So I was lying there with food poisoning. *Ugh*.I think I might have got it at my old boss' Christmas party, though I can't be too sure.
Anyway, England put up a good fight for 2 sessions, but at the end of the day, Australia made a breakthrough to make it 5/265.
For a good while there, it looked like last year's Perth Test all over again. England, resuming on 1-19 with 557 needed to win or, more realistically, two days to survive for the draw, had defied the Australians all day.The thing that made it worse for the Englishmen was the Hoggard as Nightwatchman effort that just went bellyup in 2 balls. I hold with the notion that a nightwatchman is not what you want to be doing in a run chase. It did backfire badly, making all the commentators look like geniuses.
With only 16 balls remaining until stumps, it had lost only two wickets to be 3-261. Century-maker Alastair Cook and Pietersen looked set to safely negotiate the remaining overs with the new ball.
Glenn McGrath changed all that in three balls. He was wicketless and overlooked when the new ball became due, it being taken by Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. Finally, McGrath was tossed the ball amid fading light, but his first two overs did not trouble the batsmen unduly.
At 6.32pm (local time), however, McGrath delivered a ball angled across left-hander Cook, who had defied everything else thrown at him over more than six hours. This time he pushed forward, the ball took a thin edge, and Adam Gilchrist gleefully celebrated a catch that removed Cook for 116.
Flintoff, due in next, stayed in the dressing room, instead trusting the resolute straight bat of nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard to see out the night. On his second ball, however, McGrath effected the type of clever tailender dismissal you might expect of Test cricket's most successful paceman, a slower ball that deceived and beat Hoggard and took his off stump.
Two minutes earlier, with seven wickets in hand, England would have liked its chances of batting through the day to keep the series alive. Now, however, such hope seemed gone.
The English limped into stumps at 5-265, after a couple more scares through appeals and hot-headed running from Pietersen and Flintoff.
Just looking at that number,chasing 557 runs, I don't think they can really win it easily on Day 5. It sort of lies on the remote parts of possibilities even though the WACA seems to be playing very nicely for batsmen the last 2 days.
I guess I'll watch day 5 as I lie on my side.
Day 5
And barely 2 balls after lunch and the deal was sealed. Australia romped to their inevitable win.
Warne knocked over Monty Panesar with the second ball after the interval to dismiss the tourists for 350, well short of the victory target of 557.In the end it was anti-climactic as Australia clinically removed the tail-enders, who were already shortened in numbers by the botched Nightwatchman ploy.
Kevin Pietersen finished 60 not out while Warne took 4 for 115 to reach 699 Test scalps.
England limped to lunch on 9 for 349 with any hopes of reaching the target or batting the day out seemingly dashed after Warne and Stuart Clark combined to rip the heart out of the English tail.
The win wraps up the five-Test series 3-0 and sees Ricky Ponting's men regain the urn they lost to England only last year. England's Ashes reign was the shortest in history.
"[Losing the Ashes in 2005] was one of the lowlights of my career but right now is one of the more special times," Ponting said.
"You have to take this for what it is, it's a huge occasion for me and a huge occasion for the rest of the team. To win the Ashes back the way that we have has been unbelievable.
And he confirmed that he had banned any mention of winning the Ashes from the dressing room during the match.
"I thought England played a very good Test match down in Adelaide and I knew that we had to be at our best here if we were going to win," he said.
"So I didn't want anyone thinking any further ahead than what they had to. And to all the players' credit it hasn't been mentioned at all - but I'm sure it will be a few times tonight."
Warne said he thought Australia's extraordinary win in Adelaide had been the turning point.
"To win that game there was something special," he said. "It showed we can do special things like that."
It's nice to see the urn returned to Australia on my birthday. :)
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