Shane Watson launched a brutal assault on England’s two rookie bowlers to lift Australia to 112-1 at lunch on the first day of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval yesterday.
The burly all-rounder blazed one six and 15 fours all round the ground on his way to a sparkling unbeaten 80 after James Anderson had claimed the early wicket of David Warner.
Chris Rogers, unbeaten on 21 at the interval, provided solid support for Australia, who are 3-0 down in the series and bidding for their first victory in nine Tests.
Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bat under clear blue skies on a wicket which traditionally offers little help to bowlers.
England made a breakthrough with the total on 11 when Anderson drew Warner into a loose drive and the opener — on 6 — edged a regulation catch to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled tight opening spells, but there was precious little movement in the air or off the seam, and captain Alastair Cook soon turned to off-spinner Graeme Swann.
Rogers played out three successive maidens from Swann, but runs flowed more freely at the other end, with Watson hitting Chris Woakes for three fours in an over as the all-rounder struggled to find a good length on his debut.
Watson pulled Woakes powerfully for another boundary and drove him straight for his ninth four to bring up the 50 partnership.
The all-rounder danced down the pitch to lift Swann over long-on for six and he reached his half-century with a single from Simon Kerrigan’s first ball in Test cricket.
The left-arm spinner was a surprise inclusion in the England side and Watson greeted him with a withering assault, smashing 28 runs off his first two overs.
Cook was forced to recall Swann and Broad to stem the flow of runs, but Watson continued to play his shots to close on his third Test century and the first of a disappointing series in which he has been shunted up and down the batting order.
Prior to the start of the Test, Australia coach Darren Lehmann had urged fans to “get stuck into” Broad and send the bowler home in tears because of his “blatant cheating” during the first Test last month.
Broad refused to walk — and escaped being dismissed — after clearly edging a delivery from spinner Ashton Agar to first slip in the series’ initial Test at Trent Bridge, which England won.
“I just hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole [Australian] summer and I hope he cries and he goes home,” Lehmann said in an interview with radio station Triple M.
Broad said this week that he knew he nicked the ball behind, but waited for the umpire’s decision.
“Certainly our players haven’t forgotten, they’re calling him everything under the sun as they go past,” Lehmann said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS