The ASHES 2006/2007Matthew Hoggard took seven wickets, including Michael Clarke's for 124, as England eked out a 38-run first innings lead on the fourth day of the second Ashes cricket Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval yesterday.
Hoggard's return of 7-109 from 42 arduous overs was remarkable in the context of a match in which only 17 wickets have fallen for 1,123 runs by stumps and in which a weary stalemate existed by the end of the fourth day.
His victims included Ricky Ponting for 142 and Michael Hussey for 91 on Sunday, Shane Warne for 43 and Clarke for 124 yesterday and, with his urgent impetus, England was able to dismiss Australia for 513 in reply to its own 551 for six declared.
England was 59 for one in its second innings at stumps, leading by 97 runs overall but with the match heading almost inexorably toward a draw today which will preserve Australia's 1-0 series lead.
Both sides tried to remain upbeat yesterday and to insist a win was still possible.
England coach Duncan Fletcher said the first two hours on the final day would determine whether his team could secure a win which would level the series after Australia's 277-run victory at Brisbane.
"We'll have to see how play is the first hour or two," he said. "I think after that result in Brisbane a lot of people [questioned] would we get back into the series. I just think we've show a lot of character on occasions and I think we've done it again," Fletcher said.
"We've come along and played session after session and played good cricket ... we want to come along tomorrow, reassess it and see where we are," he said.
Clarke, elated after a six-hour innings which brought his third Test century and his first in two years, saw Australia fashioning a win in three sessions.
"I certainly don't think it's stale," he said. "I think we can still win the game. As we've seen at the end of today, Warney's spinning the ball a long way so any time he's spinning the ball like that, the Australian team's still got a chance."
If Australia could get early wickets, Clarke said, "maybe we'll have a run chase come late tomorrow afternoon."
"I think as the team is at the moment we're all headed in the same direction and we can only see ourselves winning the game, not losing it," he said.
Any feat with the ball on an Adelaide pitch which has given up wickets grudgingly over the past four days exceeds achievements with the bat, nurtured by the conditions. Further, England skipper Andrew Flintoff was restricted in his bowling because of a nagging left ankle problem.
In that light, Hoggard's performance was brilliant.
He claimed his sixth five-wicket haul in Tests, gnawing away at Australia's top order.
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