Australians Keep It Alive
The Australian cricket team has produced a stunning innings to be able to draw the Edgbaston Test between Australia and England and keep the score of the series to England with the one win and two draws. With the team¡¯s head to the sword of the test, Michael Clarke shared a partnership of 185 with Marcus North to draw the test. Both teams will then be looking to the fourth test at Headingley to swing the series in their favour.
With the series now at England 1-0, it is increasingly pointing towards England¡¯s favour to retain the ashes. England will have to contend with increasing player problems. Star allrounder Andrew Flintoff remains a doubt to whether he will be playing. The Australians in the third test noticed this and knew that careful intimidation would ensure that Flintoff would not be at his peak game. England is faced with a difficult decision on whether to include Flintoff in the side. A healthy bowler will ensure a more efficient spread of the attack between the bowlers, yet Flintoff is such a presence, it is difficult to leave out such an influential player.
The Australians will have to step up to the crease with their batting in tact if they would like to have a good shot at taking the series. The first innings was a poor performance from the top order batsman and that put them on the back foot for the rest of the test. Michael Clarke will have to produce another performance as the Australians seem to be looking at him for form along with Shane Watson to add to the scoreboard. Brett Lee is rumoured to be possibly making a comeback to the Headingley test so this can drastically improve Australia¡¯s chances of drawing the series.
