The Ashes - Second Test

England celebrate as Anderson gets Ponting out for a duck.

The second test got underway at an Adelaid pitch that is synonymous for high scoring and it looked a good toss to win for the Australia captain Ricky Ponting who had made two changes to his line up with Bolinger and Harris coming in for Johnson and Hilfenhaus. Some huge scores had been made here however this was about to change when after just 4 balls when Watson looked for a quick single that wasn't really on and Trott's excellent throw at the stumps was enough to easily run out Katich who didn't even get to face a ball. The problems got worse for Australia who then lost captain Ricky Ponting who edged it to Swann at second slip for a golden duck off the following ball from Jimmy Anderson. Clarke then got Australia off the mark but then he got himself out in exactly the same way as his captain by edging to Swann off a swinging delivery from Anderson which left them 3 wickets down for just 2 runs in what must have been one of England's best starts at Adelaid. The England bowlers had seemingly taken up from where the batsmen had left off in the previous test match.

Despite an attempted revival from Watson and Hussey, who put on 94 together, Anderson got Watson out driving to Pietersen at gully just after lunch to give England another lift. North and Hussey then Haddin and Hussey both then put on some very useful runs as they both made 50 partnerships before the England bowlers continue to show their dominance on day 1 and Australia where bowled out for 245 with Anderson the pick of the bowlers taking 4-51.

After day 1 started well for England, Australia thought that day 2 was going to go their way when Bollinger clean bowled England captain Andrew Strauss who was out for just 1. This was the second time in the series that Strauss was out off the first over of the day. This was to be the highlight of the day for the home fans who expected lot more from their bowlers and the fielding wasn't and better. The poor fielding included dropped catches from Clarke and Haddin, a missed run out chance from Xavier Doherty and overthrows when a throw in from the boundary hit the wickets and bounced away from the three fielders backing up. These mistakes allowed Cook to reach yet another 100, after surviving a thanks to a review, and Trott passed 50 before getting out to Harris on 78. With Trott out, this lead to Kevin Pietersen coming to the crease and he batted well and ended the day on 85 not out.

Kevin Pietersen celebrates reaching 200 runs.

Day 3 started with Cook and Pietersen both in good form and Australia finally broke the partnership when Cook, who had batted for 1058 minutes over the last two tests and scored 383 runs without losing a wicket, was finally out caught behind by Haddin when the ball from Ryan Harris clipped an inside edge with the Aussie wicket keeper taking a good low diving catch. Collingwood and Pietersen then started yet another good partnership for England, bringing back memories of the last Ashes test at the Adelaid Oval four years ago, when Colly got a double hundred and KP hit 158. KP then hit consecutive boundaries in the last over before lunch to bring up his 150 before heading in at lunch on exactly the same score of 158 but this time hoping to go much further. That's exactly what he did when he batted through the rest of the day ending on 213 not out. Despite Collingwood being given out lbw to Watson just after lunch the onslaught didn't end there for Australia as next in for England, who looked to have inform batsmen all the way down the line up, was an in form Ian Bell came in and batted himself to 41 not out before rain ended the day's play early.

Day four saw Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen complete their hundred partnership which made it the fourth successive partnership of a hundred or more for a very impressive England batting lineup. Pietersen then passed his highest ever test score by moving to 227 and then got out to Doherty the very next ball which ended one of the great innings in Ashes cricket. Matt Prior was next to the crease and he survived being given out lbw after a review showed the ball was missing leg stump. Bell then moved past 50 before Prior then got lucky again as a lofted shot was left by two Aussie fielders who both left it to each other and the England pair then raised the run rate and raced to a 50 partnership before Strauss called them in and England declared on 620-5, with a lead of 375. Australia then started the tough task of trying to bat out the remaining 1 and 3/4 days of the test match. Things started well for Australia with both openers getting starts and Watson got another 50. After both had departed and Swann got Ponting out with an excellent delivery another Aussie recovery started with Clarke and Hussey who batted together to the last over of the day when critically Kevin Pietersen claimed a rare wicket with his occasional spin to hand England the advantage going into the last day.

England celebrate claiming the winning wicket and the fans
in the background had the same idea.

Day 5 didn't last anywhere near as long as Australia would have liked. On a sunny morning where rain was expected later on. Hussey got a reprieve early on when Prior dropped him after he edged from Swann. Finn then got Hussey as his attempted hook shot flew high up in the air and Jimmy Anderson took a good catch under pressure to get the early break through. Anderson then kept the momentum going when he got 2 wickets in 2 balls, the second of which was Ryan Harris for a king pair after his second golden duck of the game. Swann made it 3 wickets in 4 deliveries for England and then took another Aussie wicket following a review which then allowed him to take the winning wicket of the game with the first ball of his next over after an excellent delivery that spun between Siddle's bat and pad. England won by an innings and 71 runs which was the first time Australia had lost by innings since 1993. It was also the largest margin of victory for England in Australia for 44 years which has left the Aussie media launching attack after attack on their team and are calling for changes for the next test in Perth on the 15th of December in which a win for England will guarantee the retaining of the Ashes.