da bet7： Stuart Clark was surprisingly under-used by RickyPonting after he had England limping in the firstsession with two early blows
Peter English at Adelaide01-Dec-2006
Stuart Clark grabbed two wickets and was disappointed not to have been used more © Getty Images
Stuart Clark was surprisingly under-used by RickyPonting after he had England limping in the firstsession with two early blows. Having taken sevenwickets in the first Test, Clark followed up withanother strong performance that began with himremoving the openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.While Brett Lee struggled for penetration and GlennMcGrath battled with his left-heel injury, Clarkprovided some zip on a slow Adelaide pitch and wasrewarded during an opening spell of 2 for 15 off eightovers. Clark forced Strauss to pop to Damien Martyn,who took a sharp catch at mid-on, and then capturedCook’s edge as he tried a push to cover.Despite Clark’s early dominance, he was sent to theoutfield for much of the rest of the day as ShaneWarne was heavily relied on and Lee and McGrath werepreferred. Clark came back for a 12-ball spell tofinish the day and ended with 2 for 25 from 15.”You’re very disappointed when you’re not bowling,” hesaid. “You can’t bowl them out when you’re standing atfine leg and it does get a bit boring down there attimes. Ricky went down a different path and he had afew ideas in mind and I’m sure I’ll get anotherchance.”McGrath passed a fitness test this morning and trottedout one of his favourite lines to Clark. “He said hewas 100% and never felt better, so you can only takehis word and go for it,” he said. After watching histeam-mate return 0 for 51, Clark said McGrath’s footwas fine and his fitness was not an issue.Australia eased off after lunch as Ian Bell, KevinPietersen and Paul Collingwood added half-centuriesthat squeezed England to 3 for 266. “If they got 350we would have had a bad day,” Clark said. “We kept itnice and tight but they probably got away from us abit in the last session. If you stick two wicketsearly on that score and bowl them out for 250 or 270we’re right back in the game and almost on top.”Collingwood can expect some extra attention when heresumes on 98. Clark said the batsman would”definitely” be targeted, especially after his nearmiss at the Gabba. “Batters get tense around thatfigure,” he said. “He got a bit tense in Brisbane.Hopefully we’ll go there in the morning and keep himout there for a couple of overs and get him out.”