England wrapped up the second Ashes test in style as they defeated Australia by 347 runs to take a commanding lead in the five test series.
The home side requested an extra 30 minutes at the end and it proved decisive as Graeme Swann got his fourth wicket in the final over when he took out James Pattinson to compound Australia’s embarrassment.
Fresh from his fearsome batting display on the third day Joe Root continued in the morning at Lord’s and racked up an eventual 180 runs.
After being caught out captain Alistair Cook declared on 349-7 leaving Australia with the unenviable task of chasing 583 runs.
Such a challenge never looked like being achieved particularly early on as James Anderson got the ball rolling when he took out Shane Watson for 24-1.
Graeme Swann followed up with two quick wickets for 36-3 and the Aussies were left staring at mission impossible.
After the eary success Usman Khawaja and skipper Michael Clarke finally offered some resistance for Australia as both went over the 50 run mark before the latter was finally bowled out by Root on 51.
The 22-year-old sensation was at it again as he then picked off Khawaja, who finished on 54, to make it 135-5.
A superb all round performance from England’s bowlers had them dreaming of an extra day off and confirming Australia’s embarassment.
Swann returned to the crease and grabbed another wicket before Root proved he actually is human when he dropped a Peter Siddle shot denying Stuart Broad a 200th test wicket.
James Anderson sealed his second wicket taking Siddle out of contention for 192-9 before Swann sealed an impressive win at the death.
ENGLAND 1st INNINGS 361
AUSTRALIA 1st INNINGS 128
ENGLAND 2nd INNINGS
Cook, AN b: Siddle 8
Root, JE c Smith b Harris 180
Trott, IJL b Siddle 0
Pietersen, KP c Rogers b Siddle 5
Bresnan, TT c Rogers b Pattinson 38
Bell, IR c Rogers b Smith 74
Bairstow, JM c Haddin b Harris 20
Prior, MJ not out 1
DID NOT BAT: Broad, SCJ, Swann, GP, Anderson, JM
Extras (8lb, 15b) 23
Total 349 Runs
Fall of Wickets : 1-22 (Cook,10.2), 2-22 (Trott,12.2), 3-30 (Pietersen,14.5), 4-129 (Bresnan,61.3), 5-282 (Bell,98.2), 6-344 (Bairstow,112.4), 7-349 (Root,114.1)
BOWLING
Harris, RJ 18.1-4-31-2, Watson, SR 12.0-5-25-0, Siddle, PM 21.0-6-65-3, Pattinson, JL 20.0-8-42-1, Smith, SPD 14.0-0-65-1, Agar, AC 29.0-5-98-0
AUSTRALIA 2nd INNINGS
Watson, SR lbw Anderson 20
Rogers, CJL b Swann 6
Khawaja, UT c Anderson b: Root 54
Hughes, PJ lbw Swann 1
Clarke, MJ c Cook b Root 51
Smith, SPD c Prior b Bresnan 1
Haddin, BJ lbw Swann 7
Agar, AC c Prior b Bresnan 16
Siddle, PM b Anderson 18
Pattinson, JL lbw Swann 35
Harris, RJ not out 16
Extras ( 5lb ,1w ,4b ) 10
Total 235 Runs
Fall of Wickets : 1-24 (Watson,6.4), 2-32 (Rogers,9.5), 3-36 (Hughes,15.3), 4-134 (Clarke,47.2), 5-135 (Khawaja,49.6), 6-136 (Smith,50.5), 7-154 (Agar,54.5), 8-162 (Haddin,61.6), 9-192 (Siddle,76.1), 10-235 (Pattinson,90.3)
BOWLING: Anderson, JM 18.0-2-55-2, Broad, SCJ 21.0-4-54-0, Swann, GP 30.3-5-78-4, Bresnan, TT 14.0-8-30-2, Root, JE 7.0-3-9-2
Toss
ENG elected to bat
Umpires
Dharmasena, HDPK (SLA), Erasmus, M (SAF)
Third Umpire
Hill, AL (NZL)
Referee
Madugalle, RS (SLA)
