Another Bell ton puts England in box seat: T4D3

England 238 & 5/234 (74ov, Bell 105*/189b/10x4, Pietersen 44/84b/6x4, Harris 20-1-74-3, Lyon 2/46). Lead Australia 270 (89.3ov, Rogers 110/250b/14x4, Watson 68, Broad 24.3-71-5, Swann 2/48, Anderson 2/66) by 202 runs with 5 2nd inns wits in hand: T4/5 D3/5 at Chester-Le-Street Durham.

in the second half of the day Ian Bell scored his third century of the series, and with support from Kevin 

Pietersen and Jonny  Bairstow, stroked England ahead of Australia and well on the way to an impregnable position.

At the end of the previous day's play Australia's situation looked potentially good. But while the worst case scenario didn't come to pass the fact that the last 5 wickets, including Chris Rogers, who made only 5 of them. added a less than expected 48 must have given England some heart. But Australia had a first innings lead, which should have done likewise for them.

And the English top order crumbled yet again, this time in the face of some superb bowling by Ryan Harris (watch a replay of him bowling Joe Root if you can). At 3/49 - effectively 3/17 -  it seemed that the match was pivoting back towards Australia.

Enter Ian Bell. Over the ensuing hours he once again imposed his skills and determination on the match, and in doing so has probably saved his team from defeat and possibly, depending on what happens in the first part of D4, set up a win. Masterful (again).

As if Bell's performance isn't enough Australia look like being a player down for the rest of the Match, as Shane Watson has apparently succumbed yet again to (unspecified) injury/injuries. His bowling will be missed but his batting will be required if Australia is to have much of a chance of chasing down a target of 250+ which the pundits, eg Shane Warne & Andrew Strauss, have suggested will be  sufficient, and which the scorecard suggests is more than likely. 

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Sun shines at Lord's on England as Australia fall under dark batting clouds of their own making: Ashes 2013 T2 D2

England 361(100.1ov, Bell 109, Bairstow 67, Trott 58, Harris 26-6-72-5, Smith 3/18)

 & 3/31 (20ov, Siddle 3/4) lead Australia 128 (53.30v, Watson 30, Swann 21.3-5-44-5) by 264 runs with seve 2nd inns wickets in hand; T2/5 D2/5 at Lord's, London.

Make no mistake about this: England may have lost 6 wickets on the day, but Australia lost ( or surrendered) 10 for a paltry response which has almost certainly left the Ashes in England's grasp.

The England last wicket wagged a bit - Stuart Broad 33/29b/1x6,5x4 and Graeme Swann 28*/26b/5x4, adding a handy 48 for the last wicket. 

When Australia batted Shane Watson and Chris Rogers initially held a feisty England attack at bay without troubling the scorers much. Then Watson played some exquisite off drives to move to 30 before he fell lbw (confirmed by review) to Tim Bresnan on the stroke of lunch. 

Australia 1/42 at lunch self-destructed to 7/96 at tea. 

It pains me to describe the dismal sequence of events, so I won't, except to draw attention to the bizarre lbw decision ( not reviewed) against Rogers: a loose, dropping full toss from Swann (which if bowled by a subcontinental bowler would surely have raised eyebrows among those concerned about spot betting). It wasn't out, but there was no review as Australia (no names mentioned here) frittered away its DRS opportunities.

Enough said...for now.

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Bell's toll mounts before Smith tweaks Australia back into game: T1 D1

England 7/289 (89ov, Bell 109/211b/16x4, Bairstow 67/146b/7x4, Trott 58/87b/11x4, Smith 3/18, Harris 3/43) v Australia; T2/5 D1/5 at Lord's, London. England won toss and chose to bat.

On a hot London day Australia made early inroads into the England batting, from which point Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Jonny Bairstow regained the initiative. They took the total from 3/28 to 4/127 and 4/183 at tea, when I went to bed...and caught up with what happened subsequently on the Fox Sports highlights.

In the last part of the final session Steven Smith reminded us that he is now a batter who can bowl leg spin (not the reverse as was the case when he came intoTest cricket in the last Ashes series). First he induced Bell to edge a pitch perfect turning legbreak to slip, next c&bing Bairstow off a low full toss (the kind you some see in shorter forms of the game) and then having Matt Prior caught behind off a quicker straight ball.

5/271, 6/274, 7/283 pulled England up, but they wouldn't feel that they'd had a bad day. They had one piece of good fortune when Bairstow was bowled neck and crop by Siddle: a delivery which was adjudged by the third umpire to be a no ball ( after watching it for the umpteenth time I am beginning to see why  the official came to that conclusion). Yet he, Trott and,especially, the mature - in both temporal and stylistic senses of the word- Bell combatively responded to some high quality Australian bowling and took advantage of some of moderate quality.

Ryan Harris, restored to the eleven at the expense of Mitchell Starc, took early wickets and thereafter, bowling in short spells to keep his frail body fit for combat, kept England restrained, which he needed to do as neither James Pattinson nor Ashton Agar were able to bowl a consistent line and length. But without Smith's late intervention the Australians would not have slept so easily as I hope they did.

So who's in front? If I have to make a call I'd say England, but the First Test showed that the sides are evenly matched, and the first day's play confirmed this. The weather forecast is very good - more Australian than UKish- so there should be plenty of good cricket to look forward to. 

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Trivia

* Start of play was delayed by The Queen's visit 

* The Sky scorer pointed out that early in England's innings the 10,000th leg bye in Test cricket was nudged up. Think of it 

* Of the teams presented to Her Majesty only the two captains wore blazers: aren't the rank and file issued with them any more?

