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England redeems itself well

By Ted Corbett

BRISBANE Nov. 8. As they surveyed the debris of their disastrous first day, England's players decided they must spend the second in damage limitation and to a large extent they were successful.

They found a tighter bowling line, captured the last eight Australian wickets for 128 runs and kept their total to a comparatively modest 492. They also showed that talk of a 5-0 whitewash is premature and that whatever the result here they will not be disgraced.

Irritatingly it might have been even better but for two mistakes by that slow but sure umpire Steve Bucknor.

Shortly before lunch, with Australia 408 for five, he ruled that Shane Warne had not touched a ball from Andrew Caddick that rose, seemed to flick off Warne's bat and land comfortably in the gloves of Alec Stewart.

Commentators with access to the pitch mike swore they heard a noise and television demonstrated that there had been a sound loud enough to send the graph into overdrive. But Warne was allowed to bat on so that he made a 65-ball 57 with rugged shots and Australia to reach a total that would satisfy most teams, although it was a poor effort after it had been 339 for one.

It was also a score that England could regard calmly, provided that its proven openers delivered yet another big stand. Marcus Trescothick, who has been complaining of a shoulder injury, began scratchily but within a few minutes Michael Vaughan was playing a selection from the repertoire that caused the Indians to wince last summer.

He drove sumptuously, lifted short balls into the legside outfield and made 24 of the 34 before tea. Soon afterwards he suffered the reverse of the Bucknor error syndrome. Like Warne he rose on his toes to a lifting ball from Glenn McGrath and played the worst shot of his innings and, if you believe the new technology, missed the ball completely. This time Bucknor paused, as he always does, before he gave Vaughan out.

The shame was not that a mistake had been made; after all W G Grace, Walter Hammond and Don Bradman had their differences with umpires. It is part of the nature of cricket. The shame was that the battle between Vaughan and McGrath, which had already caused McGrath's quiet volcano to blow, was postponed.

It may still prove to be the most fascinating contest of the series for McGrath has lost none of his menace and Vaughan is in the best form of his life.

Trescothick, with increasing confidence, and Mark Butcher, showing the arrogance he displayed at Headingley 15 months ago, guided the score beyond 100 and now England has the chance to avoid the follow-on and, on a pitch that has given Warne no special assistance so far, put unexpected pressure on the Australians.

As Jason Gillespie was unfit to bowl and Waugh had to perform in his place it was clearly a big opportunity for these two senior batsmen. By the close England had reduced the deficit by 158, 135 short of the follow-on and, unless this game throws up another change of fortune, sailing into a safe harbour.

When day two began it seemed that England had forgotten the mauling from Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting. Funnily enough, although he did not take a wicket in the innings, Matthew Hoggard set the rearguard action in motion. Hayden struck the ball straight back at him, he picked up the ball and without pause tried to smash down the stumps. Instead he caught Hayden a nasty blow on the shins that brought a rebuke from umpire Rudi Koertzen and a slap on the back from Nasser Hussain.

In the next over Hayden was caught behind, three short of his second Test double hundred, and that began the England riposte in which Andrew Caddick bowled for 100 minutes, Steve Waugh batted 70 minutes for seven and Australia was reduced to 429 for six by lunch.

This peculiarly English triumph was not unlike its celebrated defeat at Dunkirk in the Second World War when a fleet of small boats ferried thousands of bedraggled soldiers home.

That retreat enabled England to fight on and today's reversal means that it is still in

the match with a chance, an impossible dream only 24 hours earlier.

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