Ashes 2010-11: WACA Ground nightmare stadium for England, ray of hope for Australia
In the last ten years, the WACA Ground at Perth has staged two Ashes Test matches, first in the 2002-2003 series and then in 2006-2007. Both matches were won convincingly by Australia. When Australia hosts the Ashes, it is mostly
the third Test that is played at Perth, and that is the case this season. With England’s poor record at this venue, there may be hope yet for Australia to make a comeback in the series. England is 1-0 up in the Ashes and currently very high on morale, considering
its success on Australian soil is a rarity. A bouncy pitch at the WACA could help the Aussies gain an advantage in the next match, as they plan their bowling attack with the possibility of including four quickies.
Here is a look at the last two Ashes games at the WACA.
2002-2003
On a fine morning on the 29th of November, 2002, England won the toss and elected to bat. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Marcus-Trescothick-c1898 and Michael Vaughan gave England the start they wanted but when the team had 47 runs on the board, Trescothick
was removed by Brett Lee. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robert-Key-c2349 showed some resistance as his fellow batsmen kept on falling on the flat track. The middle-order batsman scored a resilient 47 before he was cleaned up by part-timer Damien Martyn. With every one chipping in wickets for
Australia, England were all out for 185 in their first innings.
In http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s first innings, Justin Langer was run out very early on, after scoring a quick 19. After that, however, every batsman in the order scored decently and Australia managed to put up a score of 456 all out. Australia
had a run-rate of 4.59 per over, very high by Test standards. Damien Martyn topped the scores with 71 and English all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-White-c51760 took five wickets.
As England started their second innings, they were under a lot of pressure due to Australia’s 271-run lead. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals and with each wicket the hopes for the visitors faded. Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasser-Hussain-c78777 and
wicketkeeper-batsman Alec http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Stewart-c91370 showed some resistance in the middle order but the Australian bowlers were not giving anything away. England collapsed at 223 runs, and Australia won the match by an innings and 48 runs to go up 3-0 in the series. Damien Martyn
with his all-round performance was voted Man of the Match.
2006-2007
In this Perth encounter played in December, Australia won the toss and put England to field. Openers Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden started off well, but Hayden soon snicked a delivery off Matthew Hoggard which went straight
to the wicketkeeper. Wickets kept on falling at crucial stages of Australia’s innings. They were eventually all out for the score of 244, with Michael Hussey not out on 74. Slow left-arm orthodox spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Monty-Panesar-c2024 took five wickets and was well supported
by lanky fast bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Steve-Harmison-c2576, who put four wickets to his name.
England’s innings was not much different. Kevin Pietersen in the middle managed to score 70-odd runs but with all the bowlers taking wickets for Australia, England managed only 215 runs.
Australia had a lead of 29 runs when they started their second innings. The crowd at the WACA was stunned by the dismissal of Justin Langer, who got out on the first ball, bowled by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Matthew-Hoggard-c1926. England wanted to carry on this
momentum but this was not to be. Michael Hussey, Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918 all scored centuries for Australia, and other players scored fifties. Gilchrist’s innings was a rare Test match knock – he hit every English bowler to the all sides of the park
and hit a total of 12 boundaries and four sixes, scoring 102 runs off just 59 balls. His innings is the second-fastest century in the history of international Test matches.
England were given a target of 577 runs to win the Test match, but the battle seemed lost before it had even begun. Andrew Strauss got out for nought, trapped leg-before by Brett Lee. His partner Alastair Cook scored a well-deserved
century, supported by a few other batsmen, but under Australia’s bowling attack led by Shane Warne, England crumpled at 350 and Australia won the match by 206 runs.
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