England captain Andrew Strauss insisted he had ”unfinished business” with Australia despite scoring 161 not out on the first day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Thursday.
Strauss, on his Middlesex home ground, made the most of some typically good batting conditions after winning the toss as England, with the series still level at 0-0 after last week’s drawn opener in Cardiff, went in search of a first Test win over Australia at Lord’s in 75 years.
But England, who had been 196 without loss after Strauss and fellow left-hander Alastair Cook (95) against a wayward Australia attack, let their advantage slip and finished the day on 364-6.
”I enjoyed the partnership with Cookie, we got into the ascendancy but they came back well in the final session,” Strauss told reporters. ”It was a good day for England but a better day for me.”
Asked how this innings compared to any of his other 18 Test hundreds, the 32-year-old Strauss said: ”It’s right up there. It’s very special. Hopefully, I can go on, I feel I’ve got unfinished business.”
England’s collapse evoked memories of their performance in Cardiff when a first innings total of 435 was put into sharp relief by Australia’s 674-6 declared in reply.
But Strauss said: ”There are slightly more wicket-taking opportunities here than at Cardiff, If we can get up to 450-odd tomorrow [Friday], we will be in a good position in game, but we will have to bowl better than at Cardiff.
”We’ll only know [how good England’s total is] after the Aussies have had their first innings. But we can’t be satisfied with where we are. We will have to push on tomorrow.”
Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson, the spearhead of a four-man attack, conceded 77 runs in his first 11 overs as he struggled for line and length in what was for him, as it was for all of Australia’s bowlers, a first Test at Lord’s, where an eight foot slope runs across the ground.
By stumps though the paceman had taken two wickets, albeit at a cost of 107 runs in 19 overs.
”In Test cricket, when you feel a guy is little bit down, you’ve got to take advantage,” said Strauss. ”Mitchell Johnson’s bowled a lot of good overs recently. We expect him to come back.”
Strauss had been averaging nearly fifty in Test cricket during the last year and, after taking over as England captain from Kevin Pietersen, scored three centuries in his first series as full-time skipper in the West Indies.
”As a captain, you don’t want to be scratching around for runs,” Strauss said. ”That adds to the pressure and there’s enough pressure.”
Strauss gave only one half chance during his innings when on 52, he hit a low and powerful drive back at Nathan Hauritz. Such was the force of the impact the off-spinner dislocated a finger on his right, bowling hand and had to leave the field.
”I hit the ball pretty well and he just walked straight off,” Strauss recalled. ”It was a bit of luck for me, bad luck for him.”
Australia wicket-keeper Brad Haddin had a torrid time behind the stumps early on and conceded 15 byes.
”At none for 200, it was a pretty poor start. Maybe the occassion got to us, I know I personally I tensed up,” said Haddin.
”But late in the day we got into a rhythm late and relaxed more into our work. It was pleasing to get those six wickets.
”I was trying to do things perfectly rather than watch the ball.
”It’s just the pressure you put on yourself here, it’s similar to the [Melbourne] Boxing Day Test in Australia.”
Turning to Strauss, who batted all day, Haddin added: ”He played well, dug in and went big on a pretty good batting surface. Once you get in, you’ve got to go large and he played a very good captain’s knock.”
During the course of his innings Strauss, who scored a century on debut at Lord’s five years ago, went to 5 000 runs in Test cricket.
But he said the milestone was of little significance when compared to the record of Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
”When you look at Ricky Ponting scoring more than 11 000 runs, 5 000 feels like you are just out of nappies.” — AFP
