England Demolish Australia to go 2-0 up

INVESTEC ASHES SERIES 2013:  2ND TEST  (LORDS):   ENGLAND WON BY 347  RUNS

England took a giant step to retaining the ASHES Urn as they thrashed a poor Australian side by 347 runs at the home of Cricket , Lords.

Just like in the First Test at Trent Bridge, England Captain Alistair Cook won the toss and chose to bat again, and England hoped to make sure they put up a better fist of things in their First Innings than compared to the opening Innings in the 1st test.

Once again the England top ordered stuttered their way forwads , as Alistair Cook made just (12) till he was LBW off Shane Watson. Joe Root went the same way shortly after, with Ryan Harris trapping him LBW for (6) as Harris who came into the side for Mitchell Starc and the fast bowler shown what he could do.

Kevin Pietersen came in and went in two balls as he scored a measly (2) before edging to Haddin behind as Pietersen made yet another poor performance with the bat.

Ian Bell continued where he left off in Nottingham, as he played a great innings along with Jonathon Trott, who isn`t always the flashiest player in the England side, but he can grind a score out and that`s what he did as he posted (58), before Khawaja caught him out off the bowling of Harris and saw England 127 for 4.

Ian Bell & Johnny Bairstow put on a good partnership, which saw Bell once again reach triple digits as he reached his hundred, before falling to Steve Smith with Clarke taking the catch and went off to a standing ovation as he notched up (109) with 16 Four`s to his name, and moments later Bairstow followed him back to the pavilion as he hit a shot right back at Smith, who did well to hold on as he departed for (67) and England were 274-6.

Matt Prior failed once again with the bat as he scored a poor (6) runs,  on the opening ball of Day 2, Tim Bresnan edged behind off Harris bowling for (7) as it gave Australia the perfect start to the day.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson managed to stick around for a bit as both of them frustrated the Australian bowlers, as they scored a fair few runs for England. That was till Anderson was caught by Haddin off the bowling of Harris, as Harris picked up a 5 wicket haul in the process as he got the Lancashire pace man out for (12).

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Graeme Swann then came into bat and played quickly knock as he smashed a couple of fours away to get England into a very healthy position.

Stuart Broad was the last man to go in the innings, as he was given out for an edge behind, to which Broad much to the Aussies dismay asked for the decision to be reviewed. Hot Spot shown a faint mark on the bat and so the decision stood, meaing Broad was out for (33), with his Nottinghamshire team-mate Swann Not Out on 28.  England posted 361 in their first Innings and that looked to be a decent score.

Ryan Harris showed his gratitude to the trust shown to him by the Australian Selectors for picking him, as Harris took 5 for 72 with Spinner Steve Smith grabbing 3 for 18 in 6 Overs.

Australia now hoped that their batters could perform and quell the England bowling attack that they suffered from in Nottingham previously.

The opening Australian pair of Watson & Rogers got the Tourists off to a steady opening as they looked to be getting off to a good start, that was till Tim Bresnan came into the attack and he shown his own thanks towards the England management, as he removed Opener Shane Watson LBW for (30) as he was out plumb.

Watson didn`t agree with decision and chose to waste a review on it and unsurprisingly it was upheld, so he went back to the locker room and in the process costing his side a review.

Chris Rogers then went for (15) to a bizarre dismissal from Graeme Swann. Swann it seemed tried to perform a full toss that went wrong and slipped out of his hand, resulting in hitting Rogers who had lost sight of it in flight, hit him between hip & knee.

Erasmus who was the man of controversy in the 1st Test with his decisions, made another decision as he gave Rogers out, which had both bowler and batsman shaking their heads in a "What happened " moment.

Replays shown the ball was missing by a bit too and so Australia lost another batsman and missed the best chance to use a review for a real error.

Phil Hughes came and went as he scored (1) after Bresnan delivery was caught by Prior behind and after Hughes used up his sides Final Review up and Australia found themselves 53-3.

