Image courtesy of: The Times
Root, Bell and Swann were all credited for their game-changing contributions
Australia captain Michael Clarke will be sweating buckets for the remainder of this Ashes series after his team fell to England once again, thanks largely to the outstanding batting efforts of Ian Bell and Joe Root and the masterful spin bowling of Graeme Swann.
England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that looked to be a batsman’s paradise.
However, England found themselves in a spot of bother early on as Cook and Root were dismissed after having barely scored any runs.
South African-born Kevin Pietersen failed to impress once again as he was dismissed for just two runs, but Jonathan Trott, or more commonly known as ‘Mr Consistent’, stabilised the innings with a sensible 58.
Trott and Bell, both of whom play for Warwickshire, put on a partnership of 99 together to patch up the early damage that had been done.
Once Trott was dismissed, Bell and Jonny Bairstow took charge and it was only a matter of time before both players had notched up their own half-centuries.
Bell and Bairstow’s partnership soon whizzed by the 100-run mark and Bell himself brought up his century in good time.
But, just as the pair’s partnership was approaching the 150 milestone, Bell was dismissed by Steven Smith for 109 off 211 deliveries, which included 16 boundaries.
Bairstow soon followed for 67 and this started a domino effect for the rest of the batting line-up.
However, just as England looked to be down and out, Stuart Broad and Swann added a 48-run partnership at 7.20 runs per over to take England to 361 before Broad was caught behind off the bowling of James Pattinson.
The returning Ryan Harris had an excellent time with the ball as he snapped up a five-wicket haul, while Smith took three wickets in quick succession and Pattinson and Shane Watson both chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Australia made a promising start as openers Chris Rogers and Watson put together a 42-run partnership before Watson was dismissed for 30.
Watson’s dismissal sparked the collapse of the entire Australian batting line-up as they crumbled from 42/1 to 128 all out.
Besides Watson, Clarke was the only other batsman who managed to score more than 20 runs.
Swann absolutely ripped through the Australia batting order with a five-wicket haul, while Tim Bresnan picked up two wickets and Broad and James Anderson both snapped up one wicket each.
In a rather surprising move, England decided to bat again instead of invoking the follow-on and once again, Cook was unable to score many runs before being removed.
Root meanwhile looked in formidable form, but the same could not be said about Trott and Pietersen, both of whom were dismissed for single-digit scores as well.
With the day coming to a close, England decided to send Bresnan in as the nightwatchman and this actually turned out to be an excellent move as he and Root put together a 99-run partnership to diminish what little hope the Australians had left.
After Bresnan was dismissed for 38, Bell and Root tortured Australia with a brilliant 153-run partnership, during which Root recorded his second Test century and Bell brought up yet another half-century.
Bell was the first to go on 74 and he was quickly followed by Bairstow.
England finally declared on 349 after Root was finally removed for 180 off 338 balls, which included 18 boundaries and two sixes.
Peter Siddle led the Australian bowling attack with three wickets, while Harris picked up two and Pattinson and Smith both took one wicket apiece.
With a mammoth target of 583 runs separating them between levelling the series at 1-1, Australia were dealt two early blows as openers Watson and Rogers were dismissed without scoring too many runs.
Usman Khawaja and Clarke both made half-centuries, but besides that, the Australian batting line-up once again collapsed under the might of the England bowling attack.
Australia were finally put out of their misery after being bowled out for 235, thus meaning that they lost the game by 347 runs.
Swann was the best of the best once again with four wickets this time, while Anderson, Bresnan and Root all took two wickets each.
Clarke looked absolutely shattered as he approached the podium, and said: “Certainly not the performance we were after, we’ve got some time to make amends and we’ve got to work hard in the nets and prepare for Manchester. We have to win the last three Tests now. Of course it is [possible to win all three], we have to improve, but it would be silly to say we will. Credit to England, they played very well and deserved to win. The first innings let us down, to make 130 you’re going to find yourselves in a very hard position against a good team. We’re putting extra pressure on our bowlers. Our top seven has a lot of experience and we haven’t performed as we’d like. When we lose one wicket, we’re losing several. If we can make some runs [against Sussex] and take that momentum into the third Test I’m sure that will help us.”
Cook was pleased with his team’s performance, but lavished extra praise on Bell, Root and Swann for their game-changing contributions.
“All the boys were keen [to finish it today],” he said. “A bit of hard work and the chances came. We’ve had to scrap hard, being 30 for 3 in both innings, Belly’s hundred and Root’s hundred came after working hard at the beginning. When it is dry, we’ve got a world-class spinner in Swanny and the bowlers can reverse it – we’re pretty confident in all English conditions. We all know what a great player [Root] is and it’s fantastic that he’s shown that at the top of the order. [KP] is just a strain but we want to take care of it and not do any further damage.”
There was no doubt that Root deserved to be named the Man of the Match for his spectacular 180, and he said: “I’ve loved every minute of it, great to get a win. There’s a bit of tape [on the honours board], I’d like to see [my name] up there properly. I’d say this one [is better than maiden Test century], it’s great to get a hundred in the Ashes. It’s nice to contribute [with the ball too], you get an opportunity and you want to take it and it’s nice to help the side as much as you can. Every time you go out to bat is an opportunity to contribute, I tried to get through it early on and have a bit of fun later.”