Cricket Update: Ashes 2010- England takes the lead 1-0
England takes the upper hand by winning the second Test of the Ashes 2010-11. England was dominated by Australia in the first innings of the first Test match and it didn’t seem that the English team would bounce back like this in the series. After the first
innings dominance of Australia, it’s been all England. Graeme Swann played a vital role in the outcome of the match by picking up five wickets in the second innings. This victory will add to the confidence of the English team and they will look forward to
win the next match to make sure they will retain the Ashes.
The Australian team is without a victory in the last five matches they have played. They have a big task ahead to gain the Ashes back. The team has to win at least two of the remaining three matches. If the team looses this year’s Ashes, Ponting will be
under the scanner of the critics. He will be the only Captain for Australia to loose three Ashes.
The Australian team relied heavily on Michael Hussey to save the match. The dismissal of Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 in the last over of the play yesterday would have tormented the confidence of the Australian team.
Rain was also a possibility but unfortunately for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 it didn’t come into play when the host side needed it. Hussey was dropped by the wicketkeeper Matt Prior in the early stages of the match but he was unable to grab the second chance he was given.
After completing his half century, he pulled one short ball to mid-wicket and got caught off the bowling of Steve Finn.
There was no resistance from the lower middle order batsmen after Hussey had fallen. Marcus North, Brad Haddin and the remaining tail-enders couldn’t hold much to the accurate bowling of James Anderson and Graeme Swann. Australia was all out on 304, giving
England a victory by an innings and 71 runs.
For England, it was Swann who wrapped the Australian team by taking five wickets. He was well supported by James Anderson and the Ashes debutant Steve Finn. Both the fast bowlers grabbed a couple of wickets each.
Both the teams will be forced to make changes to the side due to injury issues. England will loose Stuart Broad for the remaining series due to an abdominal injury. Simon Katich for Australia will also be out of action due to the Achilles tendon problem
for the remaining three matches.
Australia may make a couple of more changes to the side by replacing the middle order batsman North and the left arm spinner Doherty. Both of these players have been unable to make their mark in the first two matches. This will be decided with time though.
England has a lead of 1-0 and will look to capitalize on the start they have got in the Ashes. Even a drawn match wouldn’t hurt the English team. The Australian team needs to perform well and bounce back in the series with a win. If they are unable to win
the next match, that would put them under more pressure than they are in currently.
As the first match, this match also had spectacular performances and all the five days were absorbing. Unlike the first match, this ended with a result which makes it a beautiful game of Test match cricket. It would be interesting to see if the remaining
three matches end up with results.
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