England, as expected, win convincingly to take 2-1 lead: T3 D3

England 281 & 2/124 (32.1ov, Bell 65*/90b/10x4, Root 38*) beat Australia 136 & 265 (79.1ov, Warner 77, Nevill 59/147b/7x4, Starc 58/108b/1x6 6x4, Finn 21-3-79-6) by 8 wkts; T3/5 D3/5 at Edgbaston. England lead Ashes series 2-1. Player of the match: Steven Finn.

It was inevitable, given the match situation at the start of play, that England would win. It was small comfort to Australia that they made England wait two sessions to claim victory. The greater part of that comfort came form the lower order batting, not the bowling, as Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc showed more resistance than those ahead of them in the order.

When England began its modest run chase most Australian supporters would have wished for a tight contest. There was a sniff of that when both openers fell, but Ian Bell, tasking advantage of a letoff in the slips, struck out again and saw them home.

Jimmy Anderson will miss the next Test, and perhaps the rest of the series. For all the talk about his record, and properly acknowledging his great bowling the first innings of this match, I believe that Stuart Broad has been the most consistent threat across the three Tests to date.

And Australia? Adam Voges should be replaced, and perhaps one or two others - but not Michael Clarke who I believe is a class batter, despite his bodily infirmities (about which there has been surprisingly little media comment). Remember the saying: form is temporary, class is permanent.

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Australia narrowly avoid defeat in two days...but still face big loss: T3D2

Australia 136 & 7/168 (55ov, Warner 77/62b/11x4, Nevill 37*, Finn 13-3-45-5) lead England 281 (67.1ov, Root 63/75b/1x6 9x4, Moeen Ali 59/78b/11x4, Bell 53, Cook 34, Broad 31, Lyon 3/36, Hazlewood 3/74, Johnson 2/66, Starc 2/71) by 23 runs with 3 2inns wkts in hand: T3,5 D2/5 at Edgbaston.

When Mitchell Johnson removed Johnny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in the space of three balls, England were 5/142, a lead of only 9. But that turned out to be the high water mark of Australia's day as the bowlers were unable to confine England to a total around 200-220 which the seam bowler friendly conditions (albeit with more sunshine) seemed to the experts and me to be both desirable and achievable.

But it was not to be. Joe Root took his score to 63, Jos Buttler went cheaply before Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad, the latter looking more comfortable with the bat rhan he'd done for some time, added 87 for the 8th wicket: no record (as far as I know) but very significant in the context of this Test.

Australia batted again, Chris Rogers fell cheaply but David /Warner played his natural game and raised hopes ( or wishful thoughts) that he might lead the team to set a target which would challenge England batting last.

But this wasn't to be either.  Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (a real worry this), Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh compiled 17 runs between them as Steven Finn, who was deemed unselectable during England's last tour here (18 months ago), cleaned them all up: 5/92. When Warner fell to Jimmy Anderson, who later walked off injured, Austrslia were 6/111. Peter Nevill marshalled the tail, and has taken the Test into a third day, but a likely short day ending in a heavy Australian defeat and a 1-2 series deficit.

Tonight I will grit my teeth, pour myself a glass of red, and watch England complete a well deserved victory. This doesn't mean that I believe that the Ashes will change hands, especially given the roller coaster nature of the first three Tests ( not dissimilar to the three Test series in Soiuth Africa last year. But then we had Ryan Harris. But now England may not have Anderson. Enough wishful thinking for now!



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As expected, England confirm top Test ranking with crushing win over India

England 7/701 dec def India 224 & 244 (55.3 ov, MS Dhoni 74*, J Anderson 4/85 ) by an innings and 242 runs;lead series 3-0 with one match to playL T#3 D4 at Edgbaston. England lead series 3-0 with one match to play.

England wrapped up the match and the series more or less as expected, ie emphatically. They are now officially, and deservedly, the no1 ranking Test playing nation.

Congratulations to them.

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More of the same as England keep moving towards crushing Test and series victory

India 224 & 1/35 (12 ov) trail England 7/710 dec (188.1 ov, A Cook 294, E Morgan 104, A Sfrauss 87, K Pietersen 63, T Bresnan 53*) by 451 runs with 9 2nd inns wkts in hand: T#3 D3 at Edgbaston.

