Woeful England put to the sword by Siddle

David Lloyd
07.08.09

Keep the champagne on ice and reach for the panic button instead. England plunged into desperate trouble at Headingley today as Australia ripped through their fragile looking batting line-up.

Shock No1 came shortly before 5am, when Andrew Strauss's men were woken from their slumbers by a fire alarm.

But that was just the first rude awakening for a team who had been dreaming of Ashes glory in Leeds.

Already missing the injured Kevin Pietersen and then rocked by confirmation of Andrew Flintoff's absence because of that chronic knee problem, Strauss and Co were further rattled when keeper Matt Prior only just made the starting line-up after suffering a back spasm while playing football this morning.

Prior recovered sufficiently to top score. Trouble is, he was left stranded on 37, only Alastair Cook (30) and Extras (17) joined him in double figures and England - having won the toss -were dismissed for a humiliating 102, their lowest first-innings total against the Australians in Leeds, with Peter Siddle taking five for 21.

And so it begins: Marcus North pulls off a superb reflex catch

A combination of poor batting and intelligent bowling was responsible for the startling collapse which filled Australia with hope that they could level the series this weekend.

And then, despite seeing Steve Harmison mark his first appearance of the series by having Simon Katich caught at short backward square leg for a duck, England failed to give the new ball a chance to swing.

Jimmy Anderson was clobbered for 20 runs in three poor overs before Graham Onions dropped short and was pulled for six by Ricky Ponting as the Aussies raced to 69 for one.

The visitors had wanted to bat first, too. But, having picked an all-pace attack, they struck gold on a regular basis by pitching the ball up instead of banging it at a ground where swing is king.

So much for the Headingley crowd ripping into the Aussies. Most home fans sat stony-faced as wickets tumbled.

About the only thing England got away with was Prior's unnecessary injury and a first-ball lbw appeal against Strauss, which somehow did not go in Ben Hilfenhaus's favour.

Any feelings of despondency in the Baggy Green camp at their misfortune soon turned to joy, however, as first Strauss and then Ravi Bopara perished to the new ball.

Siddle's 12th delivery was full and wide, inviting Strauss to drive.

The left-hander could not resist and probably thought he had got away with a thickish outside edge until Marcus North stuck out his right hand at third slip to hold a stunning catch.

Ponting had talked about trying to get into England middle order early, something they failed to do at both Lord's and Edgbaston. And when 11 for one became 16 for two, his wish was well and truly granted.

Strauss and coach Andy Flower insist Bopara has what it takes to be a Test No3.

The evidence against that idea is mounting, however, and here he took his series aggregate to just 105 runs in six innings before giving it away again.

True, Hilfenhaus extracted a bit of extra bounce. But an attempted back foot defensive stroke that was played with a crooked bat brought only a simple catch to gully.

Now the Aussies were whooping and hollering with delight, and who could blame them?

Cook tried to dampen their enthusiasm, but no-one else gave home supporters much confidence.

Ian Bell did manage to drive a boundary through the covers.

But on came Mitchell Johnson to ruffle his feathers - and flick his glove - with a cracking, chest-high bouncer that the batsman could not sway away from.

All it needed then, from an Australian viewpoint, was for fourth the seamer, Clark, to strike gold. And, soon enough, he did.

The man who took 26 English wickets at 17 runs apiece during the 2006-7 whitewash has not been able to get a game this series - until now.

Here, he quickly settled into a challenging line and length, then made a ball swing away just enough for Paul Collingwood to snick to second slip.

If Prior had hoped to spend the day resting his back in the pavilion, he was sorely disappointed.

The keeper walked out to bat half an hour before lunch and, minutes later, was watching England tumble into a full blown crisis.

Cook, having battled away for 100 minutes while reaching 30, pushed down the line at Clark but succeeded only into edging to first slip.

That meant the appearance of Stuart Broad at No7, but the Notts youngster soon turned Clark into the hands of short leg.

It took Australia handful of overs to get going again after lunch. Siddle, though, was only warming up - and he polished off England's last four wickets in the space of 14 deliveries.

Graeme Swann nicked to first slip, Harmison and Anderson were caught behind off outside edge and glove respectively and then Onions was snapped up at short leg, albeit off his armguard rather than his glove.