Ashes 2013: 1st Test, Day 3 - Heroes of the Day

England survived a torrid bowling spell from Australia towards the end of the second day’s play, but today completely belonged to their batsmen. After a strong partnership between skipper Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen, the home side suffered a mini-collapse, before recovering through another strong stand for the seventh wicket. Under good batting conditions, England’s lead has now stretched to 261, and Australia will be hard-pressed to chase it down.

Here are some of the Heroes of the Day:

Alastair Cook (50 runs off 165 balls – 6 fours)

After being dismissed for 13 in the first innings, Captain Cook (no reference to the salt) was determined to play for as long as possible and score as many runs as needed by his team. He brought up his first half-century of the series  in a partnership of 110 with the swashbuckling Kevin Pietersen, before left-arm spinner Ashton Agar claimed him as his maiden Test wicket with a delivery that pitched full on off and went straight on, inducing an edge that was cleverly pouched by his opposite number Clarke. The 110-run stand between the two batsmen laid the foundation for Ian Bell to build another mountain of runs and thus inflict more misery on the Aussies.

Kevin Pietersen (64 runs off 150 balls – 12 fours)

He faced lesser deliveries than his captain, but England’s most high-profile batsman hit twice the number of boundaries. KP dished out a lovely performance with the bat as he went after the Australian bowling with vengeance. Those powerful back-foot drives against the luckless James Pattinson and the workman-like Peter Siddle were vintage Pietersen, as he raced away to yet another half-century in Test cricket. He also used his feet well against the left-arm spin of Agar and scored boundaries off him with ease. Just when he was looking set to score a hundred, he played a rank poor stroke to a short-of-length ball from Pattinson that crashed into his stumps. Great stuff from KP!

Ian Bell (95 n.o. off 228 balls – 12 fours)

The Coventry lad played an exceptionally mature innings as he went about his job of scoring runs and keeping the Aussie bowlers at bay. Coming in at the fall of Pietersen’s wicket, Bell was involved in two crucial partnerships – 43 with Jonny Bairstow and 44 with wicket-keeper Matt Prior. He later combined well with Stuart Broad to add an undefeated 108 for the seventh wicket. Mixing caution with aggression, Bell employed a sound technique to thwart the bowling attack – even their most consistent bowler Siddle was unable to remove the rock-solid No.5 batsman. He looks set to score yet another century in Tests tomorrow, and the longer he stays at the crease, the brighter England’s chances are of winning the game. The crowd at Trent Bridge must have got their money’s worth, having witnessed a sublime innings from “Belly”.

Stuart Broad (47 n.o. off 122 balls – 5 fours)

The lanky hometown hero played a typical stodgy innings down the order as he combined well with Ian Bell to keep the Australian bowlers and fielders on their toes all the time. He did manage to hit a few boundaries as he’s a capable bat, but an umpiring howler from Aleem Dar saved his wicket, enabling him to carry on the fight tomorrow. Nevertheless, if Broad manages to score some more runs and stick around with Bell for a while, it will do his confidence a lot of good – England need him to fire as a bowler during Australia’s chase.

The wicket has eased out considerably, but there is still something in it for the bowlers. Day 4 looks to be equally promising, provided the Broad-Bell partnership holds out for most of the first two sessions. Australia bowled reasonably well today but couldn’t take out the entrenched Bell, who is looking good for another hundred. There’s still a lot of exciting cricket in store – so over to Day 4 it is.