England won the fourth Ashes Test in Durham by 74 runs on Monday, thanks to 11 wickets in the match, and six on day four, by paceman Stuart Broad, and they thus won the Ashes three-nil with a game to go.
Australia needed 299 runs to win, with Ryan Harris taking seven wickets as England were all out just before lunch. Harris removed four of the five wickets to fall, including centurion Ian Bell, as England were dismissed for 330.
The visitors’s chase started off superbly, with David Warner and Chris Rogers putting on a century stand for the first wicket, but Broad and Tim Bresnan had other ideas, and soon Australia went from 147 for one to 224 all out.
England started the day on 234 for five, with Bell on 105 and Bresnan on four, holding a lead of 202 runs. Bell managed to pass his previous series best of 109 (which he made twice) and advanced to 113 before departing.
He was Harris’ first wicket of the day, with the ball keeping low and Bell catching an inside edge onto his stumps. Matt Prior suffered a similar fate, but this time the ball bounced more than expected and the edge sent his off stump flying.
These two strikes put Harris on a hat-trick, but new batsman Broad was able to keep it out with a push to cover. Broad went on to make 13 runs before he too departed, unable to properly fend off a short Harris delivery and gloving it to the slips.
At this stage, England were on 275 for eight, and Bresnan joined forces with Graeme Swann for the ninth wicket. They put on 42 runs together at more than five to the over, before Bresnan became Harris’s seventh wicket. He made 45, before popping the ball back to the bowler.
Swann was then given a lifeline by Steve Smith off Nathan Lyon’s bowling, when Smith dropped a relative sitter on the boundary. Swann hit it high, and the ball swirled, but Australia’s premier fielder took his eye off the ball and bottled it.
Swann went on to make 30 not out, before James Anderson was dismissed for a duck by Lyon, with Brad Haddin taking the catch. This left the Aussies with 299 to win, which would be the 11th highest successful chase in Tests if achieved.
Rogers and Warner came out to bat for half an hour before lunch, facing five overs and reaching 11 for none. Rogers survived an LBW appeal that was ruled not, and then reviewed by England. The ball had pitched outside leg stump, which ruled the appeal moot.
The opening pair went on to frustrated England’s bowlers in the afternoon session, after a rain delay of about an hour, putting on a century stand at a decent clip. Warner made a half century before the tea break.
Rogers was denied his half ton by Swann, who had earlier dropped him in the slips on 14, but removed him for 49. Rogers edged the spinner to Jonathan Trott in the slips, leaving Usman Khawaja to stick with Warner till tea, where they sat on 120 for one.
Swann bagged his second wicket soon after the restart as Khawaja was trapped LBW by the spinner. This was when they were on 147, and three more wickets fell for just 11 runs. Bresnan got the vital wicket of Warner, who had made 71, caught behind by Prior.
Broad then romped onto the scene at 90kph, bagging Michael Clarke and Steve Smith with peaches, both finding their bails removed. Clarke’s was a more classic dismissal, while Smith dragged the ball onto his stumps.
Bresnan then struck again, trapping Watson in front, and not surprisingly the batsman reviewed it. It was out though, and this left the tail with everything to do. Broad nipped out Brad Haddin soon afterwards.
The light then came into play, and England were told to use only spinners or go off the field. Joe Root bowled a bit until it brightened up again, and when it did Broad was on hand to bag Lyon and Siddle, his fifth and sixth scalps of the innings.
The final Test of this Ashes leg takes place at the Oval in London and starts on 21 August, where Australia will be eager to break their run of eight consecutive Test non-wins (seven losses and a draw).
