The first blood seemed to go to Australia as England took the new ball early on. This seemed strange at the time (especially to the Australian commentators) as Marcus North looked a lot more comfortable against pace than Graeme Swann's spin. He showed just how comfortable he was as he crunched an away-swinger from Anderson trough the covers for four.
Things didn't get much better after that for Australia however as Mike Hussey was out attempting to pull a rising Steve Finn delivery which landed in the safe hands of Jimmy Anderson. This wicket was a huge boost to England as Hussey has been Australia's in form batsman and looked very good at the crease throughout his stay.
England were on a roll and when Graeme Swann was brought back into the attack with a relatively new ball, you could sense he was going to do something. He should have had Mike Hussey out caught behind before the new ball was taken, Prior shelled the chance. Thankfully for Prior and England, the potentially costly drop had not caused any damage. With the newish ball, Swann continued where he left off. He found more bounce thanks to the harder ball and was getting the ball to turn and bounce sharply from the rough patches.
It was not Swann however who got the next vital wicket. Jimmy Anderson had, unsurprisingly, found some swing with the new ball and had already beaten Brad Haddin outside the off-stump on a few occasions before finally finding the all important edge. This was the big wicket. Not only was the in-form Haddin gone but Australia's long tail was exposed. It was now only a matter of time before Australia capitulated. The only question was, would the rain beat England to the punch?
Jimmy Anderson certainly didn't want to take his time about it. From the very next ball he curved one back into Ryan Harris, to which he responded by shouldering arms (clearly he didn't much like the idea of having to bat when it started raining). Harris made a bee-line straight for the dressing room, seemingly content with his King Pair. Marcus North had decided however that the decision was worth referring (clearly the right choice after being hit in front of all 3 pegs without offering a shot). Despite the seemingly pointless referral, it was actually quite close as eagle-eye showed the ball was only just clipping the top of the stumps. Not quite close enough to overturn the decision though.
Now, only Marcus North stood between England and glorious victory. Here was his opportunity to prove himself. He had the chance to be the hero for Australia, to pull off a draw from this seemingly hopeless position would have been an outstanding achievement for North. All of Australia's hopes were resting on his shoulders... and he collapsed, without a fight. He lasted only 1 ball of Graeme Swann's next over before succumbing to his nemesis. It was a tame defensive prod that brought his demise as the ball clipped his pad before hitting his bat (the same thing had happened earlier on). As before, it was given not out and as before, England referred the decision knowing a successful appeal would all but guarantee them victory. The replays showed that the ball was missing leg and off stump whilst hitting middle half way up. It was plumber than plumb. The England players started celebrating as soon as they saw the big screen. They did not wait for the official decision, neither did North as he commenced his slow trudge back to the dressing room.
It was now just a procession for England. The last two wickets took only 8 overs to collect. With Swann grabbing both of them to earn himself a deserved 5 for. The ball which took the final wicket of Peter Siddle was an absolute cracker. It lured him forward then spun sharply through the gate to clip the off-stump, it was classic Swann and sparked wild scenes of celebration from the England players and fans alike.
And that was it 1-0 England. The threat of rain did not materialise as England took only 20 overs to take the final 6 wickets. It was a complete performance from England. Ricky Ponting admitted as much in his post-match interview. I certainly cannot remember a more dominant performance from England in the 7 years I have been watching Test cricket. If anyone has any contenders I would love to hear about them.
The bare statistics sum up the dominance England had over Australia throughout the game (literally from the 4th ball of the game when Katich was run out without facing). England won by an innings and 71 runs, the first time they have beaten Australia by an innings since 1985. Considering they did this after losing the toss and having to bowl first on a good batting track makes it even more impressive. Over the match, England lost 5 wickets compared to Australia's 20. This just shows the superiority England enjoyed in both the batting and bowling departments (not to mention the fielding).
There was some bad news for England as Stuart Broad was ruled out of the rest of the series with an abdominal injury. Whilst this is bad news for England, they have more than capable replacements in the squad. This strength in depth was evidenced during the the tour game in Hobart where Tremlett, Bresnan and Shahzad tour through the Australia A batting line-up. The logical replacement for Broad would be Tremlett as he is a very similar bowler and should enjoy the pace and bounce which the WACA offers.
Australia need to win 2 of the remaining 3 games to regain the Ashes (whilst drawing the other). They will need to turnaround their form dramatically if they are to do so, otherwise, England may have their hands back on the urn in Melbourne. If the thought of that happening doesn't inspire an Australian turnaround, nothing will.
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