Day 2 turned out to be wonderful for England. At the start of the day, the battle was on, the bowlers won some, lost some. Jimmy Anderson was amazing. Early on, Alastair Cook missed a run out chance. But things turned around after lunch. Jimmy Anderson grabbed 2, Finny 2, Swann 1. Yesterday, I was worried Jimmy's bowling may be a hindrance to winning Ashes. I wanted him to perform for my personal liking over him but most importantly, for England. I'm most interested in Finn at the moment but the bowling and looks of 'The Burnley darling' (as Ian Chappel remarked today) have stimulated me for years. I expected Stuart Broad to take 1 or 2 wickets, Finn to perform and didn't expect Swann to excel today. Broad didn't take any wicket but bowled well, Finn was good and Swann took one but not many. After Day 1, I had suggested that England and especially Broad must bowl more at stumps. Not like my idea couldn't work, but Broad did well even with those predictable short balls. This tells us that he is really good at it. Finn didn't fall during his follow through today and caught a good one of his own bowling.
England's plans worked and the discipline showed. This was great. England's bowling is becoming more consistent, Ian Bell is finally getting out of the classy 40 mode and England have the potential to be the best now. It's our time now. Australia will bat last, which is a good thing. Though England need to set a target of at least 300. If they get Oz all out for 300, they'll need to score 339 at least. Looking forward to Day 3.
Brief scores:
- Aus 220/5 in 80 overs (Hussey 81, Katich 50, Anderson 2/40, Finn 2/61)
Goodbye from jimmymycrushie for now, post your comments below and hope you enjoy the Ashes!
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