Aggressive England open up victory chance

August 2, 2009

Australia 263 and 88 for 2 (Watson 34*, Hussey 18*) trail England 376 (Strauss 69, Bell 53, Flintoff 74, Broad 55, Hilfenhaus 4-109) by 25 runs

Most assumed England would take a series lead into Headingley, but only the true believers considered a 2-0 scoreline possible. In a match that has seen five-and-a-half sessions lost to rain, light and a water-logged outfield, England have somehow found enough time to exploit Australian frailties to the point where the most improbable of victories is now within view, albeit still some way off in the distance.

A 113-run first innings lead, reduced to 25 by stumps, and a positive weather forecast for Monday have provided England with a realistic chance to land a potential knockout blow in the series. It is difficult to imagine a besieged, unbalanced and out-of-sorts Australian side scrambling from the canvas if faced with a two-game deficit with two matches to play, and England will arrive at Edgbaston for the final day acutely aware that early wickets could prove the defining moment in reclaiming the Ashes after a two-year absence.

Standing in their path is an Australian batting line-up two-wickets down and short on confidence following first innings collapses at Lord's and Edgbaston. Exempt from that list is Shane Watson, the rookie opener, who followed an impressive first innings half-century with an unbeaten 34 on Sunday evening that grew in importance with each falling wicket. He will be joined by the less convincing Michael Hussey who, despite battling for form, clawed his way to 18 not out and steadied the Australian ship in a tense final session.

Australia will draw inspiration from their stoic, though ultimately unsuccessful, fourth innings performance at Lord's as they seek to bat out the final day, while England will be buoyed by more recent performances. In both innings of this Test, the Duke has swung from around the 30-over mark, and with 28 on the ball already and cloudy conditions forecast, James Anderson and Graham Onions will be relied upon heavily.

Victory at Edgbaston set England on course for a famous series victory four years ago, and while circumstances and various cast members differ this time around, the white-knuckled expectancy of the vociferous crowd was distinctly similar. Onions' dismissal of Simon Katich to a prod outside off-stump prompted roars that rattled the foundations of the Eric Hollies Stand, and Graeme Swann's removal of Ricky Ponting, fast assuming pantomime villain status on this tour, evoked a response that might have been detected by seismologists half a world away.

Swann posed a threat to Ponting from the moment he marked centre, extracting significant turn from the footmarks and veering the ball sharply into the right-hander. The England spinner was aggrieved to have had a close lbw appeal turned down by Rudi Koertzen, but rediscovered his trademark grin two deliveries later as Ponting pushed with hard hands at a wider delivery that found the rough, angled through the gate and crashed into the stumps. Since his sparkling 150 in Cardiff, Ponting has managed scores of two, 38, 38 and, as of Sunday, five. Australia's batting fortunes have charted a similar course to date.

Earlier, Stuart Broad struck a dashing half-century and engaged in several heated exchanges with Mitchell Johnson during a furious conclusion to England's first innings. The pressure and tension of this most eagerly contested Ashes series bubbled to the surface in the 88th over of England's innings, as Johnson attempted to break through the defences of Broad and Swann.

Johnson engaged in verbal confrontations with both batsmen before claiming Swann's wicket with a deft slower ball; a result that might historically have ended the argument and prompted an England retreat. But in a telling insight into the growing confidence within the hosts' camp, Broad responded two balls later with a back-foot drive and a toe-to-toe confrontation that will no doubt have delighted red-top editors in both countries. The over cost Johnson 15 runs. England's lead extended.

Broad's resistance ended when he spooned a return catch the way of Peter Siddle for a well-struck 55, but his was not the half-century most discussed around the pubs and loungerooms of Birmingham on Sunday. That innings belonged to Andrew Flintoff, who added one more Edgbaston memory to an already rich anthology with a half-century that featured a powerful six to draw England level with Australia's first-innings total, followed by a boundary to overtake it.


At the very ground on which he notched his highest Test score in 2004, and earned Man-of-the-Match honours against the Australians four years ago, Flintoff displayed indomitable intent from the outset by engaging Johnson in verbal combat - a precedent his junior all-rounder would follow later in the day - before channelling his aggression towards his batting.

Siddle and Watson bore the brunt of Flintoff's powerful stroke play, releasing much of the pressure created by Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson in the first session. Siddle, as has become custom on this tour, interspersed testing inswingers and seamers with too many loose deliveries to concede 47 runs from an erratic seven-over spell. Watson, meanwhile, was set upon from the outset; his comeback spell in Test cricket yielding the unflattering figures of 0 for 23 from three overs.

Flintoff was particularly strong on the drive and pull, and raised the roof at Edgbaston when he bashed Nathan Hauritz into the long-on boundary rope for his first six of the innings. Hauritz exacted a measure of revenge by having him caught at first slip for 74 (from 79 deliveries), but not before Flintoff had guided England past Australia's first-innings total and beyond the 300-run mark.

Prior to Flintoff's 89-run sixth-wicket partnership with Matt Prior, Australia had enjoyed the better of proceedings on a fourth morning delayed by an hour due to a sodden outfield. Hilfenhaus' dismissals of Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood were Australia's primary highlight-reel moments in the first session, but Johnson's two-over burst prior to the lunch break was arguably the greater source of optimism. Australia's selectors have gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate him this series, ranging from pep-talks to the inclusion of an insurance seamer in Watson for Edgbaston, and their faith appeared on the way to being repaid.

His first delivery was full, fast and tailing into Bell, who, if not for the faintest of inside edges onto his pad, might well have been pavilion-bound. Johnson finally got his man when he trapped Bell leg-before as part of a five-over spell of 1 for 12. But much of the good work was undone when, in the confrontational atmosphere of Sunday afternoon, he resorted to his short-length of old and conceded 47 runs from his final seven overs, the majority to Broad and Swann.

Australia's late innings problems were compounded when Hilfenhaus' swing-bowling powers were sapped with the taking of the second new ball. With no one to apply the pressure, England's tail wagged again and Australia, who earlier on Sunday had entertained notions of a first innings lead, were faced with a triple-digit deficit and a near impossible task to level the series heading to Leeds.

Clarke and North put Australia safe

August 3, 2009

Australia 263 (Watson 62, Anderson 5-80, Onions 4-58) and 375 for 5 (Watson 53, Hussey 64, Clarke 103*, North 96) drew with England 376 (Strauss 69, Bell 53, Flintoff 74, Broad 55, Hilfenhaus 4-109)

After a rain-affected draw at Edgbaston, in which England's push for victory fell as flat as the fifth day pitch, the question now stands: who takes the momentum into Headingley? The temptation is to give the nod to England given their 1-0 series advantage and flashes of brilliance between the spells of drizzle in Birmingham. But, on closer inspection, the matter may not be so clear-cut.

