Siddle floors England with a hat-trick
Australia dismiss tourists for 260 on the opening day of first Ashes test.
BRISBANE:
Peter Siddle took a hat-trick and career-best Test figures to bowl Australia into a commanding position against England on the opening day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Siddle sent England reeling with the first Ashes hat-trick in 11 years, as he captured six for 54, to help dismiss the tourists for 260. At close, Australia had negotiated seven overs in fading light to be 25 without loss and trail England by 235 runs, with Shane Watson on nine and Simon Katich on 15.
The Test exploded into life in Siddle’s 12th over late in the day when he dismissed Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad with consecutive deliveries to rip the heart out of the England innings after skipper Andrew Strauss had won the toss.
It was the 11th time an Australian bowler has captured a Test hat-trick and the first in an Ashes encounter by either side since 1999, and came as Siddle marked his 26th birthday.
“That’s how we wanted to start the Test, get that early breakthrough and go from there and finish the day the way we did,” said Siddle. “That’s the start we wanted to show everyone how we were going to play, and 10 wickets in a day and none down at the end of it is going to be a good position.”
The England innings collapsed spectacularly with the Siddle show, sending them spinning from 197 for four to 197 for seven. Only Ian Bell, Cook and Kevin Pietersen, yet again fleetingly, offered any great resistance on an easy playing pitch. Bell put a fighting display of 76 off 131 balls while Cook occupied the crease for nearly five hours for his 67 off 168 balls with six fours, and Pietersen got another start only to throw it away on 43. Pietersen went on the front foot to drive, only to get an edge off Siddle to find Ricky Ponting at slip.
England have not won the Brisbane Test since Mike Gatting’s team won by seven wickets in 1987.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2010.
Peter Siddle took a hat-trick and career-best Test figures to bowl Australia into a commanding position against England on the opening day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Siddle sent England reeling with the first Ashes hat-trick in 11 years, as he captured six for 54, to help dismiss the tourists for 260. At close, Australia had negotiated seven overs in fading light to be 25 without loss and trail England by 235 runs, with Shane Watson on nine and Simon Katich on 15.
The Test exploded into life in Siddle’s 12th over late in the day when he dismissed Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad with consecutive deliveries to rip the heart out of the England innings after skipper Andrew Strauss had won the toss.
It was the 11th time an Australian bowler has captured a Test hat-trick and the first in an Ashes encounter by either side since 1999, and came as Siddle marked his 26th birthday.
“That’s how we wanted to start the Test, get that early breakthrough and go from there and finish the day the way we did,” said Siddle. “That’s the start we wanted to show everyone how we were going to play, and 10 wickets in a day and none down at the end of it is going to be a good position.”
The England innings collapsed spectacularly with the Siddle show, sending them spinning from 197 for four to 197 for seven. Only Ian Bell, Cook and Kevin Pietersen, yet again fleetingly, offered any great resistance on an easy playing pitch. Bell put a fighting display of 76 off 131 balls while Cook occupied the crease for nearly five hours for his 67 off 168 balls with six fours, and Pietersen got another start only to throw it away on 43. Pietersen went on the front foot to drive, only to get an edge off Siddle to find Ricky Ponting at slip.
England have not won the Brisbane Test since Mike Gatting’s team won by seven wickets in 1987.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2010.