Australia Levels Ashes
A sudden swing of excellent bowling and terrible defensive batting has swung the Ashes much closer to the Australian team. In three days, Australia has managed to level the series but also convincingly assure themselves as favourites heading into the fifth test. Australian bowlers Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson finally fired up and produced a five wicket haul to finally put Australia on the series score board. To bowl out the English batsman would be an understatement of the horror that occurred at Headingley. A massacre of the batsman would make it look like it required an army to repeat the same performance.
Australia posted 445 on the board with England falling very short with 253. The only positive point for England was a last ditch partnership from Stuart Broad and Graham Swann to produce 108 runs from only 79 balls. This partnership was the second fastest partnership century in test history.
England now looks to make big changes to prepare the team for the fifth test at The Oval next Thursday. Many fans are praying that Kevin Peiterson might be able to overcome the injury that has had him sidelined since the second test, whilst others feel that 39 year old Mark Ramprakash should be given a bat against Australia.
England¡¯s question lies in how can they stop Australia¡¯s blood thirsty bowlers? They will be looking to replicate their Headingley effort and will come out looking to hit the stumps. England can however sleep easy knowing that this series will be over in one more test. Just one more test is all it takes to possibly win the series, tie the series or lose the series.
Just one last well programmed raid can do it all for the two teams. Just make sure that the players are ready for extreme warefare.