Australia will take tremendous confidence from their second-innings batting performance, in which three batsmen passed 50 and one, Michael Clarke, a stoic century in his 50th Test to limit England to just five wickets from 112 overs. Shane Watson's returns of 62 and 53 in his first Test as opener will prove particularly encouraging as will the final-day efforts of Michael Hussey (64) and Marcus North (96), both of whom were in need of a confidence boost.

The Australians will also be buoyed at the possibility that Mitchell Johnson's nightmare might just have been confined to the month of July. Johnson is clearly not back to his wrecking-ball ways from South Africa, but he did manage to make the necessary adjustments to his wrist position to allow him to rediscover the at-the-body line and subtley swing that has made him so effective in past series.

England clearly have grounds for optimism, too. Were it not for the five-and-a-half sessions lost to rain, bad light and the water-logged outfield, they might have better capitalised on their 113-run first-innings advantage. That lead was established after James Anderson and Graham Onions befuddled Australia's batsmen with prodigious aerial movement on Friday, and with Headingley considered among the better swinging grounds in the country, England will hope to probe Australia's barely-healed wounds from Friday.

The hosts will also be satisfied by the manner in which they covered for Kevin Pietersen, but Andrew Flintoff is looming as a major concern. The England allrounder, who is understood to have had two further pain-killing injections to his troublesome right knee prior to this match, fell awkwardly on his left ankle when delivering the final ball of his 13th over. Flintoff required the better part of 30 seconds to climb back to his feet and appeared in significant discomfort, but managed to bowl two more overs in the session. His condition will be monitored with only three days between the third and fourth Tests.

Australia signed off the match with Clarke notching his second century of the campaign and usurping Strauss as the highest run-scorer in the series. For the satistically inclined, it also took his Test average above 50 for the first time since 2005 - and this, in his 50th Test. The pragmatists, however, will note that his unbeaten 103 was not so much important for the runs scored, but rather the 192 balls it soaked up, denying England any chance of forcing a result.
Unlike the draw in Cardiff, where every ball of the final session was an angst-ridden affair, the Edgbaston Test concluded in anti-climax with part-timers Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara in operation and Australia's batsmen scoring at will. Clarke was fortunate to have survived a Stuart Broad delivery that clipped the bail and a subsequent catch off a Bopara no-ball, but eventually raised his 12th career ton with a pull to the boundary and look to the dressing rooms, whereupon he was summoned in by Ricky Ponting.

Clarke had earlier combined with North for a 185-run fifth-wicket stand that effectively ended England's hopes for victory. Despite the heavy overhead conditions, neither Anderson nor Onions could convince the suddenly stubborn Duke to swing, making life easier for the Australian batsmen.

The brisk tempo of previous sessions was absent, as Australia's batsmen sought to grind the life out of the match. First Watson and Hussey, then Clarke and North, batted with patience and caution in their attempt to deny England an inflated series lead ahead of the Headingley Test. Watson and Hussey showed steely intent from the outset and weathered painful blows to the body from Flintoff, remaining unflustered in this most pressurised of situations. Flintoff attempted to engage both batsmen in verbal jousts but both quelled their aggressive instincts and refused to bite. Theirs was a mission of survival and both succeeded in navigating a path through a testing first hour of play.

Flintoff, for all his intimidatory powers, strayed short too often while Swann failed to settle upon a consistent length - but given the respective situations in which Watson and Hussey found themselves at the crease, both could have been well pleased with their morning contributions.

Having previously batted no higher than No. 6 in Test cricket, and with a sub-five average opening for Queensland, Watson was in the crosshairs of both a sceptical Australian public and England's bowlers from the moment he marked centre on Thursday. He did not disappoint. His fluent first innings total of 62 was complemented by a redoubtable 53 in the second; the latter innings terminated when Anderson, in his first over of the morning, found the outside edge with a delivery that subtly straightened.

Hussey, desperate to atone for his first innings duck, played a more aggressive hand, striking six boundaries to advance to his second half-century of the series. But, like Watson, his stay at the crease would end soon after his arrival at the milestone.

Stuart Broad's introduction to the attack in the 51st over might not have done much for his confidence, but the allrounder immediately took the attack to the Australians with an angling delivery that brushed the outside edge of Hussey on 64. The dismissal brought the Edgbaston crowd momentarily back to life, however all were promptly subdued as Clarke and North carried their bats deep into the final session.

North was the only other batsman to fall on the final day, to a brilliant, diving catch by Anderson in the gully off the bowling of Broad. Anderson's spectacular effort denied North a third Test century from five matches, but could not revive England's hopes of victory.

Pressure grows as urn comes into view

August 6, 2009

Match facts

Friday, August 7 - Tuesday, August 11, 2009 Start time 11.00 (10.00 GMT)

Big Picture

The 1-0 advantage established by England at Lord's looks all the more intimidating after the rain-effected draw at Edgbaston. Should the hosts go forth and reclaim the urn, Andrew Flintoff's heroic effort in north-west London - in which he claimed five Australian wickets on a painful right knee - will ascend to a pantheon of national sporting achievements currently occupied by Geoff Hurst's hat-trick and Jonny Wilkinson's drop-goal.

Flintoff has dominated the headlines again this week, albeit for reasons he could have done without. The ailing all-rounder's knee injury continues to cause him discomfort, and has prompted England to name an expanded squad in the event he is deemed unfit to play the fourth Test. Australia have their own injury concerns, with Michael Clarke sitting out Wednesday's training session with a mild abdominal strain and Brad Haddin nursing a broken finger. On the positive side of the ledger, Brett Lee is available for selection for the first time this series, having recovered from a rib complaint.


England will be looking to the heavens in the hope of spotting the kind of heavy clouds that so assisted James Anderson and Graham Onions in the first innings at Birmingham. Andrew Strauss' attack have appeared toothless when the ball hasn't swung this series, and with the five-day weather forecast improving, Australia's batsmen will be hoping for clear skies to complement a flat Headingley pitch.

For the tourists, there is much at stake. Ricky Ponting will become the first Australian captain in 100 years to twice lose away Ashes series unless his side can conjure a victory at Headingley or Lord's. The Australians must win both those matches to remain atop the Test rankings.


Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)


England - DWDWW
Australia - DLDLW



Watch out for

Andrew Flintoff The will he-won't he saga is likely to drag on until the coin toss on Friday, but even if Flintoff doesn't play, his presence will be felt throughout the match. The versatility of Flintoff has been highlighted by England's move to effectively name three replacements for him. Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Harmison could slot in should England require a fast bowling option, while Jonathan Trott could make his Test debut if an extra batsman is needed.

Ben Hilfenhaus By far and away Australia's best bowler in the series, Hilfenhaus will again be heavily relied upon if the clouds roll in at Headingley. Mitchell Johnson's improving fortunes at Edgbaston have provided hope that Hilfenhaus will no longer bare all containment and pressure-building responsibilities, as has been the case thus far in the series.



Team news

It all comes down to Flintoff. Should the enigmatic all-rounder be deemed fit, England are favoured to ignore calls for Stuart Broad's axing and retain the same line-up from Edgbaston. If he is ruled out, selectors must decide between Sidebottom, Harmison and Trott, although none will provide Flintoff's all-round balance. Shortly after practice, Trott was spotted decked out in his full England kit, complete with embroidered initials and cap number, on his way for an official squad photo.

England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Graham Onions.

Injuries have also blighted Australia's build-up to the fourth Test. Michael Clarke missed Wednesday's training session with an abdominal strain, but is considered likely to play. The most complex scenario, as ever, concerns the fast bowling group. Ponting hinted after the Edgbaston Test that Siddle's profligacy could bode well for Stuart Clark or Brett Lee, and both senior pacemen looked solid during Wednesday's net session. Clark should have the front-running given his strong recent form in Australia's tour matches, while Lee has not played a game since the England Lions encounter prior to the first Test

Australia (possible) 1 Simon Katich, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Stuart Clark.



Pitch and conditions

Weather forecasts for Leeds have improved markedly this week, and with them the prospects of a full five day's play. The Headingley pitch, once considered paradise for the pacemen, has tilted in favour of batsmen in recent seasons although, if the heavy clouds roll in, the likes of Anderson and Hilfenhaus could play havoc.



Stats and trivia



If history is to be any guide, this promises to be a keenly contested Test. Australia's record at Headingley stands at eight wins, seven losses and eight draws, while England have won 30, lost 21 and drawn 17. England recorded a six-wicket victory in the last Ashes Test played here in 2001.


Yorkshire have played four first class matches at Headingley this year, three of which resulted in draws.


Australia are winless in their past four Tests. Not since 1988 has an Australian side gone five consecutive matches without a victory.



Ricky Ponting slipped to ninth in the Test batting rankings this week, but returns to a ground at which he has enjoyed tremendous success Ponting has scored 343 runs at 114.33 in two matches at Headingley, including two centuries.


Quotes


"It's the fourth Test of an Ashes series, we're close to the finish line and although we're all desperate for (Flintoff) to play, we need to be realistic enough to realise that if he's not fit then he shouldn't play."
Andrew Strauss

"If I actually play well I get booed more so hopefully I get booed more. It comes with the territory of being an Australian cricket captain in this part of the world. There's not much I can do about it. I'll just take it with a grain of salt. I've almost expected it after the first day at Lord's. It's no skin off my nose. If anything it just makes me more determined to play well."
Ricky Ponting

August 6, 2009

Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out of the fourth Test at Headingley, after his injured right knee was deemed too much of a concern to risk him in such a crucial encounter.

Flintoff struggled visibly during a 40-minute nets session on the eve of the match, and having received two injections ahead of the Edgbaston Test last week, he was unable to undergo any more this week on medical advice. He bowled with a heavy knee brace, but was unable to hit the crease with any of his customary pace and power, and returned to the dressing room at 11.10am.

That session had been the first time that Flintoff had bowled since his lacklustre display on the final day at Edgbaston, in which he bowled just 11 overs, and none at all in the final session. England insisted they would take the emotion out of the decision over whether Flintoff played in what could be the Ashes-deciding Test, but even at that stage it was clear that his knee was some way short of the requisite fitness to last for five days.

When asked if Flintoff was in a better situation fitness-wise than he had been in the lead-up to Edgbaston, England's captain, Andrew Strauss, had been non-committal. "He did a fair amount of bowling, but with such things it's not about the pain he experienced while he's bowling, but the swelling there is afterwards, and how sore it is. He got the ball through but he didn't look like he was 100%."


Flintoff is likely to be replaced by Steve Harmison, who figured in the squads for the second and third Tests as cover for England's allrounder, but has yet to make the starting XI this series. Flintoff made it clear after his bruising performance at Lord's that he was willing to play through the pain barrier in these, his final Tests, but during a training session at Headingley yesterday, he barely reached his top pace and bowled with a heavy knee brace.

It is a further disruption for England after they were evacuated from their hotel at 5am this morning due to a fire alarm, before being allowed back in after 20 minutes of standing in heavy Leeds rain.

Dominant Australia take control

August 7, 2009

Australia 196 for 4 (Ponting 78, Watson 51) lead England 102 (Prior 37*, Siddle 5-21) by 94 runs

Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson compiled more in a single second-wicket stand of 119 than England's entire line-up managed in 33.5 overs of abject surrender, as Australia built on the efforts of their four-man seam attack to seize control of the crucial fourth Test at Headingley. Though England battled back in the final session by claiming three wickets in as many overs, including Ponting for 78, nothing could gloss over their humiliation in the opening exchanges of the day. A single pitiful session could well have cost them their chance to reclaim the Ashes.

Shorn of the services of Andrew Flintoff, whose damaged right knee failed to respond to treatment, and already lacking the aggression and presence that Kevin Pietersen brings to their middle-order, England went into a Test without either of their kingpin players for the first time since the tour of Bangladesh in October 2003, and duly played in a manner befitting their opponents of six years ago. They had been handed a late fitness scare when Matt Prior suffered a pre-toss back spasm, which required the toss to be delayed by ten minutes as England finalised their starting XI, and the bewilderment in their ranks was as plain as it had been at 5 o'clock that morning, when a fire alarm at the team hotel had left them shivering in the Leeds drizzle during a mass evacuation.

For most of the summer, Australia have been the team seemingly lacking in direction, but with a sniff of uncertainty in their opponents' ranks, they at last had a bowling attack to exploit the situation. The decision to recall Stuart Clark for his first Test of the summer, in place of the spinner Nathan Hauritz, was a gamble that paid rich dividends. He marked his comeback with a pre-lunch spell of 3 for 7 in 6.5 overs, while Peter Siddle followed up after the break with 4 for 3 in 14 balls, to finish with the stand-out figures of 5 for 21. Each of the four bowlers claimed at least one wicket, with Ben Hilfenhaus desperately unlucky not to have pinned Andrew Strauss lbw with the very first ball of the match.

