Day 3 at Edgbaston started with good news for Australia, with James Anderson being ruled out for the rest of the match, as well as the next Test at Trent Bridge.
Yet even without Anderson causing them trouble, Michael Clarke and his men still had a mountain of work to do if they were to salvage anything other than a comprehensive defeat.
Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc started the day positively, with Nevill bringing up his 50 in the second over of the day.
England finally got their man in the 65th over, with Nevill edging down the leg-side to Jos Buttler off Steven Finn, ending a fantastic display of gritty batting at 59.
Starc brought up the lead of 100 in spectacular fashion, smashing Moeen Ali down the ground for six to simultaneously bring up his half-century.
Josh Hazlewood fell to Ben Stokes next over, a great catch from Joe Root in the slips ending the number 10’s innings on 11.
With two appeals on his first two balls, Nathan Lyon was looking shaky, but managed to finish the over with a solid defensive stroke, hopefully calming his nerves.
The second appeal would’ve ended Australia’s innings, however England was out of DRS challenges – Stokes, ironically, having wasted a review late yesterday afternoon.
Starc fell in the 79th over, a leading edge spooning up to cover, a great knock closing out the Australian innings with a lead of 120, Starc finishing on 58 and Lyon not out on 12.
A gutsy performance from Nevill and the tail gave Australia a glimmer of hope, with early wickets and pressure on the batsmen the key to Australia’s slim chance of victory.
Starc’s batting performance seemed to have a great effect on his bowling, looking much more confident than in the first innings. He struck in his third over, an absolute gem clipping the top of off, knocking over Alastair Cook for 7.
But England were scoring far too quickly, already at 1/15 from five overs, needing only 102 to win.
Ian Bell then took to Starc, hitting three boundaries off one over, then to add insult to injury Clarke dropped Bell in the slips on the last ball of the over.
The Australians continued to bleed runs, England moving to 1/47 by the eighth over.
Hazlewood broke the partnership of Adam Lyth and Bell, an in-swinger straightening on the bounce and getting Lyth out lbw for 12.
The Australian bowlers finally managed to trim the run rate with Joe Root and Bell at the crease. That wasn’t to last, with the English pair hitting out again after the 24th over.
Root finished off the Australians in a dominant fashion, a leg glance running to the boundary for an eight-wicket victory.
Australia were completely outplayed in this match, the home side exploited the wicket far better, and batted better to boot. Anderson and Finn were game changers, each taking five-wicket hauls to shatter the chances of an Australian counterattack.
Australia needs to have a hard look at their middle order, batsmen four, five and six have failed to make decent totals throughout the series.
The next Test is at Trent Bridge, starting next Thursday.
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