Clarke and North push Australia ahead

Michael Clarke is destined to follow Ricky Ponting as captain of Australia and he took the lead of the current skipper on the third day in Cardiff to guide the visitors ahead by 44 runs. Clarke and Marcus North added 143 for the fifth wicket after England had threatened a fightback during the morning session, but any hope the home side had of remaining on level terms was remorselessly pounded into the Welsh dust.

Clarke appeared set to become the third century-maker of the innings before gloving a pull off Stuart Broad, during the first period of Test cricket in England and Wales played under floodlights, after the players returned following a two-hour rain break. More wet weather is forecast for Saturday and could yet have a major say in the route and outcome of this match. However, the more time that is lost means makes Australia the only side that can take a positive result from this opening encounter.

Ponting and Katich carried their second-wicket partnership to 239 before Katich fell for 122 and when Ponting dragged Monty Panesar into his stumps for 150 Australia were still more than 100 behind. England harboured hopes of first-innings parity, but they couldn't break through during the afternoon session as the attack laboured on a surface that made the five-man unit appear unthreatening.

Clarke is Ponting's heir apparent in so many ways and his innings bore many similarities with that of his captain. There was a swiftness of footwork against the spinners and conviction of strokeplay especially with his driving. He lofted Panesar straight over long-off for six and brought up his half century from 100 balls when he drove the Graeme Swann past mid-off before repeating the dose from the next delivery.

North settled into his first Ashes innings and the talk of his uncertain early-tour form now seems a long time ago. Buoyed by the 191 he made against England Lions last week he watchfully negotiated the early part of his stay before expanding his range. He slog-swept the spinners through and over the leg side and when they tried to go wider outside off he cut through the covers.

Top Curve
Prime Numbers

*

13
The number of scores of 150 or more for Ricky Ponting in Tests, which puts him in fifth place. Brian Lara leads the way with 19 such scores.
*

4
Number of centuries Ponting has scored against England when leading the team. Among Australians, only Allan Border (5) and Don Bradman (10) have scored more hundreds as captains.
*

239
The number of runs added by Ponting and Katich. It's Australia's fourth-highest for the second wicket in Tests in England.
*

39.64
Michael Clarke's average in overseas Tests. At home he averages 58.70.
*

7
The number of times in England that Australia's fifth wicket has added more than the 143 that Michael Clarke and Marcus North put together.

Bottom Curve

Clarke took Australia into the lead with a meaty pull off Flintoff and North reached his half-century from 107 balls. Apart from when the ball was new England's attack posed little threat with Broad leaking runs at more than four-an-over and the spinners unable to build sustained pressure. At least Broad's mood brighten in the evening gloom when he enticed Clarke into a pull that brushed the glove, two overs before the players were off again, but it was another concerning day of hard toil for the home attack.

There were nine overs until the second new ball when play began and if Andrew Strauss was in any doubt whether to take it his mind was soon made up as Panesar and Swann leaked boundaries. Ponting's swift footwork created scoring opportunities against Panesar who had a tendency to bowl too short, while Swann continued to pitch too full with two full tosses racing to the boundary.

The harder ball immediately provided more of a threat although it also raced off the bat as Ponting drove supremely through cover. Finally, after 70 overs, England found a way through as Anderson speared in a yorker at Katich and most importantly for the bowler the ball swung late to end a superb display of concentration and application.

The intensity lifted as Flintoff steamed in and struck Michael Hussey on the helmet, while Anderson was now moving the ball in both directions. Anderson's second scalp came with another full delivery which lured Hussey into a flat-footed drive and Matt Prior took a low catch. England now had the advantage of bowling at two right-handers and Anderson gave Clarke's technique an early probing, but until the 2005 version he withstood the test impressively.

Ponting was continuing along his classy path, only occasionally being discomforted by Anderson's late swing and a beauty from Flintoff that beat the outside edge, although he did top-edge a six over Panesar at long-leg as went to 150 from 221 deliveries.

With the ball still hard Panesar was recalled for another spell and the move paid off handsomely when Ponting got a bottom edge into the stumps. He had played so solidly that it was almost a shock to see him walking back, but it was far from the end of England's problems.

