The smirk on Lee’s face when Watson dropped a catch of Davies was indicative of so many things at once. One was frustration at the inability of his fielders to back-up his efforts and the other being to find himself in a team of normal mortals after being a part of champion teams
Strauss finds himself in charge of a team that is doing all the right things and even in this match, his team’s bowling was better than that of Australia. In the end, the only separating factor between both the teams was Shane Watson
The match started off in a fashion that was utterly reminiscent of the Ashes. England batsmen stitching a superb opening partnership and having the luck running their way throughout the entire span of the partnership. Haddin was helping them with his ineffective keeping. He regularly muffed stumping chances and was having a bad match in general. After what has transpired in the Ashes, it’s barely a surprise and the calls for including Tim Paine won’t be pushed to the background any further
Davies who was praised as a potential Gilchrist(!) by Vaughan lived up to his mentor’s statement in terms of runs but not in the quality of the stroke play. The only thing that comes across as even being remotely close to Gilchrist is his trait to go back to short pitched balls. What follows that is better left unsaid
Strauss was having a charmed run as inside edges went nowhere and edges were not carrying and he was being helped no end by Australian fielders to make his stay at the crease as comfortable as possible. No wonder then, that the openers got off to a blazing start. It was Hussey junior who broke through as he beat Davies’ ugly swipe and took the top of the off
With Trott too being dismissed cheaply the onus of building the innings fell on Strauss and a batsman who hasn’t crossed 49 in an ODI since November 2008. With Doherty in the team and his well publicised weakness against the left armers, it was thought the run would stretch
He broke the stretch and dispelled the fears of his fans when it comes to facing the left armers. He scored at more than run a ball of 20 balls of Doherty. It was a pity that he did not carry on to get a century and got out the only way he looked like he would- run-out
After his departure the innings just fell through. What looked like a 300+ score, ended up at 294
Australian innings was all about Watson. He went hammer and tongs after the batsmen so much so that Haddin was on 15 when he reached his half-century. The hundred plus partnership for the first wicket helped them no end as it meant that not only Australia kept up with the run-rate but also had wickets in the hand for a final blast. Haddin committed the cardinal sin of throwing away his wicket after he got his eye in. Clarke came in at the fall of Haddin’s wicket and stitched a partnership of hundred odd with Watson. Instead of setting up the match for Australia, it bought them down a couple of rungs because of Clarke’s low strike-rate. The worrying factor in this partnership was the fact that Watson was cramping up and had to endure a barren period after reaching seventy
Clarke got out in an attempt to up the run-rate. It was a crowd’s dismissal as they started to boo Clarke whenever he faced a ball. In a surprising move, Smith was promoted ahead of other established batsmen and did not shine. Hussey M removed some pressure off Watson by biffing Bresnan for a couple of good strokes
Once Hussey got out, White took some time settling in and then launched the counter-attack. By this time, Watson also re-aligned his meter and started going for the boundaries. Quite fittingly he finished the match off by launching Shehzad over long-on for a six
Lee must have felt good that future looks a little secured in atleast the shorter version of the game and must be smiling at the individual brilliance of Watson. After all, it’s a hark back to the halcyon days
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