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Australia hits back in style
Source: Agencies |
December 20, 2010, Monday
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A DEFIANT Australia regained its traditional Ashes swagger in Perth yesterday, routing England by 267 runs to level the series while hailing the momentum-swinging return of its mercurial pace bowler Mitchell Johnson.
Australia mowed through England's last five batsmen for only 42 runs, giving the hosts nearly two days to savor its third-test victory.
The astonishing turnaround in form following Australia's humiliating innings and 71-victory loss in Adelaide was the perfect gift for embattled Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who celebrated his 36th birthday yesterday.
"No better birthday present than that, winning an Ashes test match," said Ponting.
"We got a nice old hiding in Adelaide last week and to be able to bounce back as dramatically and drastically here says a lot about us and where we're at right at this moment in the series. I think now England might just start to have a bit of a look at one - their team make-up for Melbourne and two - the sort of cricket they play to have to beat us."
Australia limped into Perth with an under-fire attack that had been blasted for 1,137 runs for only six wickets in its previous two innings, but its quartet of pace bowlers destroyed England's top order twice in Perth. Man-of-the-match Johnson was particularly devastating, firstly with the bat when he slogged a top-scoring 62 to help the hosts cobble a defendable first innings total of 268. He then cut through the English batsmen claiming a six-wicket haul that fired up his fellow seamers to skittle the tourists for 187.
The match-winning performance for a bowler who thrives on confidence and can be dreadfully wayward when bereft of it, not only set up the victory but was the perfect response to critics who had questioned his place in the side.
"Mitchell's spell was unbelievable, probably one of the odds-on great Ashes spells," Ponting said of the mercurial pace bowler who was dropped after a wayward, wicketless spell in the drawn first test in Brisbane. "It's transformed him and it's transformed the way that everybody talks about him."
England captain Andrew Strauss lamented the failure of his top order to stand up at Perth where England hold an abysmal record of one win from 12 appearances.
"As a batting unit, we haven't performed in this game, make no bones about it. We thought we could get 391, the wicket showed signs that it was dying a little bit but that session last night killed us," he said. "Probably the architects of our own downfall in a lot of cases. Once you're five down it's always going to take a miracle to win it."
Australia mowed through England's last five batsmen for only 42 runs, giving the hosts nearly two days to savor its third-test victory.
The astonishing turnaround in form following Australia's humiliating innings and 71-victory loss in Adelaide was the perfect gift for embattled Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who celebrated his 36th birthday yesterday.
"No better birthday present than that, winning an Ashes test match," said Ponting.
"We got a nice old hiding in Adelaide last week and to be able to bounce back as dramatically and drastically here says a lot about us and where we're at right at this moment in the series. I think now England might just start to have a bit of a look at one - their team make-up for Melbourne and two - the sort of cricket they play to have to beat us."
Australia limped into Perth with an under-fire attack that had been blasted for 1,137 runs for only six wickets in its previous two innings, but its quartet of pace bowlers destroyed England's top order twice in Perth. Man-of-the-match Johnson was particularly devastating, firstly with the bat when he slogged a top-scoring 62 to help the hosts cobble a defendable first innings total of 268. He then cut through the English batsmen claiming a six-wicket haul that fired up his fellow seamers to skittle the tourists for 187.
The match-winning performance for a bowler who thrives on confidence and can be dreadfully wayward when bereft of it, not only set up the victory but was the perfect response to critics who had questioned his place in the side.
"Mitchell's spell was unbelievable, probably one of the odds-on great Ashes spells," Ponting said of the mercurial pace bowler who was dropped after a wayward, wicketless spell in the drawn first test in Brisbane. "It's transformed him and it's transformed the way that everybody talks about him."
England captain Andrew Strauss lamented the failure of his top order to stand up at Perth where England hold an abysmal record of one win from 12 appearances.
"As a batting unit, we haven't performed in this game, make no bones about it. We thought we could get 391, the wicket showed signs that it was dying a little bit but that session last night killed us," he said. "Probably the architects of our own downfall in a lot of cases. Once you're five down it's always going to take a miracle to win it."
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