Hughes asks Waugh for Ashes advice

Twenty years ago the England attack was dismantled by a young Australian batsman who was a key figure in the Ashes returning to Australian hands and staying there for a decade and a half. Steve Waugh came of age on the 1989 trip to England and this month he has been handing out advice to another young man who Australia hope can do a similar job on this year's tour:

By the time the 1989 Ashes came around, Waugh, 24, was already a veteran of 26 Tests but hadn't scored a century. He made up for it by pillaging 393 runs before England managed to dismiss him for the first time. There is some argument that Hughes, 20, has already come of age at Test level despite his career being only three matches old.

In his second Test, in Durban, he became the youngest player in history to score two centuries in a Test, knocking off George Headley's 79-year-old record in the process. But facing quality swing bowlers in English conditions will be a vastly different challenge and Hughes is therefore thrilled to be flying out on Wednesday to start a six-week stint with Middlesex.

"It will be a lot different, I haven't played in those conditions before," Hughes told Cricinfo this week. "We sat down a little while ago and had to decide between playing in the IPL or going to England. There's three forms of the game and we had to decide which way to go. I haven't played an Ashes before so with that coming up this was definitely the way to go."

Declining the chance for piles of money in the IPL was a mature decision for someone barely out of his teens but he had already displayed his level-headedness in his two seasons with New South Wales. He was so productive this summer that he won the Steve Waugh Medal in March as the state's best player despite missing the final six weeks due to his Australia call-up.

It was another trophy for Hughes to add to an already bulging cabinet after he collected the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year Award in February. But the New South Wales awards ceremony gave him an extra bonus - the chance to speak to the man whose medal he won, a player who toured England four times for an average of 74.22.

"At the Steve Waugh night I spoke to Steve Waugh about England," Hughes said. "Definitely before I go there I'll be getting around and talking to a few guys like Justin Langer and guys that've had success in all the conditions all around the world.

"It's a big one because England is very different conditions. The advice from Steve was more to keep enjoying it and be yourself. He said it's different conditions but the longer you're there you'll get to know them pretty well."

It's exactly that fact that has frustrated the ECB over the past month. England's national selector Geoff Miller was angry that counties had given opportunities to Australian players like Stuart Clark (Kent) and Hughes to adapt to the English environment for such a long period leading in to the Ashes.

It will be particularly valuable for Hughes, who hasn't played in England before. When the previous Ashes series began in Australia in 2006-07, Hughes was a 17-year-old who had just completed his high-school studies and was yet to find his way into the New South Wales side. He spent the summer watching on as Australia completed a 5-0 clean sweep.

"Two, three years ago, you watch it on TV and now to get an opportunity to play alongside those guys is very exciting," Hughes said. "It's obviously one of the biggest series. Growing up as kids you hear the Ashes and want to play in that. Hopefully I'll get an opportunity in the not too distant future so it's very exciting."

He need not use the qualifier "hopefully". He averaged 69.16 in his three Tests in South Africa and thrived in a baptism of fire in his debut in Johannesburg, where Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel peppered the 170-centimetre opener with short stuff.

"It was the second best Test side in the world," he said. "It was no doubt the best bowling attack I've ever faced. The likes of Steyn, Morkel, Ntini, they definitely came at me hard. When I'm out in the middle, bat versus ball, it's a big contest that I like to get amongst. They had a lot to say and I'm happy with that. I thrive on that contest."

That desperation to be in the thick of the action has made it hard for Hughes to watch the one-day series from home but he knows his time will come in the shorter formats. In any case, it has given him the chance to get back home to Macksville in northern New South Wales to visit family and friends. That has allowed Hughes' rapid rise to sink in.

"Sometimes I do actually get up in the mornings and think how great it was [to make the centuries in Durban]," Hughes said. "I knew it was going to be tough. But at the end of the day it was only one game of cricket, I'm not one to drop pressure on myself. Now the biggest thing is I want to keep going and keep enjoying this."

He has six weeks to enjoy things before the Ashes. And if he wants to frighten a few Englishmen with long memories, he could do worse than flashing that Steve Waugh Medal about.