UFO Info Week-End

Just as Hollioake was beginning to induce misty eyes and extravagant comparisons Reiffel made one lift a fraction and Mark Waugh

Just as Hollioake was beginning to induce misty eyes and extravagant comparisons, Reiffel made one lift a fraction and Mark Waugh took a straightforward catch above his head. At times, McGrath ended his exaggerated follow-through within eyeballing distance of his foe, forgetting that Hollioake was schooled in the art of confrontation during his two-year spell at Wesley College in Perth.It was too good to last, of course. Hollioake stood bat slightly raised, balance near perfect and, for 56 minutes either side of lunch, lifted the yoke with the innocent crispness of his strokeplay.Of his five fours, none required more than a few paces down the wicket for the batsman nor the semblance of a chase by any fielder The joust with Glenn McGrath was a drama all of its own. His arrival at the wicket, crossing with his brother on the steps, was arrogantly sedate, his opening defensive strokes equally unhurried.At the end of his run, McGrath was pawing the ground in anticipation of some ego-denting. For the second Test he had committed the cardinal sin of failing to consolidate after the loss of a wicket and his slow trudge back to the pavilion revealed his anguish.But if Ben Hollioake was rattled by this torrid introduction to Test cricket or the advent of the new ball, little in his manner betrayed fear. Only Allan Border, with 155, has more.The following over Thorpe too was gone, lured forward once too often by Warne. Hollioake was the first victim, pushing at Paul Reiffel and giving Taylor his 122nd catch in Test cricket – a beauty given that Mark Waugh dived across his line.

Badly dropped on 31 by Steve Waugh in the gully, Thorpe responded with a trade-mark cross-bat whack backward of square. With Warne’s first spell safely negotiated, the follow- on erased and the 100 partnership posted with a stirring six, England seemed to have reached a plateau.But two wickets in five balls forced a regroup. Anything overpitched was driven soundly through the covers, anything short swept cheekily or cut with authority.Survival remained Thorpe’s main objective. It did not conform to Atherton’s style and an emphatic denial was duly forthcoming. But the Jeremiahs did not rule out the possibility of an innings defeat and a resignation by sundown.Wisely, given his impression of a sleepwalker on Friday evening, Graham Thorpe left Warne to his Surrey team-mate, Adam Hollioake.

Hitting against the spin, as Stewart had done so gloriously, was not the recipe for a long life; Hollioake played more circumspectly, but with as much assurance as any England batsman in the series. It is difficult playing catch-up against the world champions.By close, Australia led by 281 runs and a phantom trumpeter in the bleachers had blown the Last Post. In fact, the tabloids had done that for Mike Atherton at daybreak with the news that the England captain offered to relinquish his badge before this Test. All that is left is another theoretical chase for victory and two more days of hard labour to force a draw. Since Edgbaston, England have faced deficits of 136, 73, 329 and, yesterday, 114. But the reality, rammed home by the consistency of their batting – six Australian batsmen have made fifties – and in the discipline of their bowling yesterday, is that Australia have a higher cruising speed.No one could fault England’s effort, but by the end of another stifling, tough day of Test cricket, Mark Taylor and Greg Blewett had eased the game out of sight.