A new day, a new pain for Australians

Australia's suffering, while far from complete, is becoming deeper than they can possibly have imagined. As if England present were not enough for them to handle, the tourists were confronted yesterday by the daunting sight of England future.

It was a horrible preparation for a critical Test match that is four days away and threatens to alter the course of players' careers and lives. Being Australians, they will probably see it as something to learn from, but their mugging up will have to be quick and intense.

A toothless attack on an equally benign pitch was treated disdainfully by the 20-year-old Alastair Cook, who made a double century and shared partnerships of 140 for the first wicket and 270 for the second. There was a hundred too for Ravinder Bopara, who is also 20.

Never can two players of such tender years have made Australia look quite so ordinary. The previous evening Cook had been made the Young Player of the Year by the Cricket Writers' Club, and gave the briefest, though perfectly polite, thank-you speech.

Presumably he had decided to let his batting do the talking. It could hardly have been more loquaciously articulate. In just over five-and-a-half hours of batting, he made only one obviously false shot when he edged Michael Kasprowicz in the gaping gap between first and second slips.

It may or not have any bearing on the course of the decisive Test match at The Oval on Thursday, but it cannot have been what Australia required. They would have wanted to win the toss and batted; they lost, and there was no question of letting them have a hit.

Since modern sporting teams feed on the positives in any situation, no matter how dire, they will take consolation from the fact that neither of their champion bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, were playing. McGrath's strained elbow is continuing to improve and he could be ready to take his place in the Test side.

How the tourists need him, for comfort as well as his bowling. It should not matter that he will not have bowled in the middle for 17 days, because he is McGrath. But it may. By now, Australia would doubtless like to pack up their troubles in their old swag bag and smile, smile, smile. But the swag bag has not been designed that is big enough to contain them. They craved competition from the old enemy, not defeat.

It is six weeks since they won a match - the First Test at Lord's - and they do not know what the balance of their team should now be. There is a temptation to play their second leg-spinner, Stuart MacGill, on Thursday because The Oval can be banked on to take spin as it wears. But then they would almost certainly have to summon the batting all-rounder Shane Watson from Hampshire, or risk an overlong tail.

MacGill has done too little bowling, and it showed yesterday. He began with a grotesque long-hop in the 12th over of the day and continued in similar vein. He was on that early partly because Australia needed him to bowl, and partly because Cook and Will Jefferson had flayed the new ball. He was off after a mere four overs.

The second spell was much better, if hardly auspicious. This was a track much different in character from that which will greet the Australians in London. There, it is likely to be hard. But still, it is difficult to dispel the impression, for all MacGill's superb Test record of 160 wickets in 33 matches at a better strike rate than Warne's, he is not ready for a Test match. Warne may be better left to his own devices.

All the seamers went round the park. Brett Lee, whose game, competitive spirit has illuminated the summer, whistled one past Jefferson's bat with the first ball but was regularly struck to the boundary thereafter. The ground fielding was suspect throughout. At least three balls went through hands or legs, or a combination of both, to the boundary. It was all so terribly un-Australian.

Nothing, but nothing, should be taken for granted with this great, waning force, but if they do not win the toss on Thursday, thus allowing Warne to bowl in the last innings, they are likely to experience the worst feeling of their cricketing lives.

Cook's innings was splendid. Since the match is over two days it is not designated as first-class but his innings, lasting a mere 238 balls with 30 fours and a six, was first-class in every other respect. He hit shots all round the wicket and was unsparing. Bopara's hundred, which took 184 balls, was less spectacular but barely less effective.

Cook's namesake, Alistair Cook, broadcast Letter From America for half a century. This was a letter from Chelmsford, and its main message was that its author would be back, and often.