A day for Trott and toys out of the pram

The MCG

Melbourne Day 2: Australia 98, England 444 for 5. England lead by 346 runs.

This was another day which went almost entirely the way of the England team. Many moons ago I wrote of England's complete domination of the 2nd Test in Adelaide. England's lead on first innings is now remarkably similar here in Melbourne - except that it has been achieved a whole day earlier than in Adelaide. With no rain forecast for the remaining three days, this really does give England ample time to complete the win that would see them retain the Ashes.

Australia started the day with renewed intent after a (richly deserved) pasting in the national media. Local hero Peter Siddle bowled beautifully to remove both England openers without significant addition to their overnight score, then returned later to dismiss Kevin Pietersen just after he had reached a patient fifty. He even added two fine outfield catches from carelessly played hook shots by Collingwood and Bell - so far the only England batsmen not to reach fifty.

Had Mitchell Johnson not marginally overstepped the no-ball line when persuading Matt Prior to edge a catch at the start of his innings, England's lead may yet have been restricted to 200-250. As it is, Prior and the outstanding Jonathan Trott took full advantage to extend England's lead by the close to a huge 346 runs with five wickets left standing. Trott's hundred was greeted with chants of "easy easy" from certain England fans, but in fact batting was far from easy under the variable cloud cover of the first two sessions and required considerable skill and application to survive - qualities lacking from England's batting in Perth (and certainly from Australia's pitiful performance yesterday) but shown in abundance by Trott throughout the day.

A reprise of the Australian first innings on Day 1

Much of the media comment here tonight is focusing on Ricky Ponting's childish outburst after an appeal for a catch behind against Kevin Pietersen was firstly rejected by the on-field umpire, then again by the third umpire based on the complete lack of any TV evidence of contact with KP's bat. The toys really did come out of the pram. Completely disgraceful behaviour by a man as experienced and respected as Ponting - clearly it is no longer just his little finger which is cracking under pressure.

Tomorrow, I predict that England will bat on until they either reach 600 or are all out. Australia should then fare much better second time round on a wicket which is flattening out in increasingly warm and sunny conditions, ensuring that the game is taken into a fourth day. But as in Adelaide, expect England to keep chipping away, with Graeme Swann likely to take over from the quicks as the key man.