To be honest I didn't watch all that much of the day's play: there was more appealing fare on other channels, notably a telecast of a live performance of Don Giovanni. I did see the only quarter decent passage of play for India when England lost three quick middle order wickets between 596 and 613, which put paid to whatever thoughts England may have had, and some commentators (but not me),did have of aiming for 1000 .

I also saw, just as I had the day before, many excellent strokes from Alistair Cook who continued to 294/545b (33x4). Eoin Morgan's 104/199b (11x4) was a worthy innings even if he, like but to a greater degree than Cook, benefited from some slack Indian fielding.

I saw several replays of Virender Sehwag completing a king pair: not that there was any doubt about the decision, it just summed up India's day, match and, quite possibly, series.

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Yes, England are good, but who'd have thought India were are this bad at Test cricket?

England 3/456 (115 ov, A Cook 182*, A Strauss 87, K Pietersen 63) lead India 224 by 232 runs on 1st innings with 7 wickets in hand: T#3 D2 at Edgbaston

Have there been many more one-sided Test matches? The scorecard says a lot , especially about the high quality of England's batting, with Alistair Cook's 182*/339b (26x4) poohpoohing those who thought his Australian Test summer was a five Test wonder, but it doesn't reveal how feebly India have played. The bowling, Praveen Kumar from time to time excepted, has lacked bite and the fielding has been sub-optimal: often below parkland cricket standard.

The match has already been, unless the weather intervenes, decided.India...though once upon a time there was a Test, when three of the current Indian team were shorter in the tooth, when what looked inevitable didn't turn out that way .




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Double vision: good day for both England (in Test) and Australia (in ODI)

Overnight, courtesy of the Foxtel/ Fox sports red button (a well kept secret which deserves to be more widely promoted), I was able to keep an eye on two intriguing international fixtures at the same time. If you didn't opt via the button to watch one match on full screen, you could watch two parallel, albeit smaller, pictures showing vision from England v India T#3 at Edgbaston and Sri Lanka v Australia ODI #1 at Kandy.

I didn't last the night or, for that matter, far into it, but I did watch the highlights earlier today which confirmed my early opinions of English and Australian dominance in the respective fixtures.

England 0/84 are bearing down on India's paltry 224 while Australia regrouped after Sri Lanka got out of the blocks and, with the mercurial Mitchell Johnson in top form, won comfortably.

England still have a way to go, but it's hard to see them losing the match from here. Australia will be hoping that (and wondering whether) Johnson can reproduce his form in the remaining matches. I'd prefer to see him do so in one or two (three is asking too much) of the Tests but will take whatever he can produce to paper over the cracks in the current Australian ODI and Test teams.

England 0/84 (25 ov, A Strauss 52*) trail India 224 (62.2 ov, MS Dhoni 77, S Broad 4/53, T Bresnan 4/62) by 140 runs with 10 1st inns wickets in hand: T#3/4, D1/5 at Edgbaston [England leading series 2-0].
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Australia 3/192 (38.1ov, S Watson 69/, M Clarke 53*, R Ponting 53) def Sri Lanka 191 (41.1 ov, M Johnson 6/31) by 7 wkts with 71 balls remaining: ODI#1/5 at Pallekele Stadium, Kandy. Australia lead series 1-0.
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Draw confirms Australia's batting strength and both sides' bowling weakness: Ashes T3 D5

Australia 263 and 5/375 (112.2 ov, M Clarke 103*, M North 96, M Hussey 64, S Watson 53) drew with England 376: Ashes 09 T3 D5 at Edgbaston

The first two sessions of play were absorbing. Australia worked their way steadily and without too many indiscretions towards a position of safety and then, as tea approached, one of some strength which could have made for an interesting result had the match been played to a finish.

Shane Watson and Mike Hussey kept the England bowlers at bay for the first hour and a bit. From the last ball of the day's 16th over (and, surprisingly, his first) Jimmy Anderson induced Watson to snick one to the keeper: 3/137. Watson's 53 (114b/9 x4) completed a good batting double and hushed the many critics who thought he was no Test opener.

Michael Clarke looked assured from the outset. This was just as well, for not long after his arrival Hussey, who had looked in better touch (and more assured about which balls to leave) than previously in the series, fell to Stuart Broad for 64 (130b/13x4): 4/161.

The England bowlers were steady but far from unplayable: they weren't able to swing the ball as some of them had done in the first innings. At lunch 4/172 it was clear that a considerable though not impossible improvement (like two or three quick wickets) was required to keep England in with a good chance of victory.

