da realsbet： ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the fourth day between Australia and England at the Gabba
Andrew Miller and Peter English at the Gabba28-Nov-2010
Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have now put on more runs together than any other England opening pair•AFP
Partnership of the day
Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook’s invaluable alliance was still in itsearly stages when, with the score on 23, they notched an unexpected markin the annals of English Test history. With a chancy snick through a gapat third slip, Cook carried the pairing to the highest aggregate by any England opening partnership,eclipsing the figure of 3249 amassed by none other than Jack Hobbs andHerbert Sutcliffe. In mitigation, those two legends racked up their runsin 38 innings rather than 82, and their average stand is more than double(87.81 to 42.68), but nevertheless, such a stat underlines the experiencethat they bring to England’s top order.Costly drop of the day, part one
Mitchell Johnson is a confidence player without much self-belief at themoment. After his 18-ball 0 on the third day, Johnson followed up with acrucial miss when Strauss was 69. Strauss tried to clear mid-off when hecharged at Xavier Doherty and the ball went hard and over the head ofJohnson, who looked like he had it under control but couldn’t hold it. Hishead went down and the Australians sighed.Costly drop of the day, part two
The problems for Australia continued after tea when Peter Siddle had adifficult diving chance, with Cook hooking Ben Hilfenhaus to fine-leg on103. That one went to ground too – and for four. Jonathan Trott, on 34,was the next to benefit when Michael Clarke leapt at point and lost hisgrasp of the ball as his left-hand bumped the ground. On day three it wasAustralia who enjoyed the good fortune, but the roles have reversed.Painful blow of the day
Simon Katich is the toughest player in the Australian side but thestrength of a Cook cut eventually forced him off the field. Katich was atbat-pad when Marcus North came on to aim at the footmarks in the middlesession, but a short one resulted in a fierce blow to Katich’s ankle.While Katich didn’t flinch or show any pain, he did start to limp shortlyafter and a couple of overs later left the field for treatment. Hereturned after tea in a little discomfort.Dive of the day
Katich’s absence provided a chance for an understudy to shine, and theQueensland veteran Lee Carseldine didn’t disappoint. At the age of 35, hishopes of a Test debut are slim to say the least, but he did his best togive the impression that he’s still a spring chicken with a desperatediving save on the deep cover boundary. With a full-frontal swallow-diveand a clatter of boundary-board, he clawed the ball back into play to cutoff a certain four. It wasn’t quite up there as a Gary Pratt moment, buthe did his bit to keep the team’s pecker up.Yelp of the day
With lunch approaching and England’s partnership going strong, any viewersback in Blighty who had been tempted into a quick power-nap foundthemselves being jolted violently back to reality by a piercing yelp fromthe Sky Sports commentary box. The yelpee was none other than the usuallyice-cool David Gower, whose mellifluous flow was painfully interruptedwhen his sidekick Nasser Hussain parked a chairleg squarely on his toe.