As it turned out, Strauss survived a mere 17 balls before squirting a fat edge off Siddle to Marcus North at third slip, whose stunning one-handed reflex catch was the catalyst for the performance that followed. Strauss had spent the final minutes before the start fretting over the fitness of Prior, who injured his back while playing football in the warm-ups, leaving Jonathan Trott on the verge of a debut and Paul Collingwood pencilled in for the wicketkeeping duties, and his mind was evidently some way from the action in the middle. The confirmation of Flintoff's lack of fitness ended up being the very least of his worries.

In the event, the only England batsman to show any spine was none other than Prior, who was out in the middle at least two sessions sooner than he might have anticipated, but gritted his way to 37 not out from 43 balls before running out of partners. One other batsman managed double figures - Alastair Cook, who was the mainstay of a flimsy top order with 30 from 65 balls - while the middle-order triumvirate of Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Collingwood showed worrying shortcomings in temperament and technique respectively.

Hilfenhaus accounted for Bopara, earning due reward for his line, length and consistent swing when Michael Hussey collected a loose back-foot punch in the gully, and at 16 for 2, the stage was hardly set for the fragile Bell to make his mark. Mitchell Johnson responded to his arrival with his best and most hostile spell of the series. Threatening to bend the ball back into the right-hander at will, and finding a superb line to complement his subtle changes of length, Johnson tormented Bell's outside edge before slipping in a wicked bouncer that was gloved through to Brad Haddin.

Next in the procession was Collingwood, whose returns have faded alarmingly since his match-saving performance at Cardiff in the first Test. He couldn't negotiate Clark's sharp outswing, which he prodded limply to Ponting at second slip for a fifth-ball duck, and Clark claimed his second scalp in the space of 11 balls when Cook's resistance ended with a low edge to Michael Clarke at first slip.

Prior did his best to rally the innings in his standard counter-punching style, but Stuart Broad found the going extremely tough in his over-promoted position of No. 7, and was extracted on the stroke of lunch when Katich at short leg scooped Clark's third of the innings. Then it was over to Siddle to make mincemeat of a tail that had wagged regularly in the series so far, but was unable to make any headway at all with the momentum all in the bowlers' favour. Graeme Swann laboured to a 15-ball duck which ended with a snick to first slip, while Harmison - back in the side at Flintoff's expense - edged to the keeper to notch the 20th duck of his career, an England record he now shares with Mike Atherton.

James Anderson did at least manage to extend his duckless run to 53 innings, but the scampered single that preserved his world record culminated in a leg injury that visibly reduced his subsequent effectiveness with the ball. He and Graham Onions were bounced from the crease in consecutive Siddle deliveries, whereupon Shane Watson clattered Anderson's first two deliveries of the reply through point for a brace of fours in a style reminiscent of Michael Slater. Though Harmison responded by extracting Katich at leg gully with the fourth ball of his comeback, Ponting emerged to put his personal seal on the day with a smouldering and initiative-seizing cameo.

Once again, Ponting came to the crease to a chorus of boos, but true to form, he turned the animosity to his advantage. Latching onto the slightest error in length, he pulled Onions' first ball through midwicket for six, in an over that eventually went for 17 runs, as Australia's fifty was brought up in just 39 deliveries. Ponting's only let-off en route to his 63-ball half-century came on 32, when Bell missed a shy from the covers that would have run him out by five yards.

For as long as he and Watson were in tandem, Australia's dominance was absolute. Watson, revelling in his new opener's role, cracked his third half-century in as many innings, and battered Harmison for four fours in nine balls as England's bowlers completely forgot about the virtues of line and length. But then, almost without warning, they finally remembered to pitch the ball up, and with a hint of movement around that habitual 30-over mark, they succeeded in stemming the tide.

First to strike was Onions, who pinned Watson lbw for 51 as he whipped across the line, whereupon Broad - for the first time this summer - opted to follow suit. Twice in four balls he angled the ball in from a full length, first to end Ponting's stay on 78, and then to remove Hussey before he could get going. England created opportunities as the shadows lengthened, not least when Harmison, in a furious final spell, cracked Michael Clarke on the helmet and the glove from consecutive deliveries. But by the close, Australia's hold on the Ashes was looking as sprightly as it has done since Cardiff.

Rampant Australia on course for huge win

August 8, 2009

England 102 and 82 for 5 (Anderson 0*, Prior 4*) trail Australia 445 (North 110, Clarke 93, Ponting 78 Broad 6-91) by 261 runs

Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus claimed five England wickets for 20 runs in the space of 44 balls in a thrilling final hour of the second day at Headingley, as Australia built on the batting efforts of Marcus North to surge towards a stunningly comprehensive Ashes-squaring victory. North's 110 from 206 balls, coupled with 93 from Michael Clarke and some spirited thwacking from the tail, converted Australia's overnight lead of 94 into a formidable first-innings advantage of 343 which paved the way for the dramas that followed - and had North himself held onto a sharp chance at third slip from the final ball of the day, Ricky Ponting would have had a case to claim the extra half-hour and push for an incredible two-day win

Instead, Australia will have to settle for a three-day finish, in a match that is proving as abjectly one-sided as any of England's Ashes humiliations of the past 20 years. The only remote challenge to Australia's dominance came while Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss were repelling the new ball in a first-wicket stand of 58 that spanned 22.4 overs. Hilfenhaus, however, zipped one back off the seam to slam into Strauss's back pad to expose England's flimsy middle-order, and sure enough, Australia surged through the opening.


Ravi Bopara's torrid series continued when he was late coming forward to his very first delivery, and adjudged lbw by Asad Rauf despite a sizeable inside-edge, and though Ian Bell survived the hat-trick ball by a whisker, Johnson didn't allow him to savour the moment. For the second time in the match, he was cowed into submission by Johnson, pushed back by a fizzing bouncer, then drawn forward to poke a limp catch to Ponting at second slip for 3.


Next to go was Paul Collingwood, his form now in freefall after his match-saving 74 at Cardiff. Following on from his first-innings duck, Collingwood played all round a full swinging delivery from Johnson, and was plumb lbw for 4. Still England's humiliation was not complete, however. For the second innings running, Cook had attempted to stand firm while all around him wavered, but having ground his way to 30 from 84 balls, he hung out his bat to a Johnson outswinger, and snicked a low edge through to Brad Haddin. And Johnson should have claimed his fourth in the space of 20 balls, when Matt Prior edged him straight through North's hands.


