the 2006 World Cup. It was almost as though he was celebrating winning the damn thing. But considering the amount of stick he’s received out here it’s not surprising. The outpouring of emotion was touching. I hope his is the only Aussie whose smiling image adorns the papers tomorrow.