England pile on runs then pick up early wicket
Collingwood in record books
England picked up the crucial wicket of Justin Langer to reduce Australia to 28 for one after Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen enabled the tourists to post a daunting total of 551-6 in the second Ashes test in Adelaide yesterday.
Langer was caught by Kevin Pietersen for four off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff, leaving Matthew Hayden (12 not out) and Ricky Ponting (11) to a survive a tricky nine-over spell through to stumps.
England were able to declare late in the final session after Collingwood grafted 206 and Pietersen 158 to put the tourists in control of the match just days after they were thrashed by 277 runs in the first test in Brisbane.
Collingwood became only the third Englishman, and the first since Wally Hammond 70 years ago, to score a test double-century in Australia in just over eight-and-a-half hours.
He also shared a record fourth-wicket partnership of 310 with Pietersen, who equalled his highest test score, to subdue Australia's bowlers on a docile pitch.
Shane Warne (1-167), Brett Lee (1-139) and Glenn McGrath (0-107) all conceded over 100 runs in one of the worst collective performances of their careers with Stuart Clark (3-75) the pick of the bowlers.
Collingwood was out on the last ball before tea but not before he had torn up the record books with a calculated 392-ball innings that featured 16 boundaries and helped erase the disappointment of getting out for 96 in Brisbane.
He broke Jack Hobbs's record of 187, set in 1928-29, for the highest score by an Englishman at Adelaide Oval as well as beating his own previous high test score of 186, made against Pakistan at Lord's this year.