Johnson on the warpath as England struggle in Adelaide

Michael Clarke’s seventh Ashes hundred has put Australia in a commanding position in the second test at the Adelaide Oval and the home side are now 4/6 to win the match.

Clarke started the day with a risky – and mistimed – chip over cover against Graeme Swann but soon found his stride.

Australia’s captain was ably supported by Brad Haddin and took the game to England with some quick scoring and despite suffering from a bad back, managed 148 runs.

Along with Haddin – who eventually fell to Broad for 118 – they turned what was a finely-balanced match after day one, into a pressure-cooker situation for the visitors.

Bet on Australia to win at 4/6

With number 10 Ryan Harris plundering 55 runs from 54 balls, Clarke decided to declare on 570/9 and make England face a testing 90 minutes before the close of play.

That was long enough for Mitchell Johnson to uproot the off-stump of England captain Alastair Cook with a 92mph missile and leave the visitors on 35/1 at the end of day two.

It was almost worse than that for the Three Lions as a dodgy call nearly produced a run-out in the final over of the day, before a Johnson lbw appeal against Michael Carberry was turned down.

That decision would have been overturned on appeal and England will be breathing a sigh of relief.

Bet on Kevin Pietersen to top-score at 11/4

England – who are now 25/1 to win the match – wasted several chances during Australia’s innings to at least give them a chance of victory.

Their uncharacteristically poor play in the field has now put them in a position where the best they can hope for is a draw at 13/10.

However whilst this is a flat and relatively tame pitch, Johnson’s aggressive bowling is consistently topping 90 mph and there is a strong chance that 19 more England wickets will fall in this game.