The English tail-enders delayed the inevitable, but in the end, Australia won the game by a whopping innings and 80 runs to tie the scoreline at 1-1, going into the final game of the test series.
Resuming on their overnight score of 82/5, the Aussies needed to take only five wickets to wrap up the game, where as the hosts required to score 261 runs to make the tourists bat again. As it turned out, England lost two really quick wickets of Matt Prior and James Anderson, to Ben Hilfenhaus. This left the hosts tottering at 120/7 and the chances of a really early finish loomed.
However, at this stage, the most unlikely duo of Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann began their free-flowing batting against the Aussie pace bowlers. They added 108 runs for the eighth wicket and took special liking for Stuart Clark, who was hit for 74 runs in his 11 overs. There wasn’t too much respite for the other bowlers either, as the runs came off 75 balls only and had both the batsmen complete their half centuries.
The fun, though was too good to last. Broad smashed one to the deep mid-wicket’s throat off Peter Siddle for 61. This was followed by Mitchell Johnson cleaning up the remaining two wickets of Swann (62) and Graham Onions for a duck as the English were all out for 263. Johnson ended with figures of 5/69, whereas Hilfenhaus had four.
Marcus North won the man-of-the-award for his scintillating century. The fifth and the final test will be played at the Oval in London on the 20th of August.
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