Lead of 150 may be enough, says McGrath
CricInfo - 20 July 2001
Glenn McGrath, who knocked the stuffing out of the England batting with his five-wicket haul, reckons if Australia can build a first innings lead of 150 they may not have to bat again.
The paceman accounted for the wickets of Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Craig White in rapid succession yesterday morning - and he is confident the tourists' pace attack can do the same second time around.
He said: "It's a big buzz to get five wickets here. It's the home of
cricket and to get your name up on the honours board in the dressing room is
still everyone's aim.
"I tried to remain patient, keep the ball in the right area, keep my arm high
to get the extra bounce and it worked pretty well.
"If you look at the way it went in the First Test and this innings, England
have got off to a fairly good start, then the wickets have tended to fall. As
soon as we find our rhythm and length, things start to happen.
"A lead would of 150 would be brilliant out there and we may not have to bat
again. If we can get 100-plus ahead it puts so much pressure back on England."
It was also a special day for Mark Waugh who scored a wonderful century, nine years after he had missed out on the three-figure mark at Lord's by one run.
Waugh said: "In 1993 I made 99, so it was good today to take that extra
step. To make a hundred at Lord's is something special. Going towards the century, I probably played worse than I had all day. I was thinking about the hundred and I guess the nervous 90s is aptly named.
"I was disappointed to get out the way I did. As soon as you get near a
hundred the opposition lifts a bit, the pace was greater and they started to hit
the deck pretty hard.
"I felt good today. I batted as well as I have done for quite a while. They came at me hard early on and I got through that and just hit the gaps.
"I thought they probably bowled a bit short, a bit straight on occasions. There's a little bit of uneven bounce on a length at each end and they
probably didn't exploit that as much as they liked.
"They certainly ran in all day and gave it their best. They've been planning against each batsmen, and that's the area they think they should bowl to us.
"If you hit the right length and keep pressure on the batsmen it's always
harder."
Andrew Caddick, who struck in his first over and finished with the wickets of both openers, said: "We've got the new ball coming up in 12 overs and that could be a key. If we can knock over two or three, we'll be back in it. They are only 68 runs ahead, so we can do some damage in the morning.
"It's going to need a very good batting performance in the second dig and a
very positive bowling performance after that.
"At 24-2 things were looking quite promising. It could easily have been
another 50-4 if we'd taken our chances.
"The Waugh brothers are very experienced players and know how to rebuild a
Test innings and they did it again today.
"Mark Waugh played very well. We had a game plan on how to bowl to him and he
just tossed that game plan out of the window.
"I ran in as quick as I could and banged to hell out of that pitch and it
didn't do as much as they did.
"They bowled on a moist wicket and it nipped around. We've banged it in the
right areas; you couldn't asked more for more from the bowlers."
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