England thrash hapless Australia inside 3 days

Finn’s 6-wicket haul helped England take control

England have staged a dramatic comeback in the Investec Ashes series by demolishing Australia inside 3 days by 8 wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the series. After suffering a massive loss in the second Test at Lord’s, there were so many question marks surrounding the team, but they have answered back in style.

With this result, none of the three Test matches entered the fifth day. Australia began the day with a slender lead of 23, but their lower order managed to add 97 more runs to stretch the lead to 120, thus handing England a target of 121 to win the Test.

Wicket-keeper Peter Nevill justified his selection ahead of Brad Haddin with a composed 59 from 147 deliveries, but it was Mitchell Starc’s half-century that proved crucial in the end for Australia. He scored 58 runs from 106 deliveries to take the lead past 100.

He came back with the ball to remove Alastair Cook early, but then Ian Bell and Adam Lyth started making use of Australia’s attacking field setups to pick some boundaries. They added 40 runs for the second wicket before Hazlewood came back to remove the out of form Lyth. It remains to be seen if he will hold on to his place for the next Test.

Meanwhile, Ian Bell scored another important half-century in his new batting position as he remained not out on 65, while Joe Root made an unbeaten 35.

The 4^th Test will now begin at Nottingham on the 6^th of August.