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.  

Anderson Wins 1st Ashes Test For England Against Australia

               England started their Ashes test series on a winning note. The first test cricket match of the series resulted in the 15 run victory for the English side over the Australia. Spinner Ashton Agar made his debut in this test match for Australia. If he had scored century he has been the first batsman as No.11 to do that in the history of international test cricket. In this test, there was a lot of controversy all thanks to the UDRS.

To know about the Ashes : History of Ashes Cricket Series

English Team Celebrating 1st Test Match Win over Australia

TOSS: English team decided to bat first after winning the toss.

Day I

Batting first on day 1 England lost the opener Cook in 9^th over. With the help of Trott, Cook and Bairstow England managed to score 215 runs. Trott top scored for England, he scored 48 runs. For Australia, it was Peter Siddle who starred with the ball. He picked up five wickets for the 50 runs and he played main role in the collapse of the English innings. J Pattinson picked up 2 wickets while 1 wicket went in the account of Shane Watson.

Siddle Celebrating After Getting Out to Pieterson

 In reply, Australia got bad start and lost both openers by the score of 23 runs. Quickly they lost Captain Clarke and opener Rogers at the team score of 53 runs. They ended the day with 75 runs on board losing 4 wickets. Anderson and Finn picked up two wickets each.

DAY II

Australia started day 2 at the score of 80/4 and lost the wicket of S Smith right after he score his 4^th test fifty at the score of 108 runs. By 117 runs Australia lost 9 wickets and they were looking to give healthy lead to English team. But debutant A Agar and P Hughes put on 163 runs for 10^th wicket and helped Australia to take a lead of 65 runs. Debutant Agar scored 98 runs fell just two run short from the century still making him the highest run scorer as No.11 batsman in history. Hughes remained unbeaten on the score of 81 runs.  

Debutant Agar score 98 runs as No. 11 Batsman

For England, Anderson picked 5 wickets while Swann and Finn picked up 2 wickets each. One wicket went into the account of Stuart Broad who didn’t bowl as much due to injury.

Trailing by  65 runs, England got bad start again they lost two important wickets for the team score of 11. Next in K Pieterson and A Cook put on 59 runs and ended the 2^nd days play at the score of 80 runs losing 2 wickets.

DAY III

England began their inning on day 3 at 80/2. K Pieterson started playing freely while his partner was more than happy to play second fiddle. K Pieterson scored fifty and put on a partnership of 110 runs. Pieterson got out scoring 64 runs which followed by the dismissal of Cook who also scored 50 runs. By the score of 218 England lost Bairstow and Prior and it looked like as if they are going to get out soon.

But Ian Bell and S Broad played sensibly and put on healthy partnership and stopped the further loss of wicket for England. I Bell remained not out at the score 95 runs while Broad on 47runs giving England  healthy lead of 261 runs at the end of 3^rd day.

DAY IV

Leading by 261 runs, Bell and Broad quickly completed their centuries and fifty respectively. It was 18^th century for the Ian Bell. Broad started playing aggressively after scoring his fifty before getting out at 356 scoring 65 runs. Soon, Bell got out at 371 runs and quickly England inning ended at the score of 375 runs. England set the target of 311 for the Australian to win the first Ashes test match. Ian Bell top scored with 109 runs for England.

Ian Bell Scored 109 runs in 2nd Innings for England to set a Target 

In 2^nd inning of England, Starc and Siddle picked up 3 wickets each while Pattinson and debutant Agar picked up 2 wickets each.

Chasing the target of 311 runs to win Watson and Rogers gave good start to Australian team. Australia lost first wicket at the score of 84 runs in the form of Watson. But Australia failed to capitalize on the solid opening and lost 6 wickets by the score of 164 runs. Haddin and Agar ended the day as not out batsman for Australia at the score was 174/6.

DAY V

On the last day of test match Australia needed to score another 135 runs to win while they had only 4 wickets in hand. Their lone hope was the wicket keeper batsman Brad Haddin. He was well accompanied by the debutant Ashton Agar before later got out scoring 14 runs facing 71 deliveries. Anderson quickly removed Starc and Siddle and the score of Australia became 231 runs for 9 wickets.

Australia needed another 80 runs with only one wicket in hand. Haddin and Pattinson put solid fight and they were just 20 runs away from the victory at lunch. After lunch, Haddin got out scoring 71 runs and Australia lost the first test match by 15 runs.

Brad Haddin High Scored for Australia in 2nd inning with 71 runs

For England, Anderson picked up 5 wickets in 2nd innings too and he also picked up last four wickets that fell on last day. Swan and Broad got 2 wickets each and one wicket was picked by Root.

Anderson Took 10 wickets in 1st Test

   
             James Anderson was adjudged Man of the Match for his double five-for. He finished the match with the bowling figure of 158/10. He will be the center of attack for the English team. He is now 3rd highest wicket taker for England in test matches.