With three days remaining and the weather set fair, it is inconceivable that Australia will not wrap up a hugely deserved victory with several sessions to spare, and stride on to The Oval in a fortnight's time with the Ashes once again in a vice-like grip. But for all the drama of England's batting capitulation, the man to whom the day's credit belonged was North, who followed on from his 96 at Edgbaston last week with yet another performance that put England's flappable temperaments to shame. His 110 from 206 balls was Australia's seventh century of the summer, compared to Strauss's solitary offering at Lord's last month, and their dominance of the series statistics will at last be rewarded on the field.

Resuming on 196 for 4, Australia's middle- and lower-order had all the time in the world to accentuate England's humiliation after they had been rolled over for 102 in the first 33.5 overs of the match, but in the end they needed only two sessions to capture a formidable advantage. North added exactly 150 for the fifth wicket with Clarke, who fell seven runs short of his third century in consecutive matches, and then sat back in the final overs before tea while the tail ran amok around him, not least Stuart Clark, who smacked three of the biggest sixes imaginable in a 22-ball 32, including one tee-shot back over Graeme Swann's head that landed in the media toilets.


Not for the first time in the match, England had absolutely no say in the flow of events. Stuart Broad kept the ball pitched up (more often than not) to finish with figures of 6 for 91, his best in Tests, but it was hardly an achievement he felt worthy of celebrating. The brief flicker of momentum that England had generated through Steve Harmison's hostile performance on the first evening had effectively vanished inside the first half-hour of the day.


James Anderson, who entered the day amid concerns about the hamstring he tweaked while stretching for a quick single on the first afternoon, looked semi-fit at best as he started with a diet of half-volleys and finished with throwback figures of 18-3-89-0, while Harmison's first three-over spell was short, wide and clobbered for 23 agenda-setting runs, including a brutal first-ball pull for four from Clarke, who once again set the tempo for Australia's performance.


Clarke's fourth half-century of the series was brought up from 78 balls with a tuck off the hips from Harmison, and thereafter he went into overdrive, particularly against the labouring Anderson, whom he belted on the up, through the covers, twice in four balls, before working him sublimely through the leg-side from consecutive deliveries. In between whiles, North greeted Broad by clipping a first-ball half-volley through midwicket for four, as the pair brought up their hundred partnership from 152 balls - their third in six innings this series.


Clarke has now emerged as the outstanding batsman of the summer, and looked a dead-cert for his third century in as many Tests. But not for the first time, the nervous nineties undermined his previously serene progress. On 92, he attempted to work Onions through midwicket, but instead looped a leading edge into no-man's land in the covers, but he was unable to make his good luck count. He had not added to the single he had run from that let-off when Onions found a full and inswinging length, to pin him lbw on his bootlaces.


Despite the loss of his domineering partner, North was perfectly content to sit in and bide his time. With three scores in excess of 96 and five below 12 in his five previous Tests, he is a player who knows how to make his starts count. Harmison struck with his second delivery with the new ball, as Brad Haddin spooned a miscued pull to short backward square, but North rode the extra bounce with typical insouciance, joined in a 70-run stand for the seventh wicket with Johnson, who continued his consistent form with the bat with 27 from 53 balls.


Johnson's innings finally came to an end when he pulled a Broad long-hop to Bopara on the midwicket boundary, and in the same over, Peter Siddle was too slow on a full and straight delivery that took out his off stump first-ball. But Clark, who has enjoyed himself in this match so far, climbed into two further Broad short balls to deposit him over the leg-side ropes, before under-edging another attacking stroke into his stumps.


With his partners starting to run out, North decided to chance his arm, and his century-securing six off Swann was just about the only liberty he permitted himself in a studious and vital match-seizing performance. He holed out to midwicket soon afterwards to bring the innings to a close on the stroke of tea, whereupon England's openers, for a misleadingly serene hour-and-a-half, set about chiselling away at the deficit. Hilfenhaus and Johnson, however, were lurking. And the momentum of the series has lurched violently out of England's grasp.

Australia level with crushing win

August 9, 2009

Australia 445 (North 110, Clarke 93, Ponting 78, Broad 6-91) beat England 102 and 263 (Swann 62, Broad 61, Johnson 5-69, Hilfenhaus 4-60) by an innings and 80 runs

Australia required a session and six overs on the third day at Headingley to wrap up a thumping innings-and-80-run victory against England, and so draw level at 1-1 in the Ashes with just the fifth Test at The Oval to come in a fortnight's time. Mitchell Johnson had the honour of sewing up the contest with his fifth wicket of a resurgent performance, when he bowled Graham Onions for a duck to confirm his return to his best and most hostile form, and underline the fact that Australia have suddenly emerged as firm favourites to complete their 10th Ashes victory in their last 11 contests.


It was not, however, a day that went entirely to plan for Australia, who were frustrated - not for the first time in the series - by England's tail, not least Stuart Broad, who added a boundary-laden 61 from 49 balls to his earlier six-wicket haul, as he became the first England cricketer to achieve such an Ashes double since Darren Gough at Sydney in 1994-95.


On Saturday evening, Board had promised to provide late-innings resistance for England's beleaguered cricketers, and he was true to his word as he and Graeme Swann compiled a spirited and thrilling eighth-wicket stand of 108 in just 12.3 overs. The tempo of the stand, at more than eight-and-a-half runs per over, was the second fastest for any partnership over 100 in Test cricket, behind Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns at Christchurch in 2001-02, and then as now, it was glorious in its futility. It could not save England from a hefty defeat, but it might just preserve a modicum of their self-respect.


Such a prospect didn't seem to be remotely on the cards when James Anderson fell meekly to the third ball of the morning, immediately after cutting Hilfenhaus to the boundary, thus extending his "duckless" streak to 54 Test innings. Anderson hung out his bat limply to a shorter delivery and edged to Ricky Ponting at second slip. Head down, shoulders slumped, and reeking of the bad body language for which Justin Langer has taken him to task in today's leaked dossier, Anderson took an eternity to trudge from the playing surface. It was an image that summed up England's match.

Matt Prior did what he could to stem the tide, slashing Mitchell Johnson behind square three times in two overs to rattle along at the run-a-ball tempo that makes him most comfortable. But no sooner had Broad nudged a leg-bye to take England past their heaviest home defeat of all time (an innings and 226 runs against West Indies in 1973), Hilfenhaus lured Prior with a perfectly pitched outswinger, which Brad Haddin scooped one-handed in front of first slip, to leave his team just three wickets from victory.


