Aussies charge to Ashes victory

ENGLAND’S Ashes dream was spectacularly ended in only 25 days with fiery fast bowler Brett Lee ruthlessly completing another emphatic Test and series defeat with a hostile new ball spell at the WACA.

Lee shattered England’s resistance by sending Alex Tudor off the pitch on a stretcher before also intimidating Steve Harmison to seal the innings and 48 runs triumph which retained the Ashes less than a month since Nasser Hussain’s costly mistake to bowl first in the opening Test in Brisbane.

That 384-run defeat at The Gabba was quickly followed by an innings and 51 runs defeat in Adelaide, but their three-day demolition in Perth was the most convincing of all on one of the fastest pitches in world cricket.

The tourists’ struggle to avoid defeat had all but been broken when Australian captain Steve Waugh threw the new ball to Lee and with his second delivery pole-axed Tudor, sending him to ground after he ducked into a bouncer and the ball crashed into the front of his helmet.

England, rather predictably, had no answers to the questions posed by Australia’s formidable attack and any hopes of at least avoiding an innings attack were ended by the loss of three wickets in only 20 balls inside the first five overs of the day.

Resuming on an already perilous 33 for one still needing a further 238 runs to make Australia bat again, their resistance lasted only 12 deliveries before nightwatchman Richard Dawson drove Jason Gillespie straight to Waugh at point.

If that was perhaps expected, England could have done without yet another run-out drama but just like the first innings when Mark Butcher was dismissed after a misunderstanding with Michael Vaughan, an almost identical situation occurred, only this time with the roles reversed.

Driving Glenn McGrath to mid-off, Vaughan set off for a two but as they turned for the second Butcher appeared to hesitate and left the Yorkshire batsman stranded and enabled Australia to celebrate the dismissal of England’s most in-form batsman.

Worse was to follow off the next ball when Butcher was trapped leg before by McGrath and, still incensed by the run-out a minute earlier, knocked the bails off the stumps with his bat which earned him an £800 fine from match referee Wasim Raja, equating to 20% of his match fee, and a severe reprimand for his abuse of cricket equipment under the code of conduct.

His temper was the least of England’s worries and at 34 for four with Silverwood not playing any further part in the match, their biggest concern was eclipsing their worst-ever Ashes score of 45 recorded at Sydney in 1886-87.

Had Nasser Hussain fallen to the very next delivery, edging Gillespie straight to Shane Warne at first slip only for him to put down the regulation chance, that could have been a possibility. But instead it gave the England captain a licence to play one of his most determined and brave innings of recent years.

For all Lee’s hostility, though, he failed to dislodge Hussain who battled for nearly four hours for his 61 until Warne made amends for his earlier error by dismissing him to a catch behind, which television replays later showed was less than conclusive, having had him dropped at slip off the previous ball.

Hussain’s demise prompted a change of tactics from England with Alec Stewart starting to play his shots with abandon and when Craig White tried to follow suit by charging Warne, the inevitable stumping followed.

That was just two overs before the new ball was given to Lee.His hostile spell ended any pretensions of England holding on or offering much more resistance to the powerful Australians - a situation which has changed little in the 13 years since Australia claimed the Ashes back in 1989.