James Anderson bowled a magnificent spell of 6 for 47 — his best ever Ashes figures — to help England clean out Australia for a mere 136. Mitchell Johnson’s fiery spell in the previous Test at Lord’s had got a lot of people wondering how England would recover from the psychological damage, but Shiamak Unwalla feels that Anderson has shown how pace and bounce is not the only way to take wickets in The Ashes 2015. READ:Scorecard: England vs Australia 2015, 3rd Test at Edgbaston
Mitchell Johnson bowled with a lot of fire at Lord’s, getting the wickets of Alastair Cook, Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, and Stuart Broad. His spell opened the old wounds England suffered in The Ashes 2013-14 in Australia. His bowling brought back memories of poor Jonathan Trott hopping and wincing in the face of Johnson’s venomous pace and aggression. READ: The Ashes 2015: Where have all the batsmen gone?
When Australia won the toss and elected to bat first in overcast conditions, they would not have anticipated an England side quite so charged up. James Anderson struck early, pinging David Warner in front of the stumps on 2. The review Warner asked for only enforced the dismissal. Steven Finn then showed what a boon a fresh and unscarred mind can be, when he dismissed both Steve Smith and Michael Clarke. When Australia went to lunch at 72 for 3 they would have been happy at the recovery, having lost the third wicket for 34. READ: Australia must select Shaun Marsh ahead of Adam Voges
That contentment was extremely short-lived; Anderson showed that pace and bounce was redundant in the face of the simpler, more artistic pursuits of seam and swing. What followed was a vastly different sort of carnage than the type wrought by Johnson. There was no intimidating short bowling, no excess pace, and hardly a word spoken. But the damage Anderson inflicted on Johnson was as potent, if not more, than what Johnson inflicted. READ: James Anderson takes 5 wickets against Australia on Day 1 of 3rd Ashes 2015 Test
For one golden spell after lunch, Anderson struck in every over he bowled. First it was Adam Voges, trying and failing to leave a short-ish delivery. Mitchell Marsh soon followed without scoring, sucked into driving away from the body without moving his feet. Peter Nevill suffered the ignominy of shouldering arms to a straight ball and getting bowled. Mitchell Johnson could only edge to the waiting slip cordon. With five wickets in the bag — including four off 19 balls — Anderson was looking unstoppable. He returned to finish the innings; getting Nathan Lyon bowled as well. READ: Michael Clarke’s lack of runs dangerous for Australia
Anderson did in a spell of 14.4 overs what Johnson did across two innings. The psychological scarring England purportedly suffered proved to be undone by Anderson. The tables have turned, and it was not pace or bounce but precision and skill that did the job. READ: England need Adil Rashid & Moeen Ali to emulate Graeme Swann’s success at home
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.