Ashes T 4 Day 2 Stumps: England Droop Towards Early Defeat

Sreelata YellamrazuAug 8 2009

England could not have asked for the worst two days of their cricket. Australia have sent England teetering to the edge of defeat when stumps were called on day two of the fourth Test of the Ashes at Headingley.

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Lord's victory in the second Test must seem a distance away now as a despondent England return to the dressing room knowing that they have three days in which survival takes on a whole new meaning.

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England appeared to be holding their own until the final half hour of the match when England were reduced to half their side and not even a iota of respectability about their batting.

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Andrew Strauss, the England captain, and Alastair Cook made it to fifty-eight without loss before Ben Hilfenhaus struck the much anticipated break after what was a rather patient wait for Australia.

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It came in the form of a double blow. Strauss was dismissed lbw although the ball appeared a shade higher but Hawk Eye indicated that it would have rocked the stumps anyway. But it was the second dismissal that raised eyebrows and compounded Ravi Bopara's chances of stilling being England's number three at the Oval in the fifth Test. Although declared out lbw, Bopara did get his bat to hit ball and therefore, England would have felt hard done by.

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Thereafter it was the aggressive Mitchell Johnson, unlike the one that has showed up for much of this Ashes, who destroyed the backbone of the England team and nearly had a final wicket for the day on the final ball of the day.

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Hostile spell to Paul Collingwood, making a tame looking Ian Bell edge one to slips, Johnson was at his fiery best and his three wickets brought England to the brink of defeat, a nightmare that could not even await another dawn.