Australia keep on winning but have lost that magic touch

Ponting's team are upbeat ahead of Pakistan Test but, with one eye on the Ashes, England can also afford a smile

By Stephen Brenkley

When the old bluffer himself speaks it is time to listen. Shane Warne, who spent an entire career tormenting England by suggesting what he would do to them on behalf of Australia and then doing it, has been talking up their chances in this winter's Ashes series.

If some of his compatriots are tempted to regard this as heresy another interpretation is that Warne was actually underplaying England's ability to retain the most prized trophy in the sport. With Warne it is always difficult to be sure, with or without ball in hand.

"England are coming good and they are doing really well at the moment," said Warne. "Australia are going pretty decent too so I think the Ashes series is going to be a really close contest. But this winter is probably England's best chance to win in Australia in the last 20 years. Certainly in my time it was often the case that when they came over they'd have to play their absolute best and we'd have to play poorly for it to be a close contest. This one coming is their chance to give it a real shake."

Australia keep on winning but have lost that magic touch

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Pakistan on top after two sessions

Australia struggled to tea on one of its darkest days in Test cricket in living memory, on day one of the second match against Pakistan at Headingley.


Firstly, the Aussies were humiliated with the bat by being rolled for 88 in Leeds - the national side's worst Test total in a generation.


Then new Pakistan captain Salman Butt (38 not out) climbed into the shell-shocked Australian attack as his side marched to 0 for 64 at tea with opener Imran Farhat (20) also unbeaten.


The day was threatening to become even more disastrous than the opening day of the 1997 Ashes series at Edgbaston when Australia was dismissed for 118 with England reaching 3 for 200 by stumps.


The brilliant Pakistan swing bowling trio of Mohammad Aamer (3 for 20), Mohammad Asif (2 for 33) and Umar Gul (2 for 16) earlier used the overcast conditions to perfection, producing wicked late swing to skittle Australia in 33.1 overs.


The last time Australia posted a lower score was back in 1984, the tally of 76 coming against a rampant West Indian attack consisting of Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding on a lightning-fast WACA pitch.


It was Australia's fifth batting collapse in six Tests on English soil and the performance provided further evidence of the side's inability to cope with the swinging ball in this country.


Australia's performance also mirrored England's capitulation on the opening day of the fourth Ashes Test at this very ground last year.


Australia had come into the match with a 1-0 series lead in the two-match series and in pursuit of a record 14th straight Test win over Pakistan.


Since his fateful decision to send England in at Edgbaston in 2005, Ponting has batted first in the past 27 times that he has won the toss.


But from the outset on Wednesday, this looked like a decision he could come to regret in Leeds.


Pakistan's bowlers brilliantly exploited the swing-friendly conditions as Australia lost all 10 wickets for 68 runs following an opening stand of 20.


Left-arm paceman Aamer got the ball rolling by pinning opener Simon Katich (13) in front before Asif dismissed Shane Watson (5) eight balls later.


Gul stepped up the carnage by knocking back Michael Clarke's (3) middle stump and Asif showed that Ponting's (6) brilliant record at the ground meant little on Wednesday.


Even the normally reliable Mike Hussey (5) could not stem the flow of wickets with Gul adjudged to have trapped him in front, even if the ball might have slipped down the leg side.


Marcus North (16) looked like he was guiding Australia to lunch but medium-pacer Umar Amin had him caught behind just before the interval.


Aamer was inspired after the break, knocking over the stumps of Steve Smith (10) and Mitchell Johnson (0) with his first two balls after lunch.


He producing an excellent inswinger to Smith and followed that up with an even better delivery to Johnson that swung late and tilted back his off-stump.


Ben Hilfenhaus (3) somehow negotiated the hat-trick delivery, the tailender not good enough to get an edge on the ball as it screamed past his bat.


Hilfenhaus pushed Australia beyond its lowest Test total against Pakistan of 80 in Karachi in 1956 with a straight drive off Aamer.


But in a sign of the batting side's dirty day, he was run out going for a third soon afterwards.


Tim Paine (17) was the last man to go, trying to improvise a shot with number 11 Doug Bollinger (2 not out) at the other end.

Pakistan on top after two sessions

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Warne said-Murali's record will stand forever

Australian spin wizard Shane Warne feels that his greatest rival Muttiah  Muralitharan's world record of almost 800 Test wickets will never be beaten.

Warne admitted that he had a few problems over the legality of Muralitharan's controversial action, but said that the Sri Lankan was one of the game's great competitors.

Warne retired with 708 Test wickets and Murali, with 792 and one more match against India, has a chance to finish with 800 wickets.

Warne feels that Murali's record will stand forever.

"I don't think it will ever be broken. Even though so much more Test cricket is played these days, I think Murali's record will stand for a long, long time and probably forever," Warne was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

"You just have to work it out by numbers - for that record to be broken someone has to play 140-150 Tests and take 5-6 wickets a Test. That will take some doing."

Warne said that it was "unfortunate" the Sri Lankan had "always been dogged by drama" over his rubber-wristed action.

Warne also felt that Muralitharan was never a chucker.

"Murali's action has been passed by scientific tests... I always thought it was probably legitimate," he said.

"But because of the way he bowled, I was worried that young spinners would try to copy his action and end up bowling illegally."

Warne feels cricket will lose one of its great competitors.

"Murali simply loved bowling - he loved a challenge (and) was fantastic for the game. Sometimes he would pick my brain about different things and, although we always tried to outdo each other, we always got on well," he said.

Warne said-Murali's record will stand forever

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