Another vindication of Test cricket as Australia scrape home T1 D5

Australia 9/406 dec & 7/192 (47 ov, Watson 52, Deonarine 4/53) beat West Indies 9/449 dec & 148 (66.4 ov, Hilfenhaus 4/27, Harris 3/31) by three wickets to lead series 1-0 with two matches to play: T1 D5 at Bridgetown.


 A cracking day's Test cricket. It  kept me me glued to the box for the West Indies innings and intermittently awake for much of Australia's second innings and wide awake for the last few overs.

West Indies, after wilting on D4, regrouped and kept harrying Australia in all departments, though they couldn't do quite enough to pull off a win. Australia's lower order batting and Michael Clarke's declaration kept the match alive and, while the middle and lower order West Indians made some amends for the disastrous opening they didn't do quite enough against Ben Hilfenhaus 17-7-27-4 and Ryan Harris 8.4-2-31-3 to set Australia a really challenging target. Or so it seemed at the time.

Even so the visitors struggled against a mixed bag of an attack: Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy bowled well, and often sharply, while  Narsingh Deonarine's 11-1-53-4 reflected both a fifth day wicket assisting spin and the occasional lapses of a part time bowler;  Devendra Bishoo was expensive. (To be fair to Deonarine he did dismiss both Ricky Ponting for 14 and Michael Clarke for 6, something which not too many, if any, other bowlers would have done in such quick succession).

Shane Watson 52/57b (1x6,4x4), Ed Cowan a by many accounts (I dozed off during his dig) scratchy 34/100b (1x4) and Mike Hussey 32/26b (2x6, 2x4) took Australia slowly forward before Harris and Hilfenhaus nervously took Australia in fading light over the line to a deserved and hard fought victory. Yet the West Indies showed that they, even without Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo,  are no easybeats, and the rest of the series will be worth watching (if not live through the wee small hours then and the extended highlights).




Scorecard

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

Australian players rated by Fox Sports

Australia win (quite) comfortably though Jayawardene and Mathews fight hard

Australia 273 & 210 (59.2 ov, Clarke 60, Herath 5/79) def Sri Lanka 105 & 253 (95.5 ov, M Jayawardene 105, Mathews 95, Harris 5/62) by 125 runs with a day to spare: T1 at Galle. Australia lead 3 match series 1-0.

For a time today, when the Mahela Jayawardene-Angelo Mathews partnership blunted the persistent Australian attack, Sri Lanka looked to have an outside chance of an improbable win. They were chasing 378, a margin of safety improved by the 98 runs added for the last four wickets in the disappointing Australian second innings.

At lunch, after a rain shortened morning session, SL were 5/187, a great improvement on the previous day's 5/68, but still a long way from victory. While the wicket was no shirtfront it seemed to play better than over the previous two days when 25 wickets fell as 435 runs were scored. But much of today's revival was due to the resolution of the two Sri Lankans: the Australians generally bowled tightly yet without that sharpness which had characterised their first and half the second innings efforts.

The new ball did for the partnership, and effectively the match. Ryan Harris bowled a weary Jayawardene off an inside edge for an elegantly determined 105/231b (1x6, 15x4, 2x3, 33x1). Mathews tried to focus the lower order and move to a personal century but, after two of his partners went cheaply, fell to Watson, who once again proved his value as a fifth bowler, for 95/191b (13b).

In the end Australia won comfortably. Mike Hussey's first innings 95 turned out to be, even if it didn't appear that way at the time, the foundation upon which their victory was built: he was deservedly named Player of the Match. Yes,Hussey did bat when the pitch, which wasn't really up to Test match standard, was at its best but he was a cut above all his teammates. Jayawardene's second innings was magnificent too, but his total contribution was offset by his clumsy run out in his first.

Despite an abysmal first innings, Sri Lanka have shown that they should be no pushover for this developing Australian team. If they get a chance to bat first on a good wicket and avoid self-destructive moments such as the Jayawardene run out who knows what they might be capable of?

Scorecard

Harris & Johnson put England out of misery and level series: T3D4

Australia 268 & 309 def England 187 & 123 (37ov. R Harris 6/47, M Johnson 3/44) by 267 runs: T3 D4 at WACA ground, Perth. 5 match series level 1 all.

It didn't take long for Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson to scythe through the 5 remaining England wickets, including those of Ian Bell and Matt Prior, and complete a comprehensive victory for Australia over England, one which looked unlikely after the first day.

Johnson was named Man of the Match for his 9 match wickets and team reviving first innings 62, but several others , especially Hussey and Harris in both innings, Shane Watson in the second and Brad Haddin in the first, made vital contributions which papered over the cracks in Australia's batting.

We'll wait to see whether the crack in Ricky Ponting's little finger prevents him from playing in Melbourne. Even though he's not delivered when it matters and age is creeping up on him (the win is a great present for his 36th birhtday today) IMO he is still capable of making runs and moreover is due for some after an unlucky dismissal in the second innings (and he was out to a great catch in the first).

England don't seem to have as many problems, though it's doubtful whether their team structure with only four frontline bowlers will suffice to dismiss Australia twice more for low-to-middling scores
if, as must surely happen, more than two of its top order batters fire.

Another variable unknown factor will be the MCG wicket. Will it play more like the relatively (pace) bowler friendly Perth than Adelaide or the Gabba, or will it be its own thing? These and other matters will be the subject of much speculation over the next week.

Scorecard .