Devastating swing bowling nailed triumph for England: 1st Ashes Test, 2015- Statistical Review

Devastating swing bowling nailed triumph for England: 1st Ashes Test, 2015- Statistical Review: The first test of the Ashes at Cardiff was predominated by the English squad with their fierce batting and equally tremendous bowling. They have outplayed the Australians in each and every department of the game and had the upper hand in almost each of the sessions of the game. Having chose to bat first, England made a sound total of 430 runs on the board in the first innings. In reply, Australia made 308 runs in their first innings. The lower middle order and the lower order collapsed in a whirl for the Aussies. In the second innings, the English batsmen were bundled at the score of 289 runs on the board. With a target of 412 runs to win, and 2 days to play, the Australians had to answer a big ask. And as it happened, the Australian batting trembled in front of the classy swing bowling of England and eventually, the home team won the match by a margin of 169 runs.

The Match in Numbers:

• Number of fours hit by England/Australia in the 1st innings: 52/43
• Number of fours hit by England/Australia in the 2nd innings: 41/32
• Highest Run Scorer of the Match: Joe Root, 194 (134 in 1st innings, 60 in 2nd innings)
• Highest wicket taker of the Match: Mitchell Starc, 7 (5 in 1st innings, 2 in 2nd innings)
• Total Runs Scored in the Match: 1269/40

Here are some statistical facts of the match:

• This test marked the 11^th test defeat for Australia within a span of 4 days since 2010. Out of the 11, 4 came against England, 3 against South Africa, 2 against India and 1 against each of Pakistan and New Zealand.
• In the first innings, Chris Rogers scored his 7^th consecutive 50 in a test innings. The record is held by 4 batsmen and was first made in the year 1949.
• Joe Root has the test batting average of 57.23 and he stands to be the fourth best English batsman on the basis of average, when a minimum of 2000 test runs are taken as a constraint. The topper of the list is H. Sutcliffe with an average of 60.73.
• Rogers scored a total of 95 runs in the first innings and became the second oldest Australian player to be dismissed in the nineties. He aged 37 years and 312 days when he was dismissed in the first innings. The oldest player to be dismissed was Alick Bannerman (37 years 318 days).
• Chris Rogers had hit his first six in tests in the first innings after playing 20 tests and 39 innings and facing 3271 deliveries.
• Till date, none of the Australian batsman has managed to score a test century by batting at number 8 or below.
• There has been 15 times in the last 17 Ashes when the team that has won the first test, went onto win the series. The exceptions occurred in 2005 and in 1997. This is something intensely charming from England’s point of view.
• For as many as 29 times, Shane Watson has been dismissed LBW. This is the most for any Australian batsman in the last 10 years. He was dismissed LBW in both the innings of this test.
• David Warner struck 52 runs in the second innings and this marked his 17^th test half century in the last 2 years. This is the most for any batsman.
• Steve Smith’s batting average in the second innings of the test match has been 29.3. He averages 89.6 in the first innings.
• Joe Root scored 194 runs in the test and became the second English batsman to have scored over 150 runs in an Ashes test. Ian Bell has achieved this feat before.
• James Anderson now has 406 test wickets by his name. He surpassed Sir Curtly Ambrose (405 wickets) to become the 11^th highest wicket taker in tests.
• James Anderson has dismissed Brad Haddin for as many as 7 times in tests. This is the most by any bowler.
• After playing 2 tests, Adam Voges now averages 167 in test match cricket.