England Wins 2nd Ashes Test, Defeats Australia by 347 Runs

               England won the first test of Ashes series 2013 in close encounter by 15 runs. That set up a good platform for the second test in Mecca of Cricket Lords. English team came in this match with one change in the squad that played in the first change. England replaced Steven Finn with T Bresnan while Australian team made two changes namely Ryan Harris in place of out form M Starc and U Khwaja was included in squad at the place of struggling Ed Cowan. English team won the second test match by 347 runs within 4 days and took 2-0 lead over the Australian. This win is special for English team as it is their 50^th test win at “Mecca of Cricket” the Lords.

 For More About Ashes Visit : History of Ashes Cricket Series

Cook and Clarke with Ashes Trophy

Toss: England won the Toss and decided to bat first.

First Inning

England

England got horrible start in 2^nd test match as they lost top three batsmen for just 28 runs on the board in 6^th over of the inning.  Now Trott and last match centurion Ian Bell were on the pitch. They started the process of innings building and stopped Australian from picking any wicket till the lunch. At Lunch England score was 80 runs at the loss of 3 wickets.

After Lunch, Trott and bell carried the inning to the total of 100 in 29^th over. Soon Trott completed his fifty and was looking in good touch before he got out scoring 58 runs at the team score of 127. Next came in J Bairstow to provide company to Bell who was carrying on his good form.  Bairstow got a life when he was bowled on a no ball. But, after that he played with full confidence while Ian Bell completed his fifty before going for the tea. At tea, English team score was 183 at the loss of 4 wickets.

Ian Bell After hitting the Century

Coming from tea, England quickly touched the mark of 200. Bairstow completed his 50 in the match as well as 100 runs partnership with Ian Bell for 5^th wicket. Bell and Bairstow looking in great touch and they put England in somewhat good condition. Soon, Bell completed his 2^nd consecutive hundred in the series. Soon after scoring his century Bell got out  scoring 109 at the team score of 271. Bairstow followed Bell soon, and in no time the England score was 313/9.But Last pair of Swann and Broad put up a partnership of 48 runs and took the English score to 361 before Broad got out scoring 33 runs.

Ryan Harris Celebrating a Wicket

Ryan Harris making his comeback in Australian squad bowled exceptionally well but got no support from other end. Harris picked up 5wickets for 72 runs while Steve Smith picked up 3 wickets. Pattinson and Watson picked up 1 wicket each while Siddle and Agar went wicket less in this inning.

Brief Score: England-361 (Bell-109, Bairstow-67, Harris-74/5, Smith 18/3)

Australia

Watson and Rogers gave Australia good start, before Watson got out scoring 30 runs. It has been a problem with Watson as he has many good starts but failed to convert that in big innings. Dismissal of Watson opened the flood gate Australia kept loosing wickets. Australia lost Rogers, Khwaka and Hughes by the team score of 69. Steve Smith tried to stop the fall of wickets with Captain Clarke and carried the score to 86.

At 86, Australia lost Smith and in no time the Australia were 9 down for only 104 runs. Tail Enders Harris and Pattinson carried the score to 128 before Harris got out. Australia trailing by 253 runs and Follow on was on the card, but the England decided against it and they choose to bat.

Spell from Swann led to the collapse of Australian inning in first wicket

Every English bowler picked up a wicket in the first innings of Australia. More than the English bowling it was Australian batting who were responsible for this collapse. Graeme Swann especially created most trouble for Aussies and bundled them at so low score. Graeme Swann picked 5 wickets while 2 wickets picked by Bresnan. One wicket picked up by each Anderson and Broad.

Brief Score: Australia-128 (Watson-30, Swann-44/5, Bresnan-28/2).

Second Innings

England

Leading by the score of 253, English team started their 2^nd innings. But, Cook failed again and got out at the team score of 22. Soon, Australian bowlers were all over as they departed Trott and Pieterson in time. Bresnan was sent as the night watch man to accompany the Joe Root. Root along with T Bresnan put on a partnership of 99 runs and in between he also completed his 50. Bresnan scored useful 38 runs before getting out at the score of 129.

Ian Bell after hitting the century

Man in form Ian Bell came at no.6 and provided the inning required solidity and kept the score board ticking at good pace.  Joe Root completed his 2^nd test century with a boundary. As soon as the Root completed his century, both Root and Bell started scoring rapidly. In quick time Bell to completed his 36^th test fifty of just 82 balls.  The partnership between the two broken with the dismissal of Ian Bell scoring 74 runs at the team score of 282. Bell missed another century and got out on a loose shot.

Joe Root Celebrating his first Ashes Century

Bell replaced by the Bairstow and they took the inning forward. Root completed his 150 with a single. Bairstow and Root put together 62 runs, then Bairstow gets out scoring 20 runs and soon he is followed by the Joe Root who scored 180. With the dismissal of Root at the score of 349, England declared their inning. England had the overall lead of 582 runs and to chase that Australia has to write the history.    

Australian bowlers couldn’t cash on the opportunity they could have when they picked up three quick wickets. They struggled even to get out the night watchman. Peter Siddle picked up 3 wickets in second innings while first inning hero also managed to pick up 2 wickets. J Pattinson and S Smith picked up one wicket each.

Brief Score : England (Root-180, Bell-74, Siddle-65/3, Harris-31/2).

Australia

Australia was given a target of 583 to win the test and equalize the series in little more than 5 sessions. But they started their inning very badly and they lost Watson, Rogers and Hughes in no time having a score of 36 runs. Now the onus was Captain Clarke and U Khwaja to carry the innings. They did pretty well and put up a good looking partnership of 98 runs.

Usman Khwaja Top scorer for Australian in 2nd test match

 Both of them completed their fifty and it looked like as Australia is going to fight hard. But at the score 134, Clarke was dismissed by the Root scoring 51 runs. It is frequently seen in the game of cricket whenever a set batsman get out of the partnership second partner gets out soon as well. Same thing happened here and in no time Khwaja got out too and he was followed by the Smith. U Khwaja made 54 runs.

With the breakup of partnership the falling of wicket started and quickly Australia were reeling on the score of 162 runs at 8 wickets. Now the tail enders were trying to extend the defeat as long as they could but they could extend it for long and Australia bowled out at the score of 235 runs. Australian tail-enders put up 30 runs and 43 runs partnership for 9^th and 10^th wicket respectively but they couldn’t avoid the 347 runs loss in the test.

Graeme Swann like in first inning did brilliant job in the second inning too. Swann picked up 4 wickets while Anderson, Root and Bresnan picked up 2 wickets each. Stuart Broad went wicket less in the second inning.

Brief Score: Australia (Khwaja-54, Clarke-51, Swann-78/4, Root-9/2)

Joe Root was Awarded Man of the Match

Joe Root was awarded the Man of the match for his brilliant 180 runs. There were other notable performances like 9 wickets in the match from Swann and innings of 109 and 74 by Ian bell. But 180 in the pressure situation and two crucial wickets of set batsmen Clarke and Khwaja made Root man of the match.

It is for the first time in ashes series since 1986, England got a 2-0 lead over the Aussies. Batting has been the main concern for the Australian team. The tail-enders has performed much better batting average than the top order in first 2 tests. Now, they have good time of 10 days to think about these things and go on the ground with a winning combination.