Rain washes out third day's play in cricket Test
By Vic Mills
LEEDS, England (JP): Australia took its score to 373 for five, a lead over England of 201, before heavy rain during lunch and into the afternoon lead to abandonment of the remainder of the third day's play of the fourth Cornhill Test at Headingley.
The morning belonged to Australia as it continued to score at a run-a-minute. Not even the second new ball could stem the flow as the tourists, aware of the gathering clouds, looked to score as quickly as possible.
With Matthew Elliott more circumspect than the previous evening, it was left to Ricky Ponting to continue the run feast. The 22-year old Tasmanian appeared to relish the challenge as he blazed through the nervous nineties with a flurry of boundaries off the unfortunate Dean Headley.
A streaky edge through the slip cordon was followed by a sweetly timed drive through extra cover and a sublime back-foot forcing shot square of the wicket. The calmest man on the ground, Ponting brought up his maiden Test century with single to square leg off Robert Croft.
The moment was especially sweet for Ponting in that he had been cruelly robbed of a Test debut hundred 18 months ago when victim of a dubious leg before decision on 96 against Sri Lanka at the Waca Ground in Perth.
Dropped from the Australian side after the Melbourne Test against the West Indies last December, Ponting repaid the selectors' faith with a hundred in 228 minutes, off 165 balls with a six and 14 fours.
The milestone reached, he set about the beleaguered England attack with renewed vigor. With upright stance, dazzling footwork and sumptuous cover driving, there was more than a hint of Greg Chappell about his work.
His eagerness to attack should have brought his downfall on 109 when Alec Stewart missed a regulation stumping off Croft with Ponting out of his crease. The error was not to prove costly, however, as Gough enticed a hook to a short ball outside the off stump and Mark Ealham held a skier at backward point.
Ponting (127) departed to a standing ovation from the capacity 18,000 crowd, his fifth wicket partnership with Elliott, built from the perilous position of 50 to four, having added 268 in 263 minutes.
Barely had the spectators returned to their seats than England was again retrieving the ball from the boundary as Ian Healy dispatched his first delivery from Headley to the midwicket fence. As unorthodox as Elliott is correct, Healy set about the England attack as only he can and at a pace that saw no slackening of the tempo.
Watchful at the start, Elliott, too, warmed to the task. A series of princely cover drives brought up the Victorian's 150 in 357 minutes off 284 balls with 3 sixes and 18 fours.
When rain forced the players from the pitch five minutes before lunch, Elliott (164) and Healy (27) had added 55 for the sixth wicket to leave Australia 373 for five, the overall lead a healthy 201.
The ease with which the Australians compiled their runs made light of conditions that continued to offer the bowlers assistance both in the air and off the pitch. Gough made the occasional delivery climb and Headley, Ealham and Smith all swung the ball.
Of perhaps greater interest, however, was the turn and lift that off-spinner Croft was able to extract. Having switched pitches in order to blunt the threat of Shane Warne, it would be ironic if England was not required to save the game on a pitch that favored his type of bowling.