The Ashes, England v Australia, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, Live Streaming
England take a 1-0 series lead into the 3rd Ashes test match at Edgbaston which begins on 30th July. In our preview, we take an early look at the 3rd test and some early pointers for Birmingham and focus on the players who are in and out of form in the series so far.
The Venue, Edgbaston, Birmingham:
England will have everlasting memories of the Ashes test that was staged here in 2005. It was one of the most trilling test matches in the history or the game.
Entering the 4th day, the game looked as good as over as Australia needed 107 runs to win and had just 2 wickets remaining. The Australian tail refused to surrender and their last wicket pair had taken them to just 2 runs short of victory when Steve Harmison had Michael Kasprowicz caught behind. The win levelled the series for England and they went on to take the Ashes.
The previous test match on this ground saw the Proteas beat England by 5 wickets in July last year.
Of the 8 test matches England have played at Edgbaston since 2000, there has been only 1 draw. That came in 2003 against the Proteas when both sides scored heavily in their first innings and the whole of the 2nd day’s play was lost to rain.
For the Birmingham weather forecast click here, keep an eye on it, if the weather looks OK, I think we will get a result.
Team News:
England’s team news centres round the fitness of Pietersen and Flintoff. Pietersen is clearly troubled by his lingering Achilles tendon injury and must be a concern. Flintoff is also battling but the rest between Lords, when he really gave everything and the kitchen sink with a man of the match display, must give him every chance.
Australia also have concerns and not just on the injury front. News of Brett Lee’s availability will be eagerly awaited after he missed the first 2 tests. With Mitchell Johnson battling for line and length, a return for Lee would help ease the burden on a man who was overwhelming favourite to be leading Australian wicket taker in the series. Despite spraying the ball wide of both sides of the wicket on a regular basis, Johnson still has 8 wickets in the series and I don’t think the Aussies will want to ditch him yet. A practice match against Northants gives Johnson another chance to address his problems.
Series Stats:
Top bat and bowler markets are proving popular with punters so let’s take a look at the leading run getters and wicket takers in the series so far.
Most runs – Strauss leads the way with his 161 at Lords contributing heavily to overall total of 240. Collingwood is the only Englishman in the top 6, he lies in 4th place with 208.
Brad Haddin is the surprise name at the top of the Australian run scoring charts, his 229 is 9 runs more than Michael Clarke has notched so far. To me, Clarke has looked in superb touch which bodes well for our pre series pick for top Australian batsmen. Ponting (190) and Katich (176) are also up there thanks to their performances at Cardiff in the 1st test.
Most Wickets – The Australians also lead the way here with Hauritz and Hilfenhaus with 9 wickets a piece. The wayward Johnson still has 8 wickets which to me, should save him from the axe despite a poor economy rate of 4.00 per over after 2 test matches. Flintoff, with a 5 wicket haul in the 2nd innings at Lords has 7 in total, 1 more than James Andersen.
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