Melbourne Test, Day 2
Friday, December 27, 2002

That was a good day's Test cricket. The Australians batted very well, although they did declare a little bit earlier than I thought. I guess they judged that the wicket is still very good, and that they will need more time to bowl England out twice, hence the 34 overs of bowling after tea today.

England's batting wasn't bad, either, although they were a bit inconsistent in what to attack. They were doing the right thing - trying to hit the bad balls - but there wasn't that air of dominance that the Australians had.

There were a few strange decisions out there. In the umpires' defence I know how noisy it gets out in the middle here when the crowd gets going - you can hardly hear a thing. But Butcher got a shocker, that was a big inside-edge, and then Dawson was plumb lbw and not given.

And Hussain got away with a couple, I think. The TV close-ups suggested there was a bit of hand or handle in that one that went through to Gilchrist, and all cricket logic suggests that the catch by Gillespie at mid-on was out too. The umpire had the best view in the house - but they're too scared to make decisions these days in case they are proved wrong. With that one the more you looked at it - or the slower you played the replays, actually - the more it looked dodgy.

I've said it before but I'd prefer a third light - a white one - if the TV umpire can't decide. That would refer the decision back to the onfield umpires, and they'd know that they couldn't be proved wrong, and they could go on gut instinct. We have that system in rugby league here, and it works pretty well.

Anyway, up in the commentary box we think Nasser has had seven decisions go his way in this series - three at Brisbane, two at Adelaide and those two here. Just remember that when the old tour diaries start coming out and you read about how England were hard done by! It just shows how things go around. When he first became captain Nasser got some shockers, and even before that he would get out to shooters and all sorts of unplayable balls. But it evens itself out in the end.

I was disappointed that Steve Waugh got out when he did, I'd have liked to see him get a few more and equal Bradman's 29 Test centuries here. Langer plugged away and did really well after Waugh was out - he took all the pressure off Martin Love and allowed him to play himself in. I know Martin well, and he was never going to look out of place in the Test arena. He makes cricket look easy - there's a touch of Mark Waugh there, in that he can sometimes make it look too easy and get criticised when he gets out. But he does have a better record than Mark for going on to big hundreds and 200s.

Finally that was a fabulous spell from Brett Lee. He got magnificent pace and rhythm, and got the crowd buzzing.

It will be a hard slog for the batsmen tomorrow. The Australian attack has such variety that you have to think that England will struggle to get close. That' one huge difference between the sides here - England's attack is one of the least-equipped I've seen in a Test. Harmison bowled all right - a bit short perhaps, but he stuck at it. But any attack with Craig White as the third seamer, with only a young spinner behind him, is going to struggle to bowl sides out.

Ian Healy, who kept wicket for Australia in six winning Ashes series, will be providing his Expert View at the end of each day's play in the Tests. He was talking to Steven Lynch.

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