Usman Khawaja was next to go, as Swann was starting to  Spinning his magic on the Aussies. Khawaja tried to smash him down the pitch but managed to just loft it high up in the sun and Pietersen watched intently coming down and he took the catch to send him packing on (14).

Steve Smith also fell to Swann for (2) as Bell took a magnificent sharp reaction catch to get rid of him, after Bell had to move one way and then shifted his body quickly backwards to take the catch.

Michael Clarke`s resistance was broken at the hands of Stuart Broad, as the Pace man got the Captain out for (28) with a LBW decision and the Aussies were in free fall now as they found themselves 91 for 6.

Ashton Agar came in for the Tourists, And they hoped he could replicate his innings from the First Test as they needed someone to rescue their faltering Innings. However it didn`t happen as Agar and Haddin got in a muddle with Prior running for the loose ball and launching it to the non strikers end where Anderson was waiting and he whipped the bails off to run out Agar for (2) and left them in deep deep trouble at 96-7.

Siddle then became number 8 out, as a disguised Anderson delivery had him stumped (pardon the pun) as Siddle hit it right at Swann for (2), and the next over saw Swan grab his 4th wicket of the innings as he got the last major danger out in the shape of Brad Haddin, as Haddin nicked it to Prior behind and he went for (7) and Australia were in tatters and disarray.

James Pattinson and Ryan Harris made a stand as they put on a further 24 runs to the total, as Swann ultimately had the last word on the Tourists innings, with Harris trying to take him on but looped it high up and Pietersen was on hand once again to take the catch and England had skittled the Australians out for 128, with Harris and Pattinson both ending up on (10).

Swann torn the Australian line up apart as he became the first England spin bowler to take 5 wickets at Lords since Hedley Verity in 1934. Swann ended up with 5 for 44 along with Tim Bresnan grabbing 2 for 28 and the two Usual suspects in Broad & Anderson having quiet stats of 1 for 25 and Anderson getting 1 for 26.

England had a lead of 233 still from their 1st innings score and despite bowling out the opposition for 128, England decided not to enforce the follow-on and so tried to set a massive total for the Australians to try and chase down ..or survive at the very least.

England were looking at a getting a lead of around the area of 450, England weren`t that bothered if they lost a couple of wickets as long as they could post a good 2^nd Innings knock, and hit at least 400+ overall combined.

Alistair Cook & Joe Root came to the crease to build on the lead they currently held already and it took the 10th over for a wicket to fall, as Cook played the ball onto his stumps, off a Peter Siddle delivery as the England Captain made a score of (8).

Trott fared no better, the Warwickshire man went for a duck too as he played on his wickets as well off Siddle.

England needed to get back on track quickly and unfortunately Pietersen thrown away his wicket early, as the Australians played to his ego and his ego got the best of him as he played at a ball swinging away from him and he hit it right to hands of Chris Rogers and so he went for (5).

Tim Bresnan then came in as Night watchman, much like he had the previous evening as he and Joe Root both kept the Aussie bowlers at bay as they played out the remaining overs till close.

On Day 3 Bresnan avoided a repeat first ball of the morning dismissal, as he and Root moved England on from 31 for 3 onto 129 for 4, with Tim Bresnan going after he struck it towards Chris Rogers at Square and caught him out. Bresnan played a good innings as the Yorkshire man went for a spirited knock of (38).

Joe Root kick started a slow innings by England as Bresnan and him had blocked and played cautiously.

Root now used the dismissal of his County Colleague as a springboard, as his innings unravelled into a mixture of different shots, as he reached his maiden hundred in the process.

His partner at the other end was Ian Bell who knew the big 100 feeling, as he scored a couple of big centuries already. Bell was  playing a good knock too and was lucky to have stayed out on the field too, as a "catch" by Steve Smith was referred to by the video ref as it was unsure if he got his fingers under the ball before hitting the ground. Replays shown he seemed to have caught him, butthe umpire watching the footage gave NOT OUT. Thats decision didn`t sit well with Australia and Smith was shaking his head for a long period of time after too.
Bell fell late on, after he picked out Chris Rogers off the bowling of Steve Smith for (74).

