I did a post about the 4 top bowlers for Australia and it would be good to see them in action in the same game. Not many teams could live with them if that happened. Today we saw what just three of them can do together when they are fully fit. England posted their lowest score against Australia for 71 years.
England lasted just 177 balls and were dismissed for 67. Not surprising the three took all the wickets and made England look amateurish at best. Hazlewood came out on top taking 5 wickets for 30 runs and the English had no answer to him or the other two.
England have one out and out quick and there hopes were relying on Archer to make a difference. Australia have 4 of them and the firepower is definitely one sided. When they get it right this attack is unstoppable and no wonder the Australian Cricket Board has been nursing them all in a rotation cycle.
I thought they may pick all 4 of the main strike bowlers for the 5th and final test if needed, but the way the series is going they may not have to and can rotate again giving someone a break. Then again why should they as England only lasted 27.5 overs so it was more like a warm up for the bowlers and wasn't a typical hard day of test cricket.
England rely heavily on swing and seam movement for their wickets and truth be told had the best day to bowl yesterday under heavy cloud cover. It is amazing how cloud cover and a heavy atmosphere has so much say on what a ball does going through the air. Australia bowled under sunny skies and just relied on pace and seam movement to get their wickets today.
The game is already halfway and yesterday the game lost overs due to rain and I don't expect this one to go the distance or even close to it now. Australia have a decent lead of 112 runs and expect the to have a lead of over 300 by the time England bat again and it could all be over by tomorrow evening or before lunch on Sunday.
England are in a fight and if they lose this game then the Ashes trophy remains in Australia until the next time they meet again. It looks that way after today's performance and the better side is definitely on top. The papers will be out with their knives again having a go at the English team as that is what they do best. It is quite amazing how they can turn and stab the ones they were praising a month ago after winning the World Cup. That is the English way though and they will never change.
