The Ashes Blog

Australia: 419
England: 161
Australia wins by an innings and 99 runs

It was yet another comfortable win for the Australians, with all of the bowlers contributing in another standout performance. Brett Lee’s 4 wickets were just reward for the way he bowled … he obviously had plenty of Weet-Bix for breakfast. Stuart Clark also bowled beautifully, and together with Lee’s bag of 4, there weren’t too many left for Messrs Warne and McGrath.

For the English, Chris Read did really well behind the stumps, taking 6 catches, and making 26no with the bat. It was to be expected, after all, for once again England has brought a capable player into the side too late for him to have any positive impact on the series.

The Australian and English media have been calling for Kevin Pietersen’s elevation to number 4, and finally the England management gave in, though one wonders whether the timing was appropriate. England were struggling at 2 for 48 when ‘The Ego’ surprisingly came out to bat one spot higher than he has all summer. The experiment was allegedly KP’s suggestion, though it didn’t work out with the former South African adding just 1 run to the England total before being bowled by a delicious Stuart Clark off cutter.

Aside from that the only other real talking point was the poor umpiring from Rudi Koertzen, who seemed intent on not giving any LBW decisions for the entire match. I remember when I did a season as a professional umpire. In one game I was far too generous with my LBW dismissals, raising the finger for just about anything. The day after the game I received a call from the cricket association’s umpiring chief, who, in a very kind way, reminded me that I should be a little more judicious in my decision making. I’d reckon Rudi Koertzen might be receiving a similar phone call.

So now we head off to Sydney for the fifth Test. The Australians are red hot favourites to win the final Test in the harbour city, with England looking about as demoralised as they have all tour. We all scoffed at Glenn McGrath’s predictions that Australia would win 5-0, and now he gets the chance to prove us all wrong in his final Test.

England: 159
Australia: 2/48

The series is all over as far as a final result is concerned, but the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne is always special, and with the forthcoming retirements of a couple of old Aussies this one’s particularly ’shuper’ (thank you, Richie). Around 4 million fans turned up at the ‘G today, and although not quite a ground record, it certainly added a bit of atmosphere to the place.

England batted first on what turned out to be a bowlers wicket. They started off ok, although the scoring rate was dreadfully slow, chugging along at just 2 runs an over. It looked like Adelaide all over again, especially once the wickets started to fall. Warnie picked up his 700th with a ripper of a delivery to clean bowl Andrew Strauss for 50, and from there it was all Australia. Pietersen continues to impress with the bat, leaving most people wondering why he doesn’t come in at number 3 or 4. Glenn McGrath didn’t get amongst the wickets today, but his solitary dismissal of Mahmood gave him 150 wickets against England. Well done, Ooh Aah!

Chris Read came into the squad as replacement for Geraint Jones, and immediately had an impact. He made just 3 runs, but that’s, like, 300% more runs than Jones made in two innings at Perth. Someone has mentioned that the England bowlers don’t really like the new guy, so we’ll have to watch out for any signs of team disharmony over the coming days.

The Australians started off really well, but with the late dismissal of Langer and nightwatchman Lee, England were able to get some positives out of the day. If the tourists can grab a few quick ones tomorrow morning then they might be a chance. But, as seems more likely, Australia put on a bit of a run feast, then it’s pretty much all over.

After playing as England’s keeper in both of the tour matches so far, Geraint Jones has been confirmed as wicket keeper for the First Test in Brisbane. Fletcher and Flintoff felt that Jones would handle the pressure better and be a more useful number 7 than Chris Read, although most people would say that Read is the more talented of the two behind the stumps.

The English are also thinking about playing both Ashley Giles and Monty Panesar in a few Tests together, though I’d be surprised if they only went with the 3 quicks in Brisbane. There’s been a bit of stormy, humid weather around here lately so I’d reckon the blokes who can swing the ball could have a little more success than the tweakers.