Graeme Swann
Clear blue skies and England lead the ashes series 1-0. Australia loses by an innings for the first time at home since 1993 which was against West Indies at Perth. It was as if England had no desire of toying with mother natures plans so decided to finish the game off within 90mins before lunch itself.
Graeme Swann getting a 5 wicket haul for 91 runs made all the difference. James Anderson ensured that all the burden was not Swann’s took 2 wickets and the crucial catch of Michael Hussey when he was at 52 bowled by Steven Finn.
Thankfully none of Australia’s prayers were answered as this match from start to finish had England’s name on it especially after Australia won the toss elected to bat first, were at a sorry state of 3 for 2 and made a measly total of 245 in the first innings.
The man of the match was Kevin Pietersen for his 227 and the one crucial wicket of Michael Clarke just before stumps on day 4. He managed to with that one wicket, pump up his team and completely shatter the Aussie side.
Even if Michael Hussey had managed to make a relatively high score, with Graeme Swann and James Anderson chipping away the tail enders it wouldn’t have made much of a difference as the last 4 batsman of the Australian side didn’t even manage to make double digits.
So England will go into the next test match on the 16th of December at Perth with new buoyancy and hopefully with another win in their pocket so that they have the power to completely derail the Australian side.
Both sides will however undergo a change in the team composition for the next match. England will replace Stuart Broad who has a torn abdominal muscle with Chris Tremlett, fortunately for England; Broad’s absence from the side in the 2nd test match at Adelaide didn’t cost them as much as it could have.
Australia however has bigger fish to fry, Simon Katich an opening batsman has been ruled out for the rest of the series due to an Achilles tendon problem. Which puts them in a tight spot indeed as the bowling is wishy-washy and the batting doesn’t seem to be taking off either.
Let’s hope it never does take off.
Tags: Ashes Series, Australia, Cricket, England, Graeme Swann, Michael Hussey, Sports, The Ashes
