After a miserable Champions Trophy tournament, the disgraceful off-pitch behaviour of David Warner and the hasty replacement of Mickey Arthur as coach by Darren Lehmann, Michael Clarke's men must have been relieved to get back to playing first-class cricket this week. Taunton often plays the role of warm-up venue for tourists and to their credit, Somerset have fielded most of their first eleven to give the Aussies a bit of a test in advance of the Ashes series.
For much of Wednesday, the county must have wished all their innings came against the Australian bowling attack. Nick Compton showed the selectors what he could do, stroking 13 boundaries in his 81 while Chris Jones enjoyed his elevation to the top rank by reaching an effortless maiden century. I peeked through the Garner Gates for a few overs, and neither Pattinson nor Lyon seemed able to stem the flow of runs. James Hildreth joined in the fun and Lehmann must have held his head in hands with Somerset breezing along at 304-2. However, suddenly the tap was shut off and the home team suffered a collapse almost Essex-esque! Eight wickets fell in eight overs for 16 runs, including five successive ducks, as Mitch Starc and Pattinson bowled and struck the pads with stunning frequency and accuracy.
The second morning saw Shane Watson in sparkling form, advancing smartly towards a hundred. He'd creamed 20 boundaries before he pushed Overton to Trego on 90. Cowan was the only failure in that first innings, although Phil Hughes scored the only other half-century. Despite facing George Dockrill, Hughes seemed comfortable against spin and the ouoting will have done him a lot of good. When Somerset batted again, only James Hildreth and a typically aggressive 60 from Peter Trego gave the bowlers some tough treatment, leaving the tourists 260 to win. On most pitches that could be a troublesome target but this is Taunton and this is a less than scary Somerset attack.
Cowan and Khawaja need to play themselves into real contention for the Test side, while Clarke will want to find his old form after his injury lay-off. Of the bowlers, Peter Siddle again struggled for rhythm and his only wicket was that of number ten Jamie Overton. The Australians have a second county warm-up at Worcester next week but sadly they look one of the weakest green baggy squads I can remember for a long time. With no Hussey, Ponting or even Mitchell Johnson, the look surprisingly ordinary. The ludicrous non-selection for Tests of David Hussey remains one of the most ridiculous decisions by any country in the past decade, and he (and Chris Rogers) are clearly better than the current top order. If they're good enough, they're young enough. Cricket Australia may regret it come the end of summer.
