The series is currently level at 1–1, after a draw in the first Test, an England win in the second and an Australian win in the third with two Tests yet to be played.
Background
Up to the start of the 2010–11 Ashes series, Australia led the way with 31 series to England's 29; five had finished as draws. England won the most recent series in 2009 by two Tests to one, but Australia had whitewashed the last one held on home soil, winning 5–0.
Australia and England met in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 final on 16 May. England won by seven wickets with three overs to spare. The two sides also played each other in England in June and July 2010 in a five-match ODI series as a preview to the upcoming summer. England won the first three ODIs to claim the series, but the Australians won the last two.
The Australians remained in England to face Pakistan, losing both Twenty20 Internationals and drawing a two-Test series 1–1. England, meanwhile, beat Bangladesh 2–1 in a 3-match ODI series and beat Pakistan in a controversial series – 3–1 in a four-match Test series, 2–0 in two T20Is and 3–2 in a five-match ODI series.
In the weeks leading up to the Ashes, Australia faced both India and Sri Lanka in India and Australia respectively. Australia played India in two Tests and three ODIs during October. They lost both Tests, and lost the ODI series 1–0, with the first and third games washed out without any cricket played. Sri Lanka faced the Australians during the early part of November with Sri Lanka winning the only Twenty20 International and winning the ODI series 2–1.
[edit]Tickets
Tickets for the Ashes series started selling on 25 July 2010, and within a week many Test days were sold out.[3]
[edit]Venues
As with other recent Ashes series in Australia, this series will be played at the main cricket grounds in Australia's five largest cities.
3rd Test
Perth
2nd Test
Adelaide
4th Test
Melbourne
5th Test
Sydney
1st Test
Brisbane
Test Location Stadium Name Capacity Date
1 Brisbane The Gabba 42,200 25–29 November
2 Adelaide Adelaide Oval 36,000 3–7 December
3 Perth WACA Ground 24,000 16–20 December
4 Melbourne Melbourne Cricket Ground 100,000 26–30 December
5 Sydney Sydney Cricket Ground 46,000 3–7 January
[edit]Squads
The England squad was announced on 23 September, 2010. In addition to England's 16-man squad, a 15-man Performance Programme squad was named that will also be touring Australia. That squad will be in Brisbane from 13 November, before playing four-day matches against a Queensland XI (25–28 November) and a Western Australia XI (7–10 December) in Perth before departing on 16 December.[4]
A 17-man Australian squad was announced on 15 November 2010 for the first Ashes Test[5], although they reduced the squad to 13 five days later.[6] The players included in that initial squad but who haven't been part of a final squad are marked with an asterisk below.
For the Third Test in Perth, the Australians called up left-arm spinner Michael Beer and left-handed opening batsman Phillip Hughes.[7]
Australia England
Ricky Ponting (c) Andrew Strauss (c)
Michael Clarke (vc) Alastair Cook (vc)
Michael Beer James Anderson
Doug Bollinger Ian Bell
Xavier Doherty Stuart Broad
Callum Ferguson* Tim Bresnan
Brad Haddin (wk) Paul Collingwood
Ryan Harris Steven Davies (wk)
Nathan Hauritz* Steven Finn
Ben Hilfenhaus Eoin Morgan
Phillip Hughes Monty Panesar
Michael Hussey Kevin Pietersen
Mitchell Johnson Matt Prior (wk)
Simon Katich Ajmal Shahzad
Usman Khawaja Graeme Swann
Marcus North Chris Tremlett
Peter Siddle Jonathan Trott
Steven Smith
Shane Watson
[edit]Matches
[edit]First Test
25 – 29 November 2010
Scorecard England
260 (76.5 overs) v Australia
481 (158.4 overs) Match drawn
The Gabba, Brisbane
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Billy Doctrove (WI)
Man of the Match: Alastair Cook (Eng)
Ian Bell 76 (131)
Peter Siddle 6/54 (16 overs) Michael Hussey 195 (330)
Steven Finn 6/125 (33.4 overs)
517/1d (152 overs) 107/1 (26 overs)
Alastair Cook 235* (428)
Marcus North 1/47 (19 overs) Ricky Ponting 51* (43)
Stuart Broad 1/18 (7 overs)
England won the toss and elected to bat.