That, however, was the cue for England to raise their game, somewhat belatedly given the match situation. Initially Swann endured a torrid time at the crease, inside-edging Hilfenhaus millimetres past his leg stump, then wearing a Peter Siddle bouncer on the point of his elbow before pulling him inelegantly, and with eyes wide shut, through midwicket for another chancy boundary. But at the other end, Broad grew into his role of chief resistor, and four fours in a single over from Stuart Clark - three intended, one fortuitous - saved England from another unwanted notch in the record books, their heaviest home Ashes defeat, an innings and 180 runs at Trent Bridge in 1989.


Siddle responded to Clark's indignity with a hot-headed over that went for 17, including back-to-back bouncers that soared away for five wides each, and was concluded with a larruped four straight back down the ground, as Broad - who by now had exceeded his father's highest score in a home Ashes Test (37 on this very ground in 1989) - motored towards his second half-century in consecutive matches.


Now it was Swann's turn to get properly stuck into the action. For the second over running, Clark was clobbered for 16 in an over with three more fours, including a perfect pull shot that bisected the field at midwicket. A flat-batted smear off Siddle followed three balls later, whereupon Broad climbed into the biggest and most extravagant thwack of the day, a full-blooded swing that climbed high and handsomely towards Johnson on the long-off boundary, who could only parry a tough chance over the ropes for four.


Six balls later, and Broad once again took the aerial route, straight through the fielder's hands, as he connected with a pull off Clark and left Simon Katich sprawling as he sprinted round to intercept at backward square leg. But the fun could not last forever, and Siddle was the man to make the breakthrough, as Broad failed to get on top of another energetic swipe, and Shane Watson clung on gratefully at deep midwicket. He departed to a standing ovation from a newly invigorated Barmy Army, who had been understandably subdued for much of the morning, but found their voice as the run-rate climbed.


With the duck-happy Steve Harmison now joining him at the crease, Swann decided it was not the time to stand on ceremony, and an effortlessly timed pull through backward square sailed all the way for six to bring up a richly deserved half-century, from only 53 balls. Harmison chimed in with a slashed four over the slip cordon to get his innings up and running, as England went to the break still trailing by 98 runs, but with their morale lifted for the first time in the game.


After the resumption, however, the end came swiftly. Swann's uncompromising performance came to an end when he swished outside off to Johnson and was adjudged caught-behind for 62 from 72 balls, whereupon Onions - on a king pair after his first-innings extraction - was struck on the gloves first-up by a ball that very nearly dribbled onto his stumps. In the event, he survived just seven deliveries as Johnson nipped one off the seam to peg back his off stump, and Australia march south to London with their morale sky-high.

The Ashes at stake in Oval battle

August 19, 2009

Match facts

Thursday, August 20-24, 2009
Start time 11.00 (10.00 GMT)



Big Picture


For the second time in four years, the destination of the Ashes will be decided at the same venue where the legend was conceived way back in 1882. In 2005, The Oval in South London was the stage for one of the most wildly celebrated draws of all time, as a jittery England overcame their final-day nerves, thanks to an eye-poppingly aggressive 158 from Kevin Pietersen, a performance that carried his team clear of disaster and all the way to an open-top bus parade through Trafalgar Square the following morning.


This time, Pietersen will not be around to mop his colleagues' brows - his dodgy right Achilles underwent surgery after the second Test, and he might not even be fit in time for the tour to South Africa this winter. Instead, all of England's hopes and prayers are invested in their other modern-day colossus, Andrew Flintoff, who missed the fourth-Test debacle at Headingley due to doubts about his right knee, but is certain to be thrust into the fray for what is scheduled to be his final Test appearance.


Flintoff has said that success in this summer's Ashes would be an achievement to surpass even his magnificent performance four years ago, and those sentiments have been echoed by Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, who has spent most of the year playing down the significance of that defeat, but has now gone on record as saying that this week is the perfect opportunity for vengeance. The quality of the cricket may not have touched the heights we saw when Australia were last on England's shores, but the level of competitiveness has scarcely diminished a notch.


Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

England - LDWDW
Australia - WDLDL


Watch out for…


Jonathan Trott: A Test debut is, by its very nature, an anxious occasion, but spare a thought for England's 645th and latest selection. At the age of 28, and with nearly a decade of first-class experience to fall back on, including a stellar 2009 in which he has averaged more than 80 to date, Trott is as well prepared as he could possibly hope to be for such an auspicious occasion. But there's no way that this was part of England's summer masterplan. The loss of Pietersen, and the abject failure of a supine middle-order at Headingley, has forced the selectors into a drastic selection. Still, South African-born batsmen have a handy record in Oval Ashes deciders, so that's something.

Mitchell Johnson: Try as we might, it's been hard to tear our eyes away from Johnson's travails this summer. At Cardiff he was poor, at Lord's he was appalling. At Edgbaston he showed signs of a resurgence but was still clobbered at five runs an over. And then at Headingley, everything clicked. Suddenly he was fast and straight, with a vicious bouncer and devastating late swing from a full length, and he was too good for England's abject batsmen. A five-wicket haul was the reward for his - and the selectors' - perseverance, and at last the hype that had accompanied him back from South Africa seemed justified. More of the same at The Oval, and England may struggle to stay in the contest.


Team news


Trott's debut is the big news, Flintoff's return is the secondary story. Ian Bell's promotion to No. 3 has raised an array of eyebrows from those who've studied his average in that position (31.00) and ascertained that he is a glug of ketchup short of a full bottle, and the identity of the fifth bowler remains the mystery to keep us on our toes until the toss. Monty Panesar is in the frame as a potential second spinner, Ryan Sidebottom is lurking to provide some extra lateral movement. More likely, however, is Steve Harmison's retention on a ground that suits his style, with the unlucky Graham Onions returning to the bench through no fault of his own.

England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Jonathan Trott, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison.

All week the talk from the Australian camp has left English observers incredulous. How could they possibly contemplate leaving out Stuart Clark, a player with 29 wickets in six Ashes Tests, and the man whose straight lines and subtle swing goaded his colleagues into abandoning their scattergun approach at Headingley, to dramatically successful effect. Two players, however, are competing for a recall. Brett Lee, the reverse-swing specialist, as Ricky Ponting described him this week, and Nathan Hauritz, the unassuming spinner who has been working on his strategies with Saqlain Mushtaq. Hauritz is probably the likeliest to return, but an all-seam attack deserves to remain the attack of choice.