            Australian cricket team who was counted out by each and every cricket experts put on healthy fight. They were very close to win the first test match and we can expect good show from them in upcoming test matches as well. If we closely review the performance of both teams we get to see that Australian Batsman failed to perform on crunch situations. Australia need to improve their batting quickly so that they can put on a fight against the inform team of England. Looking at the result we can expect that remaining test matches of the Ashes series are going to very close encounters.

England Favorite in Ashes Cricket Series 2013

                    Ashes is a test cricket series played between the England and Australia. It is the oldest bilateral cricket tournament in the international cricket history. The amount of rivalry, emotion, excitement and passion involved in this tournament, can’t be seen in any other cricket tournament. This test series is played between the two arch rivals in cricket Australia and England. The rivalry is more that 130 years old and it is still growing.

To know more about the Ashes : History of Ashes Cricket Series

England Team with Ashes 2011

This edition of the Ashes is starting from July 10^th 2013 at Nottingham. England the current champions will defend it against the Australians in their courtyard. English team will be lead by the Alistair Cook while the mighty Australians will be lead by Michael Clarke. England is currently ranked 2^nd in test cricket while the Australians are currently ranked 4^th in ICC test rankings 2013.

ENGLAND

The defending champions have played very good cricket throughout the year under the captaincy of Alistair Cook. English team has played well in all forms of the cricket that adds lot of confidence in the squad.  England did very well especially in test format under Cook and gelled well. They beat India in India under the captaincy of the Cook also create history with that. There is no injury concern for the English skipper.

England has a balance cricket team which has a good mix of youth and experience. They have Alistair Cook, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Peterson and wicket keeper batsman Matt Prior which makes their batting look solid. Captain Cook is in the form of his life and return of Pieterson provides the required strength to team. Jonathan Trott, K Pieterson  and A Cook are equally good players of the spin as well as of pace.

There are young guys like Eoin Morgan and Joe Root who are thriving to cement their place in the English squad. The problem for the England is going to be the opening as they are going to open with Joe Root along with Cook for the first time.

James Anderson will lead the pace attack of England along with Stuart Broad and Steven Finn. while in spin department they have best off spinner in world Graeme Swann. There are young guys like Nick Compton, Eoin Morgan and Joe Root who are thriving to cement their place in the English squad.

England-Squad:- English team is yet to be announced for the  Ashes series. So, here are the probables for the series -- 

 A Cook (Captain), M Prior (Wicket-keeper), I Bell, J Trott, K Pieterson, J Root, E Morgan, T Bresnan, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson, S Finn, Tredwell / Panesar, C Tremlett.

Watch Out Players For England :

AUSTRALIA

The year has been mix for the mighty Australians as they have been struggling from the injury problems of key players. Michael Clarke is himself making comeback in team after recovering from the back problem which made him miss the entire Champions trophy. Their batting looks very inexperienced and the retirement of Mike Hussey has not done any good to them.There are too many openers in the Australian team.

Australian batting looks too much dependent on the skipper Clarke and opener Shane Watson. They are yet to find a good opening pair for test matches. Their batting looks completely lost as David Warner, Philip Hughes have been struggling for the runs throughout the season. Their batsmen couldn’t put up a fight against Indian team in India and they lost the series 0-4 for the first time.

The department which looks better for the mighty Aussies is their bowling. Their bowling has been good  especially Starc and Siddle have been their flag bearers. In the Ashes too Siddle will be the spearhead for the aussie bowling. Return of Pattinson and Harris will provide the required strength to the Australian bowling. There spin bowling looks okay in the presence of Nathan Lyon.

If they are to win the Ashes then they have to play as a unit and also the best cricket of their life. English team is in very good form and they are also playing in their home. Everyone has counted out the Australian chance in the Ashes, that can be a blessing in disguise for the Australian team and captain Clarke. 

Australia-Squad:- Michael Clarke (Capt.), B Haddin (Wicket keeper, Vice-Capt.), S Watson, D Warner, P Hughes, C Rogers, U Khwaja, S Smith, J Faulkner, M Starc, R Harris, P Siddle, N Lyon, J PAttinson,     J Bird,  M Wade(Wicket Keeper).

Watch Out Players for Australia in Ashes 2013

SCHEDULE:

Date	Test	Venue
10-14th  July, 2013	1st Test	Nottingham
18-22nd July, 2013	2nd Test	Lords
01-05th Aug, 2013	3rd Test	Manchester
09-13th Aug, 2013	4th Test	Chester-le-street
21-25th Aug, 2013	5th Test	Oval

Favorite: It is very famous quote that “Anything can happen in cricket”. So, it could be quite foolish at times to give any prediction in cricket. But, the defending champion England will start as the favorite as they are playing in their home conditions and their opponents are not in the best of forms. Their performance as a team throughout the year has been much better than the Australians.  

In my view, English team is favorite to win the Ashes series 2013.

What do you think about this ? Who is going to win the Ashes 2013 ? Does Australia have that firepower to outplay the England team and win the Ashes ? Drop your response in comment box.