Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
What a day of cricket! I was slightly wary going into the day, that Australia would take a hold of the match and start to make England crumble but this would not be the case. It was instead some truly inspirational batting and two centuries from Cook and the Captain, Strauss that cemented England with good grounding for the rest of the test and the likelihood in the match ending as a draw.
The two openers naturally led from the front and played some cracking shots against an Australian bowling attack who they have little to worry about especially compared to the calibre of bowlers faced last time downunder. The ever amenable Ricky Ponting certainly wouldn’t have been expecting such a backlash from the English Batsmen and to close on 309-1 is an impressive feat. Ponting will be ruing his missed chances, especially a poor drop from Mitchell Johnson, whom I personally question his abilities certainly at Test level. None of the Aussie bowlers had much luck at all on a very batsmen orientated pitch with lack of swing and no help for Doherty or indeed North spin wise.
Strauss fell to a stumping off North whilst trying to attack the spinner but Trott and Cook successfully guided themselves through the new ball to the end of the day. Great Cricket for England.
Chances are this match will now be a draw, but all in all that would be a great result for England and they can then push on to pressure a victory at Adelaide. If England can push on to 450 or more on the final day and declare with a session or so to spare it would allow time for the likes of Anderson and Finn to ruffle some of the Australian Batsmen’s feathers in a tricky session.
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