Australia (probable) 1 Simon Katich, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Stuart Clark, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.


Pitch and conditions


Dry and bare, but invariably a true wicket, The Oval offers rewards to sides who risk two spinners, but there is plenty of bounce and carry for the seamers on either side as well. "Any bowler who is not on top of their game can expect to be punished, particularly once the batsmen are in," Chris Adams, Surrey's cricket manager, told Cricinfo. "Australia certainly have in-form batsmen at the moment, and it could be quite painful for the bowlers if they're allowed to get set."

The big concern for both teams, but especially England who desperately need to win, is the weather forecast. It has been glorious in London all week, but the rain is set to return with a vengeance this week.


Stats and trivia



England have won 37 and lost 18 of the 91 matches they have played at The Oval, while Australia won 6 and lost 15 out of 34. With three wins, two draws and one defeat since 1985, it is England's most successful Ashes venue in recent times.


In the four Tests in the series so far, Australia's fast bowlers - Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Johnson and Clark - have averaged 28.11 per wicket for their 53 scalps.



England's fast men - James Anderson, Onions, Stuart Broad, Flintoff and Harmison - have conceded more than 37 runs per wicket.


For a full stats preview click here.


Quotes


"There is nothing bigger than playing a deciding Test in an Ashes series, and you have to grab these moments when they present themselves because you may never experience such a match ever again."
Ricky Ponting has been around the block a few times in his 14-year international career, but it doesn't get bigger than this

"If we win this one it will be a far greater achievement than 2005. That was fantastic but the side had performed well over a period of time and we'd beaten everyone in the world."
Andrew Flintoff believes his final Test could be his finest hour

Siddle makes England rue missed opportunities

August 20, 2009

England 307 for 8 (Bell 72, Siddle 4-63) v Australia

England's batsmen squandered a glorious opportunity to take control of the fifth and final Test at The Oval, as an Australian attack lacking the services of a specialist spinner overcame a dry, dusty and pace-free wicket to chisel out eight first-day wickets after losing an important toss. Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss contributed chalk-and-cheese half-centuries to a close-of-play total of 307 for 8, while Jonathan Trott marked his Test debut with a composed 41, but once again, no single batsman was able to make the day his own. And as a series century count of 7 to 1 in Australia's favour will testify, that has been the single biggest difference between the two sides.

Nevertheless, it was far from doom and gloom for England. Though Graeme Swann fell to the final ball of the day to give Peter Siddle a richly deserved fourth wicket, his spirited eighth-wicket stand of 39 with Stuart Broad had carried England clear of an embarrassing late-evening collapse, and given them an insight into how this surface might play as the match wears on.

Siddle was the statistical pick of Australia's attack with 4 for 63 in 18.3 overs, but the most significant bowler on show was arguably the part-time offspinner, Marcus North, who found rip and bounce from the sizeable first-day footholds, and left Ricky Ponting questioning his retention of the all-seam attack that had run riot in the fourth Test at Headingley. It remains to be seen what a par score will be on this wicket, but a total of 350 may yet prove competitive.

For the first two sessions, the backbone of England's performance was Bell, whose 72 was his sixth half-century in his last eight Tests against Australia, and arguably his most significant yet, notwithstanding his dispiriting failure to push on to three figures. Five balls after tea, having begun to bat with as much composure as at any time in his 49-Test career, he propped forward to Siddle in a half-formed defensive push, and lost his off stump via a fat inside-edge.

Up until that point, Bell had been the focal point of England's batting performance, first as a target for Australia's aggression, and then later, as his confidence grew, as the main source of forward momentum. He came to the crease as early as the sixth over, when Alastair Cook's poor series continued with a prod to second slip off Siddle, and immediately the ghosts of 2005 swirled into view, as Bell came within a whisker of picking up his third Ashes duck in a row at the venue, when Siddle crashed a fifth-ball bouncer into his wrist.

But Bell survived, and even began to thrive with Siddle offering him room to work the ball off his toes into the leg-side. He was peppered three times in a searing first over from Mitchell Johnson, then snatched at a drive as Stuart Clark offered a rare hint of width and skewed a thick edge through third man for four, but to his credit, he did not buckle and raced through the 30s with a brace of fours off Ben Hilfenhaus, as the undisputed class of his strokeplay began to become the decisive factor in his performance.

At the other end, virtually unnoticed as Bell took the heat of the bowling, was Strauss, seemingly aloof to the big-match nerves, just as he had been on this ground in 2005 when he rose above the occasion to set England's platform with a first-day century. He was given a range of welcome sighters when Hilfenhaus served up his most disappointing new-ball spell of the summer, then hurtled to his third half-century of the series with three fours in an over from Siddle, including a sublime clip off the toes to reach lunch on exactly 50 not out.

But the second session had barely begun when Strauss gave his great start away, hanging a limp bat outside off to his seventh delivery after the break, and grazing a low nick through to Brad Haddin off Hilfenhaus. It later transpired that the wicket-taking delivery should have been called as a massive no-ball, but it was a rare case of batsman error in a previously blemish-free performance. Strauss departed, head bowed, for 55 from 101 balls, and England were teetering just a fraction on 114 for 2.

Out to the middle came Paul Collingwood, promoted to No. 4, the position from which he made a double-century against Australia at Adelaide in 2006-07, and the move appeared to have focussed his mind after a limp run of innings since his match-saving 74 at Cardiff. With Bell now settled, having reached his fifty with a clip for four off Hilfenhaus, Collingwood played the sheet anchor, reaching 24 from 65 balls before his weakness outside off stump once again resurfaced, as he squirted a fat edge to Mike Hussey in the gully off Siddle.

England went to tea on 180 for 3 and their platform still seemed solid enough, even though Trott came close to running himself out while searching for his maiden Test run, which he eventually managed with a clip for two through midwicket from his 12th delivery. But five balls into the final session, the casual scenario was shredded when Bell's loss of concentration gifted Australia their fourth wicket of the day, and left their hosts' fortunes in the hands of a rookie.

Trott responded with the confidence and patience befitting a man with a season's first-class average of 80. Clark in particular tested his perceived penchant for working off-stump deliveries through midwicket, but his first boundary in Test cricket was a crashing drive through the covers that Kevin Pietersen could not have bettered, and with Matt Prior counterattacking in trademark fashion during a fifth-wicket stand of 48, England looked well placed to overcome their jitters.

