Australia v England - 4th Test, Day 2

Lunch - England 2-226 (Trott 30, Pietersen 31. Siddle 2-31)

With skies overcast again but their ball 47 overs old, the Australians approached the second day with attack being far from their mind. Without the luxury of runs to play with, Harris and Siddle opened the bowling to tight lines on off stump to the English openers in order to restrict runs and build pressure. It's a tactic rarely used this summer as Ponting's men have preferred to bowl short and attempt intimidation and in doing so, have wasted opportunities. Patience this morning saw Siddle take both Cook and Strauss with deliveries which were put in the right areas to illicit mistakes - Cook having a ball run across him and off an angled blade to Watson at slip and Strauss getting a ball which lifted enough to find the edge of a rapidly closing bat and Hussey took the mark high over his head in the gully.

Suddenly, England had lost 2-13 in nine overs. Hilfenhaus replaced Harris and bowled a tight ten over spell which cost him only 14 runs and during which he disregarded his stock out swinger and replaced it with off cutter. Trott was several times cramped by the ball moving back at him from a batting surface which is blossoming into a gold mine of run treasures. Pietersen and Trott were playing with common sense and straight bats and happily collected the few ones and twos on offer.

Johnson came and went and whilst not expensive, he never looked likely to penetrate with deliveries slanting across the bat or spearing onto leg stump but the swing of Perth an absent friend. Johnson looks much the way he did in Brisbane, a welcome treat for the English but complete waste of his place as the fourth seamer.

Ponting played the leg spin card, finally, in the last twenty minutes, unaware it seems of the compulsive way in which the England number four approaches spin. Whilst the left hand orthodox spinners may have dismissed him 16% of the time he has batted, more pertinent is his losing of his wicket to all types of spinners 37% of the time. He just can't stop himself from needing to dominate them. This should have been a device with which to expose him but instead, Smith bowled three overs in the shadow of lunch and once or twice Pietersen's blood was rushing him to another demise.

This was an excellent, professional session from both side and Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Harris and Smith did their best but the English are in no hurry to establish a winning lead with the only innings they intend to play in Melbourne. Their target of 70 runs a session was met at reasonable expense and should it be repeated for the rest of the day the lead will be 270 with six wickets down. Of course, the last session might prove to be more fruitful as the Australians struggle to remain enthusiastic in the face of their first day batting failure.

This Session: Shared
Sessions This Test: England 3, Australia 0, Shared 1
Sessions This Series: England 21, Australia 13, Shared 6

Tea - England 5-305 (Trott 65, Prior 12. Siddle 3-41, Johnson 2-72)

The truth that Test cricket is the absorbing form of the game was again on display in the second session at Melbourne. Both sides have achieved what they would have sought from session - Australia 3 wickets and England 78 runs.

For England, Jonathan Trott stood resolute during the two hour session, despite the Australian plan to limit his range of shots outside off stump and keep the ball angling back into his off peg. This is a dangerous ploy for a man so adept at working the ballt o the leg side but it has worked. After lunch, Pietersen flourished briefly in what looked to be another build up to critical mass when he would explode but Siddle removed him with a ball which slid on and trapped him in front of leg stump.

Siddle had a hand in the other two wickets that fell, catching Collingwood and then Bell of short balls from Johnson under the two men back policy that has been so widely questioned. Collingwood, so out of form that he looks to be searching for each shot, played a reckless hook that better form would have sent over midwicket and Bell was fooled by the imperative to attack Johnson and skied a ball that was too close to off stump and to high to control. In both cases, Siddle made good finishes.

Unfortunately for Australian cricket, the gradual demise of Ponting was again highlighted with an ungly display a few overs into the new ball. Harris beat Pietersen on the inside edge and Haddin made a lonely appeal which Clarke and even the bowler Harris were seen to be shaking their heads to concur with the not out decision by umpire Dar. Haddin insisted and bent Ponting's will to a referral and after all the technology was examined, the third umpire's decision was a clear and undisputable not out. At that point, for reasons known only to him and presumably Peter Siddle who had involved himself, Ponting engage in a finger-shaking argument which went on for minutes and created an ugly spectacle. He and Siddle may expect some time with the match referee as a result.

The session finished slightly in Australia's favour but would have been more so had Johnson not bowled a no ball when having Matt Prior caught behind. Having been given out, Prior was recalled by the umpire - Dar again - because he suspected it had been a no ball. Video agreed and Prior was reinstated.

This Session: Australia
Sessions This Test: England 3, Australia 1, Shared 1
Sessions This Series: England 21, Australia 14, Shared 6

Stumps - England 5-444 (Trott 141, Prior 75. Siddle 3-58, Johnson 2-103)

If the first two sessions were Australia fighting to maintain respect from their opponent and their supporters, then the last was total capitulation. Trott and Prior added 158, passing the record for this wicket in Melbourne set in March of 1929 as Patsy Hendren and Maurice Leyland put the finishing touches on an 5-1 English series win, despite the debut of certain lad from Bowral.

Troot played a highly professional hand, remaining in control despite be floored by a blow to his knee when he was on 87. Stoically, he refused a runner and scored another fifty on on one and a half legs, thrusting his chest out to the best Australia could offer. Prior, scratchy before tea, blossomed as the bowlers lost heart and canned short bowling outside off stump, repeatedly smashing square cuts to the boundary.

Ponting did his best but you can't run a farm with bad stock and only Siddle was a cash cow today. He stood tall, involved himself in everything taking wickets and catches but even that was beyond him as the Melbourne day drew on to its sunniest and warmest periods late in the afternoon. Hilfenhaus looks tired and the frustration of constantly beating the edge of English bats for no reward earlier in the series has taken its toll. His summer needs to end here. Harris tried in that big chested way he does but the wicket held no treats to assist him. Smith bowled with enthusiasm and little else, always looking concerned about getting another over and therefore bowled only leg breaks which didn't turn, even from the rough.

England have won the series and sometime in the next day and a half they will confirm it.

Meanwhile, the fate of Ricky Ponting is awaited follwoing another ugly on field incident after a referral for a not out decision when only Haddin thought a ball had hit the inside edge of Pietersen's bat. He argued for more than five minutes with Dar, aided by Siddle, on the basis of something he thought he saw on a scoreboard hotspot replay. It begs the question as to why DRS replays are being shown to patrons whilst umpires are ponding. Regardless, Ponting's actions were not along and don't represent an isolated incident as he has been an offender in this regard toward umpires at other times in his career. In the end, any punishment handed down by match referee Ranjan Madugalle may be less than the verdict haded Ponting by his home crowd. Toward the end of the tirade, they booed him. That doesn't happen to Aussie custodians on home soil too often.

The lack of runs, the dropped catches, the irrasible behaviour all point in sharper focus to an end which has been approaching faster than Ponting has wanted. Here's hoing he can follow the example of team mates like McGrath, Gilchrist, Warne, Waugh and Taylor and announce Sydney will be his last. Despite reservations about his captaincy, his career as a cricketer deserves no more fitting end than to end befor a home crowd as a legend.

This Session: England
Sessions This Test: England 4, Australia 1, Shared 1
Sessions This Series: England 22, Australia 14, Shared 6

Postcript - Ponting fined ... follow link