Johnny Bairstow joined his Yorkshire team-mate at the crease as Root moved past 150 and closed on Day 3 with 178 with some amazing shots as he struck 18 Fours, 2 Sixes in his batting display as he helped England get a lead of 550 as Day 3 ended.

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Day 4 saw Johnny Bairstow depart for (20) and Root added a couple more runs to his overnight total before he played a shot too many , as the Youngster tried to play a scoop shot and saw his effort go down to third man and taken.

Root was out for 180 and got a standing ovation from the crowd in Lords, Prior was left unbeaten on (1) as England declared on 349.The scenario was now, Australia needed 583 to win the game and draw the series, but that was impossible to get for them, as they had lacked the concentration ability to apply themselves to the task.

Australia came out hoping to bat out the day at the very least, that looked along way off, after Shane Watson once again was LBWed by a lovely delivery by Anderson for (20). Rogers followed very quickly after, as he was bowled by Swann comically as Rogers just left the ball expecting it to do nothing and it straightened and hit the stumps, leaving Rogers looking foolish as Australia were now 32-2 and that dismissal summed up Australia in that series.

Hughes was next to go as Swann got him LBW, Umpire Dharmasena gave him out, but Hughes wanted it reviewed and the replay shown it was hitting leg stump so Australia lost one review and it was now 36-3.

PIC: Cricinfo

Michael Clarke and Usman Khawaja steadied the rocky Australian ship,  as they both found a bit of form with the bat as both men passed their half centuries. 

Michael Clarke took a blow as a delivery off Stuart Broad, hit the Australian Captain right in the middle of head and flush on the badge on the helmet. 

That was as good as it got for Clarke, as Joe Root was having a blinder of a game as he removed the Aussie Captain for (51) with Cook taking the catch and removing his opposite number.

Khawaja then became Root`s next victim as he edged to Anderson at slips for (54), Steve Smith left soon after with Prior taking the catch, but Smith immediately reviewed straight away as he didn`t believe he hit it. Hot Spot shown a faint mark on the bat and so the decision stood and he went for (1).

                                                                             

Agar played a small cameo of (16) before he controversial given out too, as England asked for the review as England made a huge appeal which was turned down by Marius Erasmus from South Africa.

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 The replay shown no actual evidence of a wicket or any type of marking on bat on hot spot, as it looked like he hit the ground as the ball went by for the sound. 

Everyone expected the decision to stand and was shocked when Tony Hill from New Zealand as 3^rd Umpire gave the decision to give Agar out, as he said it was based on the noise he heard for the dismissal.

Australia was 154-7 and when Haddin head a brain lapse when he stuck a pad out block it, he did so in line with the wickets and was given out straight away by the umpire, leaving the Tourists floundering at 162 for 8 with 421 left to get.

Siddle once again showed he could bat a bit, as he made a respectable (18) before James Anderson bowled him and left one remaining wicket to get for Victory. 

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James Pattinson and Ryan Harris put on another 10th wicket stand as they tried to delay the inevitable, however Swan who took the final wicket, as the ball spun back to hit Pattinson on the pads in line with the stumps.

Pattinson was furious at first, as he thought the dismissal was for a catch when it was actually an LBW, as he was for gone for (35) and Harris was left not out on (16). England wrapped up the match and took a 2-0 series lead with 3 tests left to play now.

pic: ECB.com

Graeme Swann was the pick of the bowlers again, with the Spinner getting 4 for 78. James Anderson got 2 for 55 with Tim Bresnan grabbing a brace of wickets, along with the unlikeliest name of Joe Root on the wicket column, as he finished off a Man of the man performance with career best stats of 2 wickets for 9 runs in just 7 overs.

Joe Root was rightly awarded the Man of the Match award, as his batting display of 180 and his bowling ability, shown it made it a no-brainer to give him the gong.