Johnson, however, suckered Prior on 18 with a devious slower ball that was poked airily to point, and though Andrew Flintoff received a predictably rapturous welcome in the first act of his final Test appearance, he never looked likely to continue England's momentum. A sixth-ball steer through backward point was the highlight of his innings, before Johnson's extra bounce induced a snicked cut through to the keeper.

Broad got off the mark with looping cut that yorked Ponting at slip and bounced away to the boundary, but the big breakthrough came courtesy of a stunning snaffle and shy from Simon Katich at short leg, who kept his eye on another firm clip off the pads from Trott, steadied himself as the batsman pushed off instinctively for a single, and pinged down the stumps for the most clear-cut of run-outs. It was an ignominious way for Trott's maiden Test innings to come to an end, but his 41 from 81 balls had gone a long way towards establishing his credentials.

Broad and Swann give England control

August 21, 2009

England 332 (Bell 72, Siddle 4-75, Hilfenhaus 3-71) and 58 for 3 (Strauss 32*, Trott 8*) lead Australia 160 (Broad 5-37, Swann 4-38) by 230 runs

Stuart Broad produced a bowling performance to rival that of Andrew Flintoff at Lord's, and Graeme Swann chimed in with four vital wickets on a dry and dusty track, as Australia felt their grip on the Ashes being prised away, finger by finger, on a sensational second day at The Oval. Responding to England's first-innings 332, the Aussies collapsed from a confident but never comfortable 61 for 0 at lunch to 160 all out shortly after tea, conceding a first-innings deficit of 172 in the process, as well as every ounce of the momentum they had established during their fourth-Test triumph at Headingley.


Australia did recover from that nadir to claw back some lost initiative, claiming three key wickets in the closing overs of the day as the frailties of England's dodgy batting card were exposed once again. Nevertheless, with Andrew Strauss remaining unperturbed on 32, and England's lead extended to an already imposing 230, the majority of the demons remain with the side facing the prospect of batting last on a dustbowl that has more in common with Kanpur than Kennington. In particular, the manner of Alastair Cook's dismissal - caught at slip as Australia's part-timer, Marcus North, ripped an offspinner across his bows - was ample proof of the traumas that lie ahead.


It was a stunning and memorable day's play dredged from the depths of Australia's worst nightmares, and their desperate afternoon session - in which they lost eight wickets for 72 in 24.4 incredible overs - is shaping up to be the decisive passage of play of the summer. Each of those eight breakthroughs was greeted with riotous acclaim by an absorbed and pumped-up crowd, as England's bowlers surfed a wave of emotion to exploit once again the peculiar frailties of an Aussie batting order that, for all its myriad successes this summer, has now failed calamitously in three of their five first innings in the series.


The star of England's show was Broad, who was thrown the ball for the second full over after a 50-minute rain delay, and responded with a full and straight 12-over spell that perfectly exploited a pitch showing increasing signs of uneven bounce. He claimed the first four wickets to fall for eight runs in the space of 21 deliveries, and then - after Swann had extracted the obdurate pairing of North and Simon Katich - wrapped up his second five-wicket haul in consecutive innings by yorking Brad Haddin for 1.


Fifteen wickets in all fell in the day, including (way back in the mists of time) that of James Anderson, whose first Test duck after six years and 54 innings might have been a portent of the chaos to come. Though Australia somehow reached lunch unscathed after 20.2 overs of hard graft, Shane Watson and Katich had been forced to scrap for every one of the 61 runs in their opening stand. Watson in particular tempted fate with three consecutive lbw appeals in the space of seven deliveries, but after the resumption, he fell to the very first delivery he received from Broad, nailed plumb lbw for 34 to prise open the floodgates.

Ricky Ponting was the next man in, and though he emerged to loud acclaim - the boos of Edgbaston a distant memory - his personal jitters were transparently plain to see. Sensing that the wicket was already a minefield, he got off the mark with an under-edged cut for four off Broad, and then survived a frenzied lbw appeal in the next over as he shouldered arms to Flintoff. But before he could settle, Broad cramped him on the back foot, and he inside-edged a loose drive onto his middle stump for 8.


Three Broad deliveries later, and Mike Hussey's traumatic series had taken another turn for the worse, as he thrust out his front pad and was sent on his way lbw for a duck - the decision looked tight on the replay, but stone-dead to the naked eye. And when Michael Clarke, Australia's star of the summer, drove fiercely into the covers in a bid to impose some authority, he picked out the debutant Jonathan Trott, who swooped superbly to cling onto a stinging low catch.


From 73 for 0, Australia had drifted listlessly to 93 for 4, with only the obdurate Katich providing any sort of sheet-anchor. He opened the face of his bat to steer Broad through the gully to move to 49, but then at the other end, Swann got into the act - in a somewhat fortuitous fashion - as North thrust his bat and pad forward to a non-spinning delivery on middle stump, and was adjudged lbw for 8 despite evidence that the bat had won the race.


North grinned wryly as he departed the crease, but there was little he or Australia could do to halt England's momentum, and in his next over, Swann claimed the vital wicket of Katich, who once again played for non-existent turn on a pitch creating demons in the mind, and popped a facile chance off his bat and pad-flap to Cook at short leg for exactly 50. Nine balls later, and Broad was back on centre stage. Haddin came down late on a stump-splattering yorker, and Australia's last recognised batsman had joined the procession.


Mitchell Johnson did what he could to jump-start a flatlining innings, smacking Swann for two lusty fours in a single over, but with tea looming he became the eighth casualty of the session, stunningly snaffled by Matt Prior behind the stumps, who read the big turn off the pitch, and moved sharply to his left to cling onto an edged drive.


Australia limped to tea on 133 for 8, and though Stuart Clark was hugely unfortunate to be adjudged caught at short leg for 6 when his bat was nowhere near the ball, Peter Siddle thrashed a skittish 26 not out as he and Ben Hilfenhaus hung around long enough to haul their side past the 150 mark. But Flintoff claimed his share of the limelight by yorking Hilfenhaus for 6, to complete an incredible and series-transforming two-and-a-half hours of cricket.


Still the procession of wickets was not over, however. With a session and three days in which to cement their advantage, England felt no need to rush their reply, but with the score on 27, Cook's unconvincing series came to an end as North nailed him for 9, before Ian Bell was somewhat unluckily extracted for 4, as he got on top of a short ball from his nemesis Johnson, only for Katich at short leg to hold onto a remarkable reflex catch inches from the turf. One over later, and Katich was back in the action when Johnson found Paul Collingwood's splice with an effort ball, but Trott provided convincing and confident support for his captain, Strauss, to enable England to finish on a high.