Ashes 2009: 4th Test: Australia Crush England, innings defeat! Series 1-1!

Within 3 days, Australia crushed and took sweet revenge on England to equal the series 1-1. This is a huge win for Australia and will definitely give them big advantage in the final test.

Flintoff's omission due to injury was a negative point for England and should have put them under pressure.

The pace trio from Australia did the perfect job. The three pacers took the pressure on their shouldres and did not show the impact of Lee's absence. All the 20 wickets were taken by the pace bowlers and spinner was never introduced.

Ponting should be appreciated for his wise decision of Stuart Clark over Lee. He must have gone through tremendous stress in taking this decision.

England were bowled out after lunch. Siddle picked 5 wickets and Stuart Clark had 3 on his account. England had only two players reaching the double figure--Cook 30 and Prior unbeaten on 37. It was one of the poor innings by England.

At the end of Day 1, Australia were in sound posision. Though they last 4 wickets, they were 94 runs ahead with 6 wickets in hand.

North scored his second ton in this series and gave Australia a solid lead. Australia were dismissed for 445 with Michael Clarke missing century by 7 runs. Ponting scored 78.

Trailing by 343 runs, England lost wickets at regular intervals and could not survive the good bowling attack. They were 82 for 5 at the end of Day 2.

With 3 more days to go, England needed to score 261 to make Australia bat again. Everyone knows that Australia are on the way to equalling the series.

The remaining 5 wickets fell before lunch and the match was completed in less than 2.5 days. North was chosen for the man of the match award for his wonderful century. Johnson picked 5 wickets and proved that he is back to form.

Scoreboard:

Match: Ashes 2009: Test Match 4
Date: August 7-11, 2009
Teams: Australia v. England
Captains: Ponting and Strauss
Toss: England, decided to bat
Venue: Headingley, Leeds
Result: Australia win by an innings and 80 runs
Series Result: Series Equal at 1-1
Man of the Match: North off Australia

England 1st Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
A Strauss	c North b Siddle	3	17	0	0
A Cook	c Clarke b Clark	30	65	3	0
Bopara	c Hussey b Hilfenhaus	1	6	0	0
I Bell	c Haddin b Johnson	8	26	2	0
Collingwood	c Ponting b Clark	0	5	0	0
M Prior	not out	37	43	5	0
S Broad	c Katich b Clark	3	12	0	0
Swann	c Clarke b Siddle	0	15	0	0
Harmison	c Haddin b Siddle	0	6	0	0
Anderson	c Haddin b Siddle	3	10	0	0
G Onions	c Katich b Siddle	0	1	0	0
Extras	(b 5, lb 8, w 1, nb 3)	17	-	-	-
Total	all out in 33.5 overs	102	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-11 (Strauss, 3.6 ov), 2-16 (Bopara, 6.4 ov), 3-39 (Bell, 15.3 ov), 4-42 (Collingwood, 18.3 ov), 5-63 (Cook, 22.2 ov), 6-72 (Broad, 24.5 ov), 7-92 (Swann, 29.4 ov), 8-98 (Harmison, 31.4 ov), 9-102 (Anderson, 33.4 ov), 10-102 (Onions, 33.5 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Hilfenhaus	7	0	20	1
Siddle	9.5	0	21	5
Johnson	7	0	30	1
S Clark	10	4	18	3

Australia 1st Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
S Watson	lbw b Onions	51	67	9	0
Katich	c Bopara b Harmison	0	4	0	0
Ponting	lbw b Broad	78	101	12	1
M Hussey	lbw b Broad	10	10	2	0
M Clarke	lbw b Onions	93	138	13	0
M North	c Anderson b Broad	110	206	13	1
Haddin	c Bell b Harmison	14	23	1	0
M Johnson	c Bopara b Broad	27	53	5	0
P Siddle	b Broad	0	1	0	0
S Clark	b Broad	32	22	1	3
B Hilfenhaus	not out	0	3	0	0
Extras	(b 9, lb 14, w 4, nb 3)	30	-	-	-
Total	all out in 104.1 overs	445	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-14 (Katich, 1.4 ov), 2-133 (Watson, 27.3 ov), 3-140 (Ponting, 28.6 ov), 4-151 (Hussey, 30.3 ov), 5-303 (Clarke, 72.6 ov), 6-323 (Haddin, 80.2 ov), 7-393 (Johnson, 96.3 ov), 8-394 (Siddle, 96.6 ov), 9-440 (Clark, 102.5 ov), 10-445 (North, 104.1 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Anderson	18	3	89	0
Harmison	23	4	98	2
Onions	22	5	80	2
Broad	25.1	6	91	6
Swann	16	4	64	0

England 2nd Innings: (trail by 343 runs)

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
A Strauss	lbw b Hilfenhaus	32	78	4	0
A Cook	c Haddin b Johnson	30	84	4	0
Bopara	lbw b Hilfenhaus	0	1	0	0
I Bell	c Ponting b Johnson	3	12	0	0
Collingwood	lbw b Johnson	4	10	0	0
Anderson	c Ponting b Hilfenhaus	4	10	1	0
Prior	c Haddin b Hilfenhaus	22	29	3	0
Broad	c Watson b Siddle	61	49	10	0
Swann	c Haddin b Johnson	62	72	7	1
Harmison	not out	19	28	4	0
G Onions	b Johnson	0	7	0	0
Extras	(b 5, lb 5, w 5, nb 11)	26	-	-	-
Total	all out in 61.3 overs	263	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-58 (Strauss, 22.4 ov), 2-58 (Bopara, 22.5 ov), 3-67 (Bell, 25.5 ov), 4-74 (Collingwood, 27.6 ov), 5-78 (Cook, 29.6 ov), 6-86 (Anderson, 32.3 ov), 7-120 (Prior, 38.6 ov), 8-228 (Broad, 51.3 ov), 9-259 (Swann, 59.2 ov), 10-263 (Onions, 61.3 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Hilfenhaus	19	2	60	4
Siddle	12	2	50	1
S Clark	11	1	74	0
Johnson	19.3	3	69	5