Clarke, Haddin tons push Australia past 500

 Tea Australia 8 for 516 (Clarke 148, Haddin 108*, Harris 29*) v England

Michael Clarke continued his love affair with the Adelaide Oval with an unflustered century which underlined his intent to become the Australian captain who regained the Ashes. The blissful manner in which he dealt with the England attack, with Brad Haddin offering sterling support, will only quicken the belief in Australia that the balance is shifting irrevocably in their favour. 

England's challenge wilted in the face of Australian adventure on the second morning of the second Test and, although they picked up three wickets in the afternoon, Clarke the first of them, Australia had hammered home their authority by tea. Clarke had reached 148 in five and three quarter hours when he became the first Test victim for Ben Stokes, seeking to work him through square leg and chipping a gentle catch to short midwicket off a leading edge. 

Clarke's stand with Haddin was worth 200 in 51 overs, a new record for the sixth wicket for any team in Adelaide. Haddin remained unbeaten on 108 at the interval, his fourth Test century reaffirming in aggressive fashion that he has turned the back-to-back Ashes series into one of the most productive periods in his Test career. England had designs upon dismissing Australia, 5 for 273 at the close of the first day, for around 350; by tea, they had conceded another 243 at four runs an over. 

England did manage to follow up Clarke's wickets with two more as they sought consolation on a second day which had made a victory to tie the series at 1-1 an increasingly unlikely proposition. Mitchell Johnson hoicked Graeme Swann's offspin to mid-on and Stokes, occasionally revealing an ability to leave the right-hander off the pitch, had Peter Siddle caught at the wicket. But Ryan Harris deposited Swann for two successive slog sweeps into the members to keep Australian spirits high. 

Clarke's sixth Adelaide hundred in nine Tests, and his 26th of all, was his second in succession, following his century in Brisbane when Australia's domination was assured. This one was a perfectly-constructed affair with the Test in the balance, made all the more noteworthy because of occasional suggestions that first his back and then his ankle were troubling him more than the England attack. When he was dismissed, his average in Adelaide Tests was 104.75, a standard that even The Don - Adelaide's most revered figure - could not quite match. 

Virtually everything that could go wrong for England in the morning did as Clarke and Haddin batted through the morning session with commendable enterprise. Stokes missed out on a first Test wicket because of a no-ball and the list of half chances to elude England grew as they failed to press home their hard-won position of equality from the first day.

They were in a rush to take wickets with the new ball 10 overs old at start of play, but their threat softened before the Kookaburra ball did and Clarke and Haddin took the game away from them. 

England will reflect that the morning might have turned out differently. Clarke's determination to dominate the left-arm spin of Monty Panesar from the outset almost went awry as he skipped down the pitch to his first ball of the morning and spooned it over extra cover, marking his fifty with relief as the ball evaded Stokes. England's decision to begin with Panesar did not pay off as his four overs cost 22, broken by the deft footwork of Australia's captain. 

England also had a glimmer of a chance to dismiss him when he was 91. Again Clarke's foot movement was ambitious, this time to the offspin of Swann, and his glance thudded through the hands and into the ankle of Ian Bell at backward short leg. A tough catch missed, Bell, and the wicketkeeper Matt Prior, then failed to gather cleanly to pull off a run out as Clarke dived back into his crease and rose with the sense that fortune was favouring the brave.

Haddin was an impressive accomplice, but he, too, had one or two moments which fell his way. James Anderson, with no swing to sustain him, looked listless, but when he produced a good bouncer to Haddin, on 30, the hook shot fell short of Panesar, who reacted cumbersomely at fine leg as the ball sailed out of the unfinished stand. It was barely a catch, although in keeping with the ground works, Panesar also seemed to be wearing concrete boots. 

Stokes imagined that his first Test wicket had come in his third over of the day when he produced an excellent delivery to have Haddin, on 51, caught at the wicket. He had already fielded congratulations from his team-mates for his first Test wicket when replays showed he had overstepped. The creeping tendency of umpires barely to monitor no-balls unless a wicket falls, in which case they rely on technology to make a delayed judgment, has been overshadowed by the larger debates surrounding DRS, but it deserves examination.

Haddin could not resist a jokey congratulation to Stokes at the end of the over about his first Test wicket that wasn't, and as Stokes' manner suggested an appetite for continuing the conversation, the umpire Marias Erasmus intervened to calm the situation. As the afternoon wore on, the calm became increasingly hard for England to stomach.