Monday, July 22, 2013

England complete crushing of Australia to take 2-0 series lead: T2 D4


England 361 & 7/349 dec (114.1ov, Root 180/338b/2x6, 18x4, Bell 74, Siddle 3/65, Harris 2/31) def Australia 128 & 235 (90.3ov, Khawaja 54, Clarke 51, Swann 4/78, Root 2/9, Bresnan 2/30, Anderson 2/55) by 347 runs; T2/5 D4(/5) at Lord's, London. England lead series 2-0 with three Tests to play.
Player of the match: Joe Root.

What more is there to be said? England completed wiping the floor with Australia. It's hard to see them relinquishing the Ashes in this series, and perhaps in the return bout later this year.

Once again some toothless and some inept batting saw Australia crumble against some good though by no means as unplayable bowling as some made it appear. Only Usman Khawaja and Michael Clarke made 50s - just - with the only other small crumb of comfort coming from yet another substantial 10th wicket partnership: 43. 

How can Australia win without the top order contributing many more runs? As things stand now it can't. How can this situation be remedied? At the moment I don't know but will ponder the question over the coming days.

<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/engine/match/566933.html">Scorecard</a>

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