Better too late than never in this Ashes series as Warner & Rogers lay foundation for Smith: T5D1

Australia 3/287 (79.4ov, Warner 85/131b/11x4, Smith 78*/132b/1x6 9x4, Voges 47*/87/8x4, Rogers 43/100b/7x4) v England T5/5 D1/5 at The Oval, London. England won toss and sent Australia in to bat. England: unchanged; Australia: M Marsh, Siddle in, S Marsh, Hazlewood out.

David Warner and Chris Rogers hung on grittily until lunch against some sharp England bowling, especially (again) that of Stuart Broad who began with a 5-3-4-0 (initially 4-3-1-0) spell which tested the pair's judgment and resolve, but failed to part them.

0/82 at lunch in English conditions was English Test cricket at its best, and  not only because the openers had responded so well. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the players walked off, relieved that Australia hadn't imploded once more, but well aware that its brittle middle order needed, unless the Warner-Rogers stand went on and on, to show more than they'd done in most of tis series.

Well, it did (Michael Clarke's 15 excepted). After Rogers, and then Warner, fell Steve Smith stepped in, and up. He had his scratchy moments (and I'm not referring to his restlessness before facing the bowling) but he persevered and in time, as he got his eye in and took the measure of the home attack, flourished' leaving Australia, at the end of a day curtailed by bad light, comfortably placed to at least save the Test (which no Australian supporter would wish for) on with what looks (perhaps through rose tinted spectacles0 a half decent chance of winning the dead rubber.

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Broad 8/15 scythes through Australia - all out 60 before lunch- then Root 124* confirms England dominance:T4 D1 to

England 4/274 (65ov, Root 124*/158b/1x6 19x4, Bairstow 74/105b/12x4, Cook 43, Starc 3/73) lead Australia 60 (18.3ov, Extras 14, Johnson 13, Broad 9.3-5-15-8) by 214 with 6 !st inns wkts in hand: T4/5 D1/5 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Toss: England, who sent Australia in.  England XI: Wood in for Anderson (injured); Australia XI{  S Marsh replaced M Marsh.

Stuart Broad bowled magnificently, inducing an appalling, if not entirely inexplicable, batting collapse before lunch. Australia's embarrassing 60 all out, apart from all the records it broke, has effectively allowed England to win the Test and thereby reclaim the Ashes.

If there were any doubts about this they were dispelled by Alistair Cook and Joe Root who took England into the lead after two early wickets fell, and then Root and Johnny Bairstow's  173 run 4th wicket stand.  This also exposed the limitations of the four man frontline bowling attack, which in turn questioned the competence of the selectors. In my opinion Adam Voges should have been replaced by Shaun Marsh, leaving Mitchell Marsh in the eleven (unless the selectors followed my wilder thoughts and restored Shane Watson, or Brad Haddin, or even Peter Siddle)

England had the better of the conditions- overcast at the outset turning to intermittent sunshine in the afternoon-  but this does little if anything to excuse Australia's technical deficiencies. It is one thing to look to bat aggressively but it is folly, as so many,perhaps all, Australians did, to fail to tailor your responses to the conditions by, for example, not going so hard at the ball as you would do on your
home pitches.

Magnificent as Broad's bowling was, his team supported him well. Mark Wood had David Warner caught behind in his first over after Broad had removed Rogers and Steve Smith in his first. 3/10 was only marginally better than Australia's 3/2 at the start of the 2010 Adelaide Test, but on this occasion was no recovery.

And England's fielding was superlative, Ben Stokes took the catch of the series when he caught Adam Voges in the slip cordon - watch it on TV or YouTube where it will surely be replayed many times.  My favourite was Alistair Cook's Aussie Rules style mark to remove Michael Clarke wafting outside off stump for an undistinguished 10 - the third highest individual contribution' after extras 14 and Mitchell Johnson's 13.

I watched England overtake Australia's paltry offering in the English afternoon but slept soundly through, and beyond, the last session. No nightmares during my slumbers: I'd already had them in real time via my TV screen.


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England stitch up innings victory:

England 9/574d** beat South Africa 343 & 133 (50 ov, G Swann 5/54, S Broad 4/43) by an innings and 98 runs : T2 D5 at Durban. England lead series 1-0 with two Tests remaining.

Few surprises as England today completed the victory which their bowlers had set up on D4. Graeme Swann took 5 second innings wickets giving him 9 for the match (and, deservedly, the Player of the Match award). Stuart Broad made good use of the conditions to finish with 4/43. The other bowlers were barely needed or used.

There is no doubt that South Africa can regroup. The challenge for them is how best to do so. The first step will need to be a tough selection process. How considerations other than recent performance impact upon some key questions, eg whether Makhaya Ntini should be retained, will be very interesting.

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** From The Times :

England's first innings total was reduced by one run overnight after the umpires ruled that an overthrow that crossed the boundary was worth four runs not five, as the batsmen had not crossed. England's revised total was, therefore, 574.

England sweep South Africa aside and head towards victory : T2 D4

South Africa 343 & 6/76 (32 ov) trail England 9/575d (170 ov, A Cook 118, I Bell 141, M Prior 60)by 156 runs with 4 second innings wickets in hand: T2 D4 at Durban.

England added 4/189 in sunshine to its overnight 5/386 before reducing South Africa to 6/76 as gloom (both literal and metaphorical) descended over Durban. This is not to let the home team off the hook: Test match days don't come much more one-sided than this, particularly when honours on the preceding ones have been fairly evenly divided.

There were several very good performances from England players, including Graeme Swann's 3/22 from 12 ov and Stuart Broad's 3/18 from 9, but the standout one was Ian Bell's 141/227b (1x6, 10x4).

I've not been alone in thinking that Bell was the weak link in the England batting chain, but this innings has proved me wrong. Sure, he began tentatively on D3 but once he'd found his touch he kept propelling his team into a strong position. And there was more: when South Africa batted again he caught Ashwell Prince at short leg off Swann, which precipitated a collapse from 1/27 to 6/50. Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel held on until the umpires decided that the light was too bad, but at 6/76 with a further 156 runs required to make England bat again surely, despite the surprises of D4, only bad weather can save the Proteas. If it does that will be unfair to England.

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England sweep Australian batting aside and head for victory: Ashes 09 T5 D2

England 332 (90.5 ov, I Bell 72, P Siddle 4-75) and 3/58 (28 ov) lead Australia 160 (52.5 ov, S Katich 50, S Broad 5-37, G Swann 4-38) by 230 runs with 7 second innings wickets in hand: Ashes 09 T5 D2 at the Oval, London.

Stuart Broad set up an England victory with a spell of 12-1-37-5 which turned the promisingly competitive Australian score of 0/73 into the disaster of 7/111.

A modest recovery, if it can be called that, to 160 did nothing to change my opinion. Nor did the better fist Australia made of the England second innings, nor the deterioration of the pitch, nor some quiestionable umpiring decisions (bring on the referral system).

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