The best birthday present for Ponting would have been a victory in the third Ashes Test and he did get it. Australia thrashed England to bounce back in the series. After a crushing defeat in the second Test, Australia were on the back foot and many changes
were made to the squad. And as always, Australia did fight back when they had their backs against the wall.
England were 81 for the loss of five wickets at the close of the third day’s play. The visitors lost their set batsman Jonathan Trott in the closing overs of the third day. Paul Collingwood also lost his wicket on the very last ball of the third day to dig
England deeper in trouble.
The fourth day started with the dominance of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. England lost James Anderson who was the night watchman after adding 13 runs to the total. Matt Prior and Ian Bell were the last two batsmen who could have given some hope to their fans. They were dismissed
in the same over to confirm a thrashing defeat by Australia.
After these two batsmen, the tail-enders could not hold on for long and entire team was dismissed for 123 runs. This is the lowest total for England in the series so far. Trott was the only batsman who played with confidence and scored 31. Apart from him,
none of the other batsmen were able to reach the twenties.
Australia were helped by Ryan Harris who bowled a devastating spell on the fourth day of the match. Harris was unlucky in the Adelaide Test as he did not grab many wickets but he was definitely not out of luck in the Perth Test. Four out of the last five
remaining wickets were taken by Harris. His effort saw England lose the match very early on day 4.
Harris grabbed a total of six wickets in the innings and was well supported by Mitchell Johnson who grabbed three wickets in the second innings. Johnson was the star of the first innings where he grabbed six wickets and scored a half century. His efforts
were more than enough to win him man-of-the-match award.
England have suddenly lost the confidence they gained from the outcome of the first two matches and now Australia is looking the favourite team. The batsmen will have to step up and take the responsibility in the fourth match to come back in the series.
Australia may have won the match but the team will be looking forward to continue the rhythm. There are still some weak areas and need to be addressed soon. The batsmen have not performed as expected which may be a concern for the host team.
Tags: