England in control as bad light stops second day's play
Strauss moved to his half-century with a sublime boundary
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By inthenews. |  |
Friday, 31, Jul 2009 06:31
The players left the field for bad light with England in command of the third Test match at Edgbaston.
The hosts reached 116-2, with Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell putting on 56 for the third wicket.
Strauss moved on to 64 while Bell posted 26 as England rebuilt their innings after Ravi Bopara's dismissal.
The England captain has the fourth-highest 50 to 100 conversion rate in the history of Test cricket, so England fans will be hoping for a big score. Bell, meanwhile, hit England's first six of the 2009 Ashes with a firmly-hit maximum off the spin of Nathan Hauritz. He was lucky, however, to survive an excellent lbw shout from a rejuvenated Mitchell Johnson.
England lost their second wicket on 60, as the under-pressure Ravi Bopara, facing his first ball after tea, was removed by Ben Hilfenhaus for 23. The Essex batsman will have to face his critics once again after a sloppy dismissal, in which he deflected an innocuous ball back onto his stumps.
Before his error, England had made a healthy recovery after being reduced to 2-1 in the second over, with Bopara and captain Andrew Strauss making a 58 partnership.
Strauss batted especially well after Alistair Cook was caught behind off the bowling of Peter Siddle for a duck.
Cook pushed at a ball angling across him and the visitors' substitute keeper Graham Manou took a good low catch.
Earlier in the day, England bowled out Australia for 263. The tourists' overnight score of 126-1 became 203-8 at lunch, as Graham Onions and James Anderson bowled excellent spells of fiery swing bowling. Australia's tailenders helped them to recover to 263, but Anderson (5-80) and Onions (4-58) finished off the innings.