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If it wasn’t upto a heroic batting effort by Graeme Swann and an in-your-face kind of a half-century from Stuart Broad, England would have packed-up on the morning of the 3rd day itself. However, as it turned out, England added more than 150+ runs in the first session, scoring at a run-rate of nearly 6 runs per over, until the lunch break broke their momentum. Swann is still playing, while Broad got out after playing some swashbucling shots. What is heartening to see is English lower order trying to ensure that Australia don’t walk away with the victory and all the positives from this match. One thing is certain, England will lose this test match but if the players are crushed by Australia from a mental perspective then there is no chance of them competing strongly in the last and the decisive, Fifth Test Match. The one thing England can still do is bat and frustrate Australia a bit longer. This way the lower-order batsmen would have gained some confidence of batting and you never know, this may prove to be handy as both teams head for the final game.

It had to happen at some point during the Ashes 2009 - the England batsmen had been guilty of trying to be too flashy outside the off-stump and for some reason, or just plain luck, their edges had managed to seep through between the close-in fielders on just too many ocassions. As it turned out in the fourth Ashes 2009 test, the English batsmen pushed their luck too far, again and this they paid for it. England was dismissed for under 110. Some would say that it was Siddle and Clark who did the damage. However, if you look at most of the dismissals it is just poor technique against disciplined bowling. The ball wasn’t moving around too much but the batsmen kept playing away from their body and kept getting out. What must be bothering England is that Australia look set to take a good lead and the pitch won’t be very conducive to swing bowling on the second day when most Aussies would look to get stuck to the crease and make it count. Further, Australia doesn’t have a spinner this time around and an all-pace attack would come back to haunt the English batsmen in the second innings wherein they would be expected to score somewhere around the 450-500 region.

Michael Clarke is continuously building upon the reputation of being Australia’s next Steve Waugh as he delivered once again when the team needed it the most. Had it not been for his partnership with Marcus North, Australia would have surely gone down by 2-0 in the Ashes. As things stand now, the momentum seems to be with England as they are already one-up in the series and it is up to Australia to make all the right moves. However, if the England team does sit back and think that they can be passive and let Australia do all the hard work, then things could go horribly wrong. Australia would strike back with vengeance in the fourth test and if England cannot continue with the sustained intensity they have shown till now, it could soon be one all.

The England team was well served in having two all-rounders at number seven and eight. With Flintoff and Stuart Broad walking in after mark prior, it means that this English side does have some serious depth to its batting and it showed on Sunday. Hillfenhaus would have seriously dented any chances of England gaining a lead as he kept on dismissing the top-order batsmen. However, with these two bowler-cum-batsmen coming together, England was able to pile up the lead and more critically, at a fair clip. The run rate and the volume of runs were both important considering that this is a rain-hit match and conditions and the length of session could both go awkward at any time. As it turned out, Flintoff was the highest scorer for his side and Broad too contributed with a half century.

It was a James Anderson show according to some folks as he made the Aussie batting line-up crumble after being at a commanding situation wherein they were 125 for the loss of just one wicket. The conditions were typically English, moist and wet to the core, and two typical England bowlers who knew how to utilise them to their advantage — Anderson and Onions, swung the ball beyond conventional expectations. Everybody had been commenting about how Hillfenhaus has been consistently swinging the ball, but it was Anderson who created exaggerated swing this time around and claimed five wickets. Onions was the more controlled of the two bowlers. His four wickets were just as crucial, particularly the two he took in the morning, off two consecutive balls. Anderson looked like a completely different bowler once he started pitching-up the ball and some of his deliveries that came-in towards the batsmen were simply unplayable.

It took Graeme Swann’s bowling to provide England with the breakthrough after Australia chose to bat first in the 3rd Ashes Test Match at Edgbaston. It has to be said that the English bowling was mediocre during the initial 17 – 18 overs. For starters, nearly all the bowlers bowled too short, hardly ever enticing Katich or Watson to be invited on the frontfoot. This was surprising given the fact that it had rained so heavily during the hours just before the test match and everyone expected the ball to swing a lot. But then, to make the ball swing you would have to pitch it up and this clearly wasn’t the agenda of the England bowlers. Swann’s wicket too came more from a change of pace rather than having fooled the batsman or having spun the ball in any way. Even Shane Warne, as a commentator, stated that England were simply wasting the new ball, forgetting the fact that they won the second Ashes test match by making the Aussies batsmen play a lot more shots when they were new at the crease.

Australia were seriously worried about the form of their new-find Hughes and they did what everyone expected them to do — drop the young left-hander for the crucial third encounter against England in the ongoing Ashes 2009. This meant that Watson who has limited experience opening the innings and that too only in the ODIs was promoted at the top of the order. To the surprise of many folks, he didn’t look as out of place as it was imagined. He drove with a lot of confidence and barring a few rash attempted slashes outside the off-stump, Watson was like your regular test opener. He pounced upon the lose deliveries and looked equally good against the short ball, something that was bothering Hughes with Flintoff & Co. continuously digging the ball and making it rise under his helmet.

Nearly every cricket fan in England, even those who consider soccer their religion has his eyes fixed on the third test match of the historic Australia-England rivalry and it seems that all roads in are leading to Edgbaston. For starters, this is not a traditional venue for hosting Ashes test matches and this trend started only recently. Secondly, the pitch conditions could severely affect the chances of the side batting first. In fact, some local cricket experts here are so sure about the ball swinging during the first morning that they have bought tickets only for half the day for the opening morning’s session. The reason — they believe that if England are put into bat first, they will not survive for more than 40 overs or so, notwithstanding the fact that there is McGrath or even Brett Lee or for that matter, even Mitchell Johnson is hopelessly out-of-form. This combined with the ongoing debate over Flintoff’s decision to hiatus from test cricket and Andrew Strauss’s request that he should be consulted before English players are leased for the IPL are making things only more interesting.

The third, and in a large way the deciding, test match of the series is upon England and Australia. Both the teams are struggling to find the right combination for this crucial encounter. Australia realizes that a draw or a loss here would put them beyond the realm of having a reasonable chance to retain the coveted Ashes. For England, the problem has been compounded by the health of KP. I don’t say injury because it is more of a mental thing affecting his physical conditioning, right now. In all probability, Ian Bell would have to replace him and though Bell does look, like a good test match batsman, he doesn’t have half the flair that KP does. However, more than flair, what England wants right now is someone at Pietersen’s place to score runs, to strengthen the middle order. Australia on the other hand is facing problems with its openers. An interesting proposition has come up in the form of Watson who has opened the batting in the one-dayers and is a very useful bowler. Given Hughes susceptibility to the bouncing ball, Watson may walk into his boots.

Both Australia and England move to Edgbaston with a few apprehensions bothering them though England are obviously in a better frame of mind, having won the second test match. The pitch here is supposed to seam around a lot for the first two days and the side batting first would be severely tested, with rains peppering the venue for the last two evenings. Both squads have some injury-related issues. England is hoping against some serious medical opinions that Pietersen should not play this match. The Aussies need more firepower in their bowling but Brett lee continues to elude due to his dicey fitness reports and Mitchell Johnson is still reportedly still miles away from his best bowling form. The problem is that if there is no Pietersen, England does not have too many options to replace him. Further, Flintoff, though the hero of the second-test victory, too isn’t a 100 per cent fit and could break down midway through the game.