Monty makes his mark

The third Test is perfectly poised at the end of the first day’s play, with England holding a very slender advantage.

Australia sprung no surprises with their selection, Andrew Symonds replacing the retired Damien Martyn.

England made the change everyone wanted, bringing Monty Panesar in for Ashley Giles, as well as replacing James Anderson with Sajid Mahmood.

While all the pre-match talk of a relatively placid Perth wicket was not entirely false, there was certainly enough life in the pitch to encourage the seamers.

Hoggard and Flintoff beat the batsman every now and then, but they were lacking consistency, which allowed Hayden and Langer to race to 47 in no time.

Just as it looked like it might get out of hand for England though, Hoggard bowled a gem of a delivery to dismiss Hayden yet again, caught behind by Jones. It was the sort of delivery that would have had him out no matter what, since he would have been LBW or bowled had he not nicked it.

Ricky Ponting came in, and the most in-form batsman in the world was soon heading back to the pavillion, trapped plum in front by Steve Harmison.

The significance of the fact that the much maligned Harmison had taken the prize scalp was not lost on the players or the crowd.

With the score on 54, Mike “Mr. Cricket” Hussey came to the crease in his new no.4 spot, and the run rate soon came to an almost complete halt.

This was through no fault of the batsman, but rather due to the English paceman bowling just like they had done a year ago.

With ten minutes to go till lunch, Flintoff brought Monty on, to the backdrop of vociferous roars from the crowd. He was bang on the money in his first over, bowling a classy maiden. He returned a few minutes later to bowl the last over before lunch, but he would only have to bowl a single ball. He sent down a brilliant delivery that just did enough to get past Langer’s defense and onto off stump, sending Australia in to lunch in the precarious position of 69-3.

After the break, Clarke and Hussey seemed determined to up the ante, and they did so with relative ease. The pair had just brought up their 50 partnership however, when Clarke mistimed a pull shot off Harmison to present a tough caught and bowled chance that was brilliantly taken.

This brought Andrew Symonds to the crease, and he wasted no time in making his intentions clear. After a very brief period of settling in, he smashed Monty Panesar for 17 in an over.

Flintoff stuck with his man though, and it paid dividends when on the last ball of Panesar’s next over, Symonds chased a wide one and got a nick, which was taken well by Jones on the second attempt.

Symonds departure for a brisk 26 brought Gilchrist to the crease, but he might as well have stayed in the sheds. Four balls into his innings, he produced a bat-pad chance off Monty which was perfectly taken by Ian Bell at short-leg, diving to his right.

Shane Warne managed to survive till tea, naturally providing the odd scare, and Australia went in at 184-6.

Warne came out after tea in a typically agressive mood, but it wasn’t long before he was also caught behind off Panesar, in a carbon copy of Symonds dismissal.

Brett Lee came in and got a few streaky boundaries, but Monty soon had him LBW, to claim his 5-fer.

England were now well and truly into the tail, and Steve Harmison wasted no time in getting rid of Stuart Clark (clean bowled) , and then Glenn McGrath, given out caught despite the ball hitting his shoulder.

Australia ended their innings at 244.

England came out all guns blazing, and Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook cracked a few boundaries to take the score to 36 in just 6 overs.

However, McGrath then did what he does best, getting Cook to chase one, and send it straight to Langer. One run later, Bell had come and gone, after Brett Lee produced a corker to make him edge the ball to Gilchrist behind the stumps.

Strauss and Collingwood survived a nervy finale, to leave England on 51-2 at the end of the day’s play.

England will be thrilled with the return to form of Steve Harmison, and the brilliance of Monty Panesar, but they know the job is far from over.

Australia meanwhile will be glad to have taken two quick wickets, and will also be secretly thankful that the England side they beat in the first two tests contained the wrong left arm spinner.

Australia 244 all out
Mike Hussey 74*, Justin Langer 37, Michael Clarke 37
Monty Panesar 5-92, Steve Harmison 4-48, Matthew Hoggard 1/40

England 51-2
Andrew Strauss 24*
Glenn McGrath 1-18