OT Ashes & general cricket chit chat.

Geoffrey's view

2nd Test, day five, Adelaide. England (620/5d) beat Australia (245 & 304) by an innings and 71 runs
It was a fantastic performance by England and fully deserved, as they have outplayed Australia in all departments.
They had a quiet belief that they were the better team, and they played better cricket. Our batsmen were patient, disciplined and ruthless when they got in, and most importantly did not give it away with bad shots.
James Anderson swung the new ball, which was a huge factor in getting early wickets in the Australian first innings and in the second innings with the second new ball. On a dry turning pitch Graeme Swann was always going to bowl them out. I have played in Adelaide many times and never seen it turn as much in a Test match as it did in this one.
The Australian batsmen only seem to know one way to play and that is to score runs. In trying to save the match, Mike Hussey’s shot was appalling and let England into the tail very early on. The tables have turned from four years ago when we were in disarray and our selections were poor. Now it is the Australians' turn to take some pain and grief, because they have got some big question marks about a few of their players and whether they should be picked for the third Test in Perth.
Remember, they gave us plenty of stick four years ago, so don’t shed any tears for them.
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Stat of the day: England were the first team to beat Australia by an innings on their own soil since the West Indies did it in 1993.
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