England Fail to Stamp Authority As Australia Chase Unlikely Win

In any form of sport tightening the screw upon your opponents when they’re on their knees is essential if you’re to achieve a positive result, and Andrew Strauss will be ruing this evening how his side wilted in the field when their Ashes opponents Australia looked all but beaten.

Chasing an unlikely 522 to win England allowed the tourists back into a contest they had no right to even partake in, as Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin’s unbeaten 185-run partnership left Australia just 209 runs short of their target, with five wickets remaining.

The failure of Strauss’ side to twist the knife, even when Australia were 128-5 is in stark contrast to the way they punished any Australian slacking in the corresponding series in 2005.

The hosts declared early this morning, refusing to build upon the seemingly unassailable lead they had built on the previous day.

The decision seemed vindicated with the early removal of openers Simon Katich and Phil Hughes, and with a hint of movement in the air England did seem keen to rid of the remainder of the Australian batting line-up, hoping to leave Monday’s fifth day superfluous.

After the terrific dismissal of Marcus North by Graeme Swann the Ashes holders looked forlorn in their mammoth run-chase.

But Clarke scored his first ever Ashes century in this country, and wicket-keeper Brad Haddin continued his awesome form with the bat with an unbeaten 80.

Haddin came into the series with big boots to fill, and while questions will be forever be raised about his ability to fully replace Adam Gilchrist, maybe the 31-year old should start to be appreciated as a player in his own right, rather than live in the shadow of the former great.

Gilchrist infamously struggled on tour in 2005, but the Cowra-born keeper has thrived on these batting friendly wickets while Clarke, who had had a similar fate to that of Gilchrist four years ago, played an innings of class and panache; one that could turn out to be a match winning one.

England’s bowlers, albeit toiling on a perfect surface for batting seemed to lose heart mid-way through the evening session, and it will be up to Andy Flower and Ottis Gibson to lift the side ahead of a series defining day tomorrow.

Not that the team need to motivation for tomorrow's climax, but maybe they need to the belief that these two can be prized from the crease, and with that the match will swung back their way.

Given the skipper’s decision not to enforce the follow-on yesterday the England team will be focused on not letting this opportunity slip through their fingers, but breaking the hold of Haddin and Clarke will be first on the agenda before there’s any thought of ducking and diving the media’s painful words.