Swann plots Aussie downfall as England takes lead in Ashes series
A magnificent bowling effort led by spin king Graeme Swann has taken England to a superb innings and 71 runs win over the Aussies in the second test match of the Ashes series played at the Adelaide Oval.
Swann claimed 5 wickets as the Australian crumbled to 304 all-out resuming at the overnight score of 238/4 in their second innings.
The Australians were dealt a body blow early on when their mainstay Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey perished to a catch by James Anderson of pacer Steve Finn. The left-hander who struck 93 in the first innings missed out on his hundred for the second time in the
running. He made 52 runs off 107 balls.
The rest of the batting line-up crumbled to give the English lead in an Ashes series down under for the first time since their last win there in 1986-87.
The Australian captain Ricky Ponting was a distraught man; he said that his team needed to do some serious soul searching before they start the third test match of the series at the WACA in Perth.
"We got off to a shambolic start to the Test match, and it was always going to be hard to fight back from there," says
Ricky Ponting. "We needed to make a big score in the first innings and 245 were never going to be enough. We also put down a few crucial catches in the field. It's just those little things which are literally slipping through our hands at the
moment; you can't give good players second and third chances. We've got to go away and do some soul-searching. England have kept us under real pressure, and we've got to find a way to cope with that."
On the other hand there was elation in the English camp as they celebrated a historic win on a ground that had given them such heart break four years ago, in 2007 they had collapsed dramatically on the last day to hand over the tests to the hosts after accumulating
a staggering 550 run total in the first innings.
"You're always thinking back to what happened here four years ago and asking 'could http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 find a way to get back into this game?' but we were pretty clinical out there. A lot of boxes ticked in this game," says
Andrew Strauss, adding the obligatory comment about being careful of complacency. "When you're confident things start happening for you as a matter of course, you don't have to push it," he said about England's dramatic start to this Test with
the ball.
"Even when Hussey was getting them back in the game, they weren't going anywhere and we always find if we could just get one wicket we'd be ahead again. Swann did a great job of strangling the batsmen in the first innings too. Batsmen
like to score runs, and if they can't they get a bit edgy,"
The two teams would have to address some injury concerns before the Perth test, England have lost their fast bowler Stuart Broad to an abdomen muscle injury which has ruled him out of the remainder of the series.
The Aussies have been hit by an Achilles injury to left handed opening batsman Simon Katich which has brought curtains to his Ashes campaign.
Meanwhile the English team has stamped their credentials as one of the best teams in the world with an outstanding effort with both bat and the ball. They have hardly been so dominant in an away test for a long while and have every
reason to rejoice.
The bowling was simply outstanding on a rock solid Adelaide strip; James Anderson did the trick in the first innings with Swann the hero in the second.
The batsmen were in top form too with Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen struck big hundreds to propel their team to a gigantic total.
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