That didn't happen. Clarke and Marcus North, the one elegant, the other pugnaciously gritty, batted through the next session against some increasingly pedestrian bowling (Graeme Swann was especially disappointing) . During the extended afternoon session 36 overs were bowled and Australia added 121. 4/293 (Clarke 73*, North 64*) at tea was safety plus.

There were one or two wobbly Australian moments in the last session, when England needed six or seven of them (and a couple of miracles). Unfortunately for them their prospective miracle worker Andrew Flintoff listened to his stressed body and didn't bowl. He must be doubful for T4.

In the 11th over after tea North was brilliantly caught by Anderson in the gully off Broad for 96 (159b/ 15x4). This was the third and last wicket to fall in a day when 84.2 overs were bowled. When Clarke reached his century the captains called the game off, leaving him 103* (192b/14x4) and Australia 5/375, a healthy lead of 263.

So, an honourable draw. England were on top for most of the game but couldn't finish off a resolute and perhaps (though it's really too early to tell) resurgent Australia.

Yet in the series England are still ahead 1-0. Therefore the challenge for Australia will be how to maintain its batting strengths while reshaping its attack. The batting order shouldn't change, but the attack must. Lawrence Booth writing for The Guardian's The Spin succinctly states the obvious:

Are England glad Stuart Clark is serving the shandies? You bet they are.

Australian selectors please note.

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Long day's journey into night for Australia: T3 D4

Australia 263 and 2/88 (28 ov) trail England 376 (93.3 ov, A Flintoff 74, A Strauss 69, S Broad 55, I Bell 53, B Hilfenhaus 4/109) by 25 runs with 8 second innings wickets in hand. Ashes 09 T3D4 at Edgbaston.

It seemed like a long day after no play on D3 , an hour's delay at the start today and a late finish to compensate for some of the time lost. In fact 85.3 overs (less than the standard modern ration of 90) were bowled from which 344 runs were scored and 10 wickets taken.

Most significantly England are well on top.

Once again the Australian attack couldn't finish off the job it had started reasonably well. After converting the over(Friday & Saturday) night total of 2/116 to 5/168 (hon mentions to Andrew Strauss' 69 (134b/11x4) and Ian Bell's 53 (114b/7x4/1x6)) the wheels loosened, and some came off as Andrew Flintoff 74 (79b/10x4/1x6), Stuart Broad 55 (64b/9x4) and Matt Prior 41 (59b/6x4) took advantage of some modest bowling.

Ben Hilfenhaus persisted well until he flagged late in the innings, Nathan Hauritz was steady, Mitchell Johnson looked better than he's previously done in the series, yet Peter Siddle (3 wickets notwithstanding) was too often erratic and Shane Watson's 3-0-23-0 showed that no matter how much his batting has improved his bowling has not.

Australia have yet to wipe out the first innings deficit and have already lost two wickets: one of them Ricky Ponting bowled by a beautifully flighted and turning offspinner from Graeme Swann. Mike Hussey was almost out first ball when Graham Onions nearly caught a return catch: fortunately Swann subsequently gave him a few to boost his confidence. If Australia are to save the match - they've Buckley's chance of winning - he and Watson, who's looking assured, will need to wipe out the deficit and start to build a lead.

The last day will be, needless to say, mandatory viewing,

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Weakened Australia hold firm: Ashes T3 D1

Australia 1/126 (30 ov, S Watson 62*) v England Ashes 09 T3 D1 at Edgbaston.

Australia has not fielded its best available team. Stuart Clark was once again omitted. Moreover Brad Haddin withdrew with a broken finger between the toss (won by Australia) and the start of play . England sportingly allowed Graham Manou to replace him (a decision not without some self interest as an injured yet in form Haddin was potentially more dangerous, at least with the bat, than his untried deputy). The wayward Mitchell Johnson was retained (at Clark's expense) while Phillip Hughes, surprisingly, was dropped for Shane Watson, whose opening record in the longer forms of the game has been decidedly modest.

As it turned out Watson justified his selection with an impressive 62*(105b, 10x4) . He and Simon Katich put on 85 for the first wicket against an England attack which lacked the zest it had shown at Lord's. Still, 30 overs in a rain shortened day does not a Test match make, let alone give us much of a guide to the outcome. The weather may continue to play a part, even if there's provision to make up lost play over the remaining days.

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