Anderson takes six

> ...as Australia skittled for 136

ENGLAND PACEMAN James Anderson ripped shellshocked Australia to shreds with six wickets to bowl the tourists out for a paltry 136 on the first day of the third Ashes test at Edgbaston yesterday.

Anderson took six for 47 and fellow quicks Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, on his test return after a two-year absence, two apiece as rejuvenated England put their heavy second test defeat at Lord’s firmly behind them.

Adam Lyth was one not out, and Alastair Cook, the England captain, six not out.

Earlier, Australia were dismissed inside 37 overs after captain Michael Clarke won the toss and batted despite the overcast conditions and a green tinged pitch which promised to aid seam movement.

James Anderson took six for 47, his best innings figures against Australia, in 14.4 overs.

His haul included a spell of four for seven in 10 balls after lunch.

It represented a huge turnaround for Anderson, England’s most successful Test bowler with 412 wickets.

The 32-year-old Lancastrian had gone wicketless with match figures of none for 137 in Australia’s crushing 405-run win in the second Test at Lord’s.

Meanwhile fast bowler Steven Finn marked his first Test since 2013 with two for 38 in 10 overs after Durham quick Mark Wood was omitted because of ankle problems.

Stuart Broad, the only other bowler used in the innings, had figures of two for 44.

But the lively seaming pitch and overcast conditions which aided England’s attack were still factors as the hosts began a reply cut short by rain.

Australia were indebted to opener Chris Rogers’s 52, with their next best score Adam Voges’s 16.

This was Rogers’s ninth fifty in 11 Test innings and came after he was cleared to play following a balance problem in the inner ear caused by being hit on the helmet by an Anderson bouncer during the course of his Testbest 173 at Lord’s.

The five-match series is level at 1-1 after England won the first Test in Cardiff by 169 runs. – AFP/ Reuters