Lehmann and Hoggard shine

At the end of the first days play between South Australia and England, the game was evenly poised, but more importantly, it provided a few more little hints as to who would be playing for their respective countries in Brisbane next week.

In what has been a turbulent week for England, things got worse when Steve Harmison pulled out with an injury sustained in the warm-up.

They got off to a dream start with the ball however, quickly reducing the Redbacks to 25/4, despite being asked to bowl. After Jimmy Anderson had dismissed former Australian test opener Matt Elliott with the score on 21, Matthew Hoggard then dismissed Harris, Cosgrove and Ferguson after they had added just 4 additional runs to the team total.

However, the man striding in at number six was none other than captain Darren Lehmann, and he quickly set about recovering the situation.

He paired up with Cameron Borgas to put on a mammoth stand of 152, which took them all the way up to the tea interval, leaving England wicketless in the second session. Shortly after the restart though, disaster struck for Lehmann as he joined that forsaken group of players to be run out on 99.

The Redbacks battled on though, reaching 247 for 6 before Borgas’ wonderful innings of 73 ended when Monty Panesar picked up his only wicket of the innings.

Back in the pavilion, Lehmann saw the fall of his start batsman as the ideal opportunity to end the innings and give England those dreaded few overs at the end of the days play to see out.

Two balls into England’s reply, his decision looked to be a masterstroke, as Ashes hopeful Shaun Tait did his chances no harm when he produced a near unplayable delivery to dismiss Andre Strauss LBW for a duck.

It was then left to Alistair Cook and nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard to see out the remaining 5 overs, which they managed, but not before Lehamnn dropped a tough chance given by Alistair Cook of Tait. England finished the day at 24/1.

We may only be a day in to this game, but it could be a significant one in terms of the upcoming Ashes series. From England’s perspective, the decision to play Monty Panesar instead of Ashley Giles could be seen as an indication that he is the preferred choice for Brisbane next week.

However, while he was economical, his figures of 22-7-54-1 were more reminiscent of the type that Giles used to produce. Sajid Mahmood continues to struggle, and with figures of 15.1-1-57-0, he is unlikely to win a place in next week’s Test, especially as reports coming out of the England camp suggest that Harmison’s withdrawal was more of a precautionary measure than anything serious.

On the plus side, Matthew Hoggard seems to be enjoying the longer format of the game as much as ever.

As far as Australia were concerned, Shaun Tait was the only member of their squad to play in this game, but yet again, he seemed to have the edge over the English batsman.

If he can follow up his quick burst at the end of the play with something meaningful tomorrow, the selectors will be hard pressed to leave him out in this kind of form.

South Australia 247-7 dec
Darren Lehamnn 99, Cameron Borgas 73
Matthew Hoggard 3-40

England 21-1
Matthew Hoggard 10*
Shaun Tait 1-11