England v Australia 3rd Ashes Test review: England bounce back in Style

England v Australia 3^rd Ashes Test review: England bounce back in Style: England dominant at Cardiff. Australia rampant at Lord’s and now England crushing Australia at Edgbaston. As day three of the Edgbaston Test commenced Australia were hoping for a repeat of Trentbridge 2013 when Brad Haddin and Ashton Agar combined excellently for the last wicket and nearly toppled the England. But the English quick’s had other ideas. Though the lower order gave Australia something to defend with half-centuries from Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc but the equation was not daunting by any stretch of imagination for the home side: 121 runs to win and take a 2-1 lead in this Ashes series. Australia’s final three partnerships added 97 to their overnight lead of 23. By the end of day 2, it was all but over for Australia. All England needed to do (on day 3) was to put a stamp on the envelope and post it. However, Australia fought and fought as hard as they could.

When Finn got Nevill caught down the leg side, Australian hopes of putting up something substantial took a serious beating. While Starc tried his best it was never going to be enough. And when he chipped Moeen Ali to the substitute Poysden we knew that they had fallen short of a worthy target. England seemed to be in no hurry in pursuit of the target. They knew Australia would come hard. But sense prevailed and despite loosing Cook early, Bell was unperturbed and along with Root got England to an easy win. Steve Finn has been a great story to talk about after this Test match. As Nasser put that aptly: ‘From unselectable (2 years ago) to undroppable (now),’ what a turnaround it has been for the 26-year old Middlesex lad.

Before the Test England hoped that the longer break between the games would have significantly quelled the opposition’s impetus, and that is what transpired. To defeat a side within three days after having gone down by 405 runs in the previous encounter takes some doing to say the least. Australia have followed their previous trend of either loosing or winning Test matches by big margins. But Michael Clarke and Australia will probably ask if it was a pitch to be bowled out for 136.

Steven Finn delivered everything he has in his armoury on a track that was more responsive than the other two we have witnessed in the series. With Anderson out of the next test his form will give the England skipper lot of assurance. But the chief destroyer was the swing maestro Jimmy Anderson as he uprooted six Aussie wickets with a fabulous display of controlled fast bowling in the first innings. Without sounding unrealistic, it would be fair to say that Jimmy was unplayable at times.

England’s outstanding all-round match at Edgbaston has given them every chance of regaining the Urn. Another win (or two draws) will do it. As tennis pundits recurrently allude – the third set of a five-set encounter is often most decisive in determining the eventual winner, more so when the first two sets are split between the sides. Lets see if it goes that way.

Australia 1^st  innings – 136  Rogers – 52, Anderson 6-47  

England 1^st innings – 281 Root – 63 Lyon 3-36

Australia 2^nd innings – 265 Warner – 77 Finn 6-79

England 2^nd innings – 124/2 Bell 65, Hazlewood 1-21

Brief Scores: England won by 8 wickets and lead the 5 match series 2-1.

MOM – Steven Finn