Bowlers swing England into the driving seat

Published on Friday 31 July 2009 23:31

JAMES Anderson fulfilled his billing as the leader of England's attack by delivering a master-class in swing bowling to strengthen their position in the third npower Ashes Test.

The Lancashire seamer, 27 yesterday, was highlighted as one of England's main threats before the start of the series having claimed nine wickets in his previous Test earlier this summer against the West Indies at Chester-le-Street.

But that performance was put firmly in the shade on the second morning at Edgbaston when Anderson finally arrived as an Ashes performer with a five-wicket haul to dismiss Australia for a modest 263.

Determined to build on the opportunity Anderson had created, England captain Andrew Strauss hit an unbeaten 64 to guide his side to a promising 116 for two – trailing by 147 runs – by the time bad light halted play 19 overs prematurely.

But after Australia started the second day on a commanding 126 for one, it was Durham seamer Graham Onions who began England's fight-back by claiming three for 13 in just 27 balls including two wickets from the first two deliveries of the day.

Bravely given the opening over of the morning by Strauss despite being smashed out of the attack the previous evening when he conceded 21 runs in only three overs, Onions repaid that faith by immediately winning an indisputable lbw decision against makeshift opener Shane Watson.

Onions followed that with a ball slanted across left-hander Michael Hussey, which he left only for it to swing late into his off-stump.

Strauss introduced Anderson, his other swing bowler, at the Pavilion End as a replacement for Andrew Flintoff, and, faced with the prospect of a swinging ball at both ends, Australia collapsed, losing seven wickets in the morning session.

Captain Ricky Ponting became Onions' third victim of an impressive nine-over spell when he mistimed an attempted pull and edged behind, but only after he had passed the 25 runs he needed to overhaul Allan Border's tally of 11,174 runs to become Australia's highest Test run-scorer.

But then Anderson claimed his first wicket, winning an lbw appeal against Clarke which appeared to be missing leg stump on television replays, although there was nothing wrong with the outswinger in his next over which Marcus North edged behind to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Mitchell Johnson perished next ball to a Rudi Koertzen lbw decision which again looked mistaken, TV replays suggesting it was too high, but, for the second time in one session, Australia survived the hat-trick ball as debutant Graham Manou emerged unscathed.

Drafted in at late notice following Brad Haddin's broken left ring finger, Manou did not delay England for long and was brilliantly deceived by Anderson bowling wider on the crease and hitting his off-stump. Having slumped to 203 for eight, Australia were grateful their last two wickets added 60 priceless runs to give their total a veneer of respectability.

Anderson ended Peter Siddle's 32 minutes of defiance when he became the third Australian of the day to edge behind to Prior and end the Lancastrian's stunning spell of five for 13 in 38 balls either side of lunch.

Onions ended Australia's resistance when last man Ben Hilfenhaus edged to Graeme Swann at gully in mid-afternoon to leave England firmly in the driving seat.

Australia took only ten balls to respond as Siddle tempted Alastair Cook into pushing outside off-stump and edging behind, leaving an expectant Edgbaston crowd primed for another thriller comparable to four years ago.

Unable to generate the swing that Anderson and Onions enjoyed, Australia were forced to turn to the spin of Nathan Hauritz and this allowed Strauss to combine with Ravi Bopara in a 58-run stand with few alarms.

Bopara continued his struggles at number three during the series by chopping Hilfenhaus on to his stumps for 23, while Ian Bell was fortunate to survive a plumb appeal from Johnson for lbw when he progressed to 18.

Bell survived to reach an unbeaten 26 while Strauss's imperious Ashes form continued, taking his tally in the series to 304 runs and guiding England into a dominant position.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA first innings

S Watson lbw b Onions 62

Katich lbw b Swann 46

Ponting c Prior b Onions 38

M Hussey b Onions 0

M Clarke lbw b Anderson 29

North c Prior b Anderson 12

Manou b Anderson 8

M Johnson lbw b Anderson 0

Hauritz not out 20

Siddle c Prior b Anderson 13

Hilfenhaus c Swann b Onions 20

Extras (1nb 2w 5b 7lb) 15

Total (70.4 overs) 263

Fall: 1-85 2-126 3-126 4-163 5-193 6-202 North 7-202 8-203 Manou 9-229 10-263

Bowling (O-M-R-W): Anderson 24.0 7 80 5; Flintoff 15.0 2 58 0; Onions 16.4 2 58 4; Broad 13.0 2 51 0; Swann 2.0 0 4 1

ENGLAND first innings

Strauss not out 64

Cook c Manou b Siddle 0

Bopara b Hilfenhaus 23

Bell not out 26

Extras (2nb 1lb) 3

Total (for 2 wkts, 36 overs) 116

Fall: 1-2 2-60

To Bat: I Bell, P P Collingwood, M Prior, A Flintoff, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson, G Onions

Bowling (O-M-R-W): Hilfenhaus 11.0 1 45 1; Siddle 8.0 0 22 1; Hauritz 11.0 2 25 0; M Johnson 6.0 0 23 0

England trail by 147 runs.