Matt Prior hurtled England into a winning position in the second npower Ashes Test and then backed the bowlers to finish the job
Matt Prior hurtled England into a winning position in the second npower Ashes Test and then backed the bowlers to finish the job.
ADVERTISEMENT
Prior's scintillating innings of 61, off just 42 deliveries, was the catalyst for an evening session which reaped 181 runs in just over 30 overs.
When rain swept in to confirm an early close England had therefore piled up 311 for six, an overall advantage of 521 over Australia, and now have two days to complete victory.
Earlier in the day, captain Andrew Strauss opted not to enforce the follow-on after securing a massive first-innings lead.
"We are very confident," said Prior, despite England's recent failures to close the deal in Tests against Sri Lanka and South Africa at the same ground.
"In the first innings we bowled them out for 215 and the wicket is the same wicket.
"We certainly have the firepower and the skill in the changing room to do the job.
"We are in a great position and it is up to us to push home. We are all very determined not to let this slip.
"We fought hard. You talk about putting your foot on someone's throat and not letting go - we've done that very well.
"They threw punches back, like any Australian team does, but we managed to cushion those blows and came back even harder."
England contemplated an evening declaration only for the weather to scupper their plans.
They are yet to decide what to do on the fourth morning but there is such a long time left in the contest that an immediate pull-out, and fair weather, would technically open up the chance of Australian victory despite history books showing the best-ever Test chase being 418 by West Indies against Australia in 2002-03.
Asked if England could now not be defeated, Prior replied: "Famous last words.
"This is a funny game and everyone has seen and played enough cricket to know that is never the case.
"We have played great cricket for three days and we deserve to be in the position we are in.
"The worst thing we can do is be complacent. There is no space for that in international sport, let alone an Ashes series. We have seen funnier things happen."
Prior dominated a fifth-wicket stand with Paul Collingwood, who also hit a half-century, and the pair ran their opponents ragged after each of the top four failed to build on starts.
"The idea was to start solidly and then push on," Prior revealed. "Not necessarily boundary hitting but running ones and twos hard.
"There were some tired legs out there, so we tried to pressurise the fielders and capitalise on that as much as possible. It was upping the ante without being reckless."
In contrast to Prior, whose 50 rattled up in just 37 balls, Kevin Pietersen hit an uncharacteristic 44 in two and a half hours.
England's star batsman is struggling with back and Achilles pain and must be some kind of doubt for the third Test at Edgbaston.
He will have a week of rest in between, however, and England are intent on treating him through the pain.
"There is something there but it is being managed day to day and there is no more you can do about it," said Prior.
Prior was the protagonist in England taking 16 runs off one over from Nathan Hauritz, who earlier claimed the first three wickets to fall despite dislocating a finger 48 hours earlier.
Having toiled on a good batting surface, Hauritz is retaining positive vibes.
"We definitely can win this," he said. "We batted last week and scored over 600 in Cardiff.
"We obviously didn't bat as well as we'd have liked in the first innings but whatever it takes, we're going to have almost two days of batting.
"We need a positive outlook and back our ability, that's what we have to do.
"Batting for two days on a fourth and fifth day wicket is going to be extremely tough but that's the reason you play Test cricket for your country.
"It's not meant to be easy and we just have to stay positive about it."
Hauritz did not experience great discomfort from his finger injury but remained sore about his claimed catch at mid-on from a mishit pull by Ravi Bopara which was over-ruled.
"Today surprisingly there wasn't much problem at all," Hauritz said.
"I definitely would not have been able to bowl yesterday and I have iced it for the last two nights.
"The hardest thing today was just spreading the fingers around the ball because the middle finger takes most of the pressure."
Of the diving claim at mid-on, he added: "I thought I caught it straight away.
"Rudi Koertzen referred it and said it was inconclusive. I didn't see it, but I didn't hear it hit the ground, which is why I thought I'd caught it."
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
