Grass, Bad Batting and a Good Cause

It's a remarkable thing that the media, especially past players, have so much to say about what is good and bad in the game. Faced with exhaustion from lauding the Australians and shaking their heads at the English, the Channel Nine team seem to have turned their attention to the wicket.

All day long, commentators had this or that to say, mostly about the amount of grass left on the wicket, convinced that the thick mat that lays between the stumps is a bad thing for this game. It stems from years of wickets rolled wet so the mud floods them and then shaved so close that little more than roots remain, leading to cracking. In Perth, the cracks were seen as an evil that would ruin the spectacle but in Sydney its the grass.

Let's see. So far we have had more than 300 runs on each of the first two days and 24 wickets. Is it just me or does that sound like a pitch that has something in it for everyone.

Stokes has become England's best

It was another day dominated by Australia and their brand of make things happen cricket. England lost four wickets in the first hour while they scored 15 runs, with batsmen more concerned with letting the ball go than scoring runs. Despite solid batting from Ben Stokes, Garry Ballance and Jonny Bairstow which got England into three figures when all logic said that couldn't happen and some late hitting from Stuart Broad, England were left well short of the Australians, in much the same way they have been all series. Alastair Cook (third ball of the morning) and Stokes, let go the balls that removed them and the slips largely accounted for the rest. Ian Bell should have been out the ball after Cook but Shane Watson dropped a straight forward chance at first skip. Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle gave another compelling display and Nathan Lyon bowled much better than his figures indicated but it must be said, that England were a sad and dejected lot. The top four surrendered in a pitiful fit of meekness and it was only the younger brigade who seemed to care. Ballance looked very good but left soon after his helmet grill was bent out of shape by a searing Johnson lifter.

Stokes has played with bat and ball like a man not to be deterred by reputation. He has no fear and isn't tired by the fight to rise to the top and cares little for any embarrassment that the fall is creating. His understanding of the game looks as simple as it really is. Bat, ball and how the two interact.

Rogers - another half century

Australia blasted away for the last session, adding 140 in the thirty overs, despite losing Warner, Watson, Clarke and Smith for very few. Chris Rogers was again the stalwart, playing from deep in his crease and scored at an uncharacteristic 81%. Not bad for a staid foil for Warner's flashiness. George Bailey still doesn't look like a Test batsman but with the lead well beyond the record for a fourth innings chase at the SCG, it matters little. It could rain for two days and Australia would still have enough time to win the series 5-0. Jimmy Anderson finally found a better length and accounted for Warner (lbw) and Watson (caught behind) in his first six overs but his second spell was less of the old and more of the familiar. His eighth over included a farcical 7 when Chris Rogers steered a ball through the slips, Bell chased it hard and dragged it back just inside the rope only to see wicket keeper Bairstow hurl a wild and uncalled for throw at the unprotected bowlers end and four over throws. If a moment sums up England' summer, this was it.

Clarke will likely bat until the innings is exhausted sometime between lunch and tea on Pink Day. England may bat until the fourth day but form and odds are against it.

Meanwhile, dig deep and put some money into the coffers of the McGrath Foundation. This is the sixth Pink Test to raise money for the foundation whose work is to put specialist nurses into communities to support women with and recovering from breast cancer. Six years ago, the Foundation had just placed it's fourth nurse into the community. Today, it has placed its hundredth. This is work to be admired and supported. If you cant be at the ground, go to McGrath Foundation to make a donation.