Ashes 2010-11: The Urn is slipping away from Australia
At the close of play on the third day of the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 were facing an uphill battle to save the match.
At stumps, Australia required another 246 runs to avoid the innings defeat. With two complete days of the fourth Test remaining, defeat is looking inevitable for the Aussies and with that, the dream of regaining the Ashes this time is fast fading away.
England started the third day’s play at 444 for the loss of 5 wickets with Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior on the crease. But their lower-order could not show much resistance as England were bowled out for 513 runs but only after they had taken a massive first
innings lead of 415 runs.
Jonathan Trott remained the star of the show for England with an unbeaten 168 runs. He played the role of a sheet anchor of England’s first innings after a solid start by the openers. Trott held the innings together for England and made sure that his team
avoids any scare or collapse in the innings. Trott consumed 345 balls for his brilliant knock and struck 13 fours. He along with the wicket keeper Matt Prior accumulated 173 runs for the sixth wicket which took the match completely away from Australia’s grasp.
Matt Prior added just 10 runs to his overnight score of 75 and was dismissed by Peter Siddle for 85 runs off only 119 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. Graeme Swann also played a little cameo as he scored 22 runs off only 28 balls which included 3 boundaries.
Peter Siddle remained the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies as he picked up his second 6-wicket haul for the series. He gave away 75 runs for his 6 wickets and bowled with immaculate control. Hero of the third Test at the WACA, Mitchell Johnson took 2
wickets but he was quite disappointing as he conceded 134 runs in his 29 overs. Ben Hilfenhaus also picked up a couple of wickets for his side.
After conceding a huge lead in the first innings, the Aussie batsmen were clearly in huge trouble at the close of play on day 3 with 6 wickets down for only 169 runs on the board.
They require another 246 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 was the only batsman to have shown some resistance so far against an impressive English bowling attack. He scored 54 runs off 102 balls and hit 6 boundaries before he was struck in front
of the wickets by Tim Bresnan. Steven Smith was also off to a good start before becoming the only victim of James Anderson. Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson will resume the Aussie innings on day 4.
Tim Bresnan, who is playing his first Test of the series has been the pick of the bowlers so far for England as he took 3 crucial wickets for just 26 runs in his 15 overs. James Anderson and Swann picked up a wicket each to help their team’s cause.
Things are looking quite bleak for the Aussies as they are facing yet another Ashes defeat. On the other hand, England would love to rap up the fourth Test as soon as possible and retain the Urn before the New Year Test.
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