Well I'd said in my previous post on the second Test, that Jimmy Anderson would be hoping to come back with some wickets in this game, and boy he didn't disappoint! It was a strangely confident decision to bat first by Australia, perhaps buoyed on by the success of the team batting first in the series so far. But it turned out to be the wrong decision, as the pitch seamed much more than expected, and England's bowlers were able to make the most of the atmospheric conditions as well, and it was tough to bat on the first day.
Steven Finn and Jimmy Anderson bowled brilliantly, and were moving the ball around a lot, Anderson swinging it and Finn getting pace and bounce from the surface. Australia were quickly in trouble and Anderson, capably assisted by Finn, destroyed the middle order to reduce the Aussies to 94-7 inside the first 27 overs. Broad then joined the party and the innings was done for the very poor total of 136. As much as England moved the ball around with skill, Australia gave their wickets away badly. Only Chris Rogers, with a determined 52, and a couple of double-digit contributions from the tail showed any fight of note.
England then made a decent reply, getting to 281 which almost gave them the 150 run lead they would have liked. It probably would have been possible to get 220+, but the middle order of Bairstow, Stokes and Buttler misfired and none of Bell, Root or Moeen, all who showed application and ability in reaching the half-centuries, managed to go on to a higher score.
The resurgence of Steven Finn, the tall pace bowler, was also a huge feature of the game. Since being in a bad place in 2013, when he was called "unselectable" by Ashley Giles, Finn has recovered much of his form with Middlesex and seemed "unplayable" in this match! He bowled brilliantly in both innings. In the first he started well and got the important wicket of Steve Smith, and then and Michael Clarke with a yorker that seemed to come down out of the clouds to smash under Clarke's bat. It was in the second innings that he really shined though, taking 6-79 in devastating series of spells where he decimated the entire Aussie middle order: batsmen 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were all removed by him.
It was the short-pitched bowling that really did them, with Finn getting surprising bounce and movement too. The only worry for England would be if they take this approach too seriously on unsuited pitches. Normally, on calmer surfaces, bowling that short would not be a good tactic and would likely result in many boundaries. Let's hope that the short bowling is not "locked in" as it sometimes seems to be.
Australia's second effort with the bat was less disastrous, but still not enough to give them much hope of lasting four days, or setting England a challenging target. Their middle order of Smith, Clarke and Marsh totalled only 34 runs between them in both innings combined. A swashbuckling 77 from David Warner was the best the specialist bats offered, and it was down to Peter Nevill (59) and the tail (including a fighting 58 from Starc) to post 265.
England made their target (124 in fact) for the loss of Cook and Lyth and so won by 8 wickets to rapturous cheers from a raucous Edgbaston crowd. Bell and Root, who got the final runs, batted very well in both innings. Bell looks more comfortable in his role at number 3. Bairstow will get more chances to come, but Lyth must be under pressure now. Perhaps the biggest worry for England may be the sie injury to Anderson meaning he will miss the next Test at Trent Bridge and realistically maybe the last one too. Likely Mark Wood or perhaps Liam Plunkett will come in to replace him, depending on the pitches presented. For Australia, captain Clarke is under pressure as well as the middle order bats, and possibly Mitchell Starc.
One of the crazier things about this remarkable match was that both teams (particularly the Aussies) seemed intent on playing ODI cricket and could not apply themselves and knuckle down for the long haul. There is talk of scrapping the fifth day of Test matches going forward, as modern games are regularly finishing inside four. With games like this one, we could go a step further and scrap the fourth day as well!
England only need to draw the next 2 games to win back the Ashes! Maybe more realistically though, unless we get rain we only need one more win...lets hope the inconsistency we've seen from them in the last few months can be overcome. This could be another memorable year.
Report
http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/905157.html
Scorecard
http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/engine/match/743967.html
http://www.acast.com/skysportscricket/skysportscricketpodcast-31stjuly?autoplay
Lots of other episodes also linked on there
Team ratings
Ratings Explained: 1-3 very poor, 4 poor, 5 average, 6 OK, 7 good, 8 very good, 9 excellent, 10 unbelievable
England - Overall rating: 8
Cook*- 7
Lyth - 5
Bell - 8.5
Root - 8
Bairstow - 6
Stokes - 6
Buttler+ - 6.5
Moeen Ali - 7
Broad - 8
Finn - 9
Anderson - 9
Australia team rating - 4
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