NOW FINNISH THEM OFF!
Aussies on the rocks after super Steven’s 5 wickets
An inspired spell from steven Finn took england to the verge of a 2-1 lead in the Ashes — but they could be without strike bowler Jimmy Anderson for the rest of the series because of a side injury.
Finn claimed five for 45 in his comeback Test as Australia closed the second day at edgbaston on 168 for seven, a lead of 23.
But there were concerns that Anderson, who had to abort his run-up after three balls of his ninth over, will not recover in time — either for next week’s crucial fourth Test at Trent Bridge, or for the series finale at The Oval starting on August 20.
The eCB said he had a ‘tight side’ and the Lancashire fast bowler went for a scan last night. His loss would be a huge blow, not least because of his love affair with Trent Bridge, where his 53 Test wickets
Has this happened? Have we really witnessed two of the most extraordinary and, frankly, ridiculous days of Test cricket leaving England on the brink of one of their most famous of all victories over australia? It appears we have.
There have already been enough twists and turns in this extraordinary ashes to last a lifetime but whatever happens at Trent Bridge and The Oval surely nothing in this series will surpass two never-to-be-forgotten days at Edgbaston.
They ended with England, humiliated by 405 runs at Lord’s, hurtling towards what at one stage looked like victory in the first ashes Test completed in two days since 1921 and the first in England since Nasser Hussain’s team hurried home against West Indies at Headingley in 2000.
Instead, australia will begin what will surely be the last day of this remarkable match just 23 ahead with three wickets in hand but with England’s push for a notable triumph coming at what might prove to be a considerable cost.
Everything was going England’s way when David Warner, who had scored a rapid 77 of his side’s 111 to that point, became the sixth australian to fall with 34 runs still needed to avoid an innings defeat.
Yet the wind was taken out of England’s sails, at least for a while, when Jimmy anderson pulled up in the middle of an over with a side injury that threatens his participation in the last two Investec Tests of this series.
That would be a significant blow for England, particularly as next week’s fourth Test is at the Trent Bridge ground where anderson is king, but for now they should not let it spoil what has been the most thrilling of performances.
This was Twenty20 Test cricket, a frenzied affair that represented a complete role reversal from the second Test and a probable victory that would maintain England’s bonkers sequence of winning the next Test after losing one.
at the centre of the drama was a bowler who was deemed unselectable by the end of the last ashes and who has had to rebuild his career to the point where he has been near
unplayable in this third Test. There were plenty of times when steven Finn believed his career at the highest level was over during those painful 18 months when he had to piece his broken bowling action back together.
Yet here was Finn bowling as well as at any time on a ground where his Middlesex team-mate and now ashes adversary Chris Rogers said he once saw him reduced to tears by career-threatening problems.
Finn, more than any other England bowler, simply blew australia away as they followed their 136 all out in 36.4 overs with another substandard display of batting to crash to 168 for seven by the close.
Where once Finn could barely get the ball down the other end, now he was back to when he was regarded as one of the best young fast bowlers in the world to take five prime australian wickets. The sight of this popular figure being acclaimed with standing ovations wherever he went to field after hitting 91mph and proving far too hot for australia to handle was a heartwarming one.
This was another day that had everything, right from the second over when Mitchell Johnson produced a devastating six balls of world-class fast bowling that in an instant appeared to bounce his side back into this game.
Jonny Bairstow could do nothing with the first ball he received from Johnson, a brutal bouncer that he gloved behind. Two balls later Johnson repeated the trick, this time to the left-handed Ben stokes, and suddenly England were five down while only six runs ahead and the most unpredictable of ashes series had taken another twist.
It took an eighth-wicket stand of 87 off 117 balls between Moeen ali and stuart Broad to take England somewhere near the lead they wanted to reach and one that should prove decisive unless australia pull off a miracle today.
Moeen started by batting like a No 8, particularly against the off spin of Nathan Lyon, but then progressed to become the toporder batsman he undoubtedly is.
When Jos Buttler fell lbw, Lyon had the remarkable figures of three wickets for three runs in three overs, an analysis made worse for England by Hawk-Eye’s view that it would have been overturned on review.
But England vowed to stay positive after lunch and Moeen launched into the bowling, taking three fours in an over off Johnson during a spell that cost the australian figurehead 27 runs in three overs.
When England were dismissed for 281 they had a sizeable yet not match-winning lead of 145 but any hopes australia had of seizing back the initiative were brought to a halt by the best bowling of Finn’s career.
Broad had made the crucial early breakthrough by dismissing Rogers to claim his 299th Test wicket but it was Finn who proved the difference, forcing steve smith into a horrible stroke and then sending back Michael Clarke and adam Voges with successive balls.
Only Warner, a particularly prolific second-innings performer, stood between England and a two- day triumph as he raced to his 50 off 35 balls to equal Graeme Yallop’s record for australia’s fastest ashes half-century.
Throughout his innings England made it clear that they do not like Warner, who has upset them with his acid tongue, and his fall to anderson would have been the most satisfying of moments. Yet when anderson was forced off they looked deflated until Johnson became Finn’s fifth victim.
England thought it was almost all over then but, with Peter Nevill and Mitchell starc hanging on to the close, it isn’t quite yet. But it would take a turnaround of Headingley 1981 proportions to stop England heading to Nottingham 2-1 up. Test cricket? Bloody hell.