Play on Day 1 was reduced due to rain.
Play on Day 2 was reduced due to rain and bad light.
Play on Day 4 was reduced due to bad light.
On the opening day, Peter Siddle – celebrating his 26th birthday – took a hat-trick and achieved his best Test career figures to date with 6/54.[8] He dismissed Cook (caught Watson), Prior (bowled) and Broad (lbw) to take the first Ashes hat-trick since Darren Gough took three wickets in Sydney in 1999.[9][10] Debutant Xavier Doherty also took his first Test wicket by dismissing Ian Bell as England were all out in their first innings for 260.[11][10]
In reply, Australia were reduced to 143/5 before Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin's partnership of 307 runs, a record sixth-wicket partnership at The Gabba, saw them finish on 481 all out.[12] England bowler Steven Finn finished with figures of 6/125 on his Ashes debut, however England conceded a 221-run first innings deficit.[12]
England amassed a huge 517/1 declared in their second innings to overcome their large first innings deficit. Strauss (110) and Cook (235 not out) made a 188-run opening partnership; an English record at the ground, during which they overtook Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe as England's highest-scoring pair of opening batsmen.[13][14] Jonathan Trott (135 not out) joined Cook for an unbeaten 329-run partnership before England declared in anticipation for a draw. Cook's score of 235 not out broke Donald Bradman's record for the highest Test score at the Gabba.[15]
With the target at 297 runs from 41 overs for victory, Australia moved to 107/1, with Ponting making a quick 51, before a draw was declared.
Attendance figures
Day 1: 35,389[16]
Day 2: 34,045[16]
Day 3: 34,615[16]
Day 4: 21,677[16]
Day 5: 7,088[16]
[edit]Second Test
3 – 7 December 2010
Scorecard Australia
245 (85.5 overs) v England
620/5d (152 overs) England won by an innings and 71 runs
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Umpires: Marais Erasmus (SA) and Tony Hill (NZ)
Man of the Match: Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Michael Hussey 93 (183)
James Anderson 4/51 (19 overs) Kevin Pietersen 227 (308)
Ryan Harris 2/84 (29 overs)
304 (99.1 overs)
Michael Clarke 80 (139)
Graeme Swann 5/91 (41.1 overs)
Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
Play on Day 3 was reduced due to rain.
Players take the field at the Adelaide Oval during the second Test
For the second Test, Australia made two changes; dropping Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus and bringing in Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris. England fielded an unchanged side.[17] Australia batting first made their worst start to a Test match in 60 years,[17][18] when they lost the opening three wickets for two runs. Simon Katich was run out before facing a ball, and captain Ricky Ponting for a first-ball duck.[17] Michael Hussey made 93 before being dismissed by Graeme Swann and Australia were bowled out on day one for 245.[17]
On the second day, England captain Andrew Strauss was dismissed for a single in the first over of the day's play.[19] At the close of day two, Alastair Cook had made 136 not out to break the England record for runs scored and minutes at the crease without being dismissed. This consisted of 371 runs in 1,022 minutes of play.[20]
Early on the third morning, Kevin Pietersen reached his first century since March 2009 before Cook was out for 148. Supported first by Paul Collingwood (42) and then Ian Bell (68 not out), Pietersen reached the second double-century of his career. Pietersen was finally out for a Test-best 227 before England declared on 620-5. This was the first time that the England team had passed the 500 run mark in successive innings in the Ashes and left Australia needing 375 runs to make England bat again.[21][22]
Australia began batting early on day four and started a fightback before losing the wicket of Michael Clarke (80) off the last ball of the day. Although Hussey completed a half-century, England took the final six wickets in the final morning session to win by an innings and 71 runs. Steven Finn took the key wicket of Hussey before Graeme Swann completed his 10th five-wicket haul in Tests and first against Australia by claiming the last three wickets. The result was the 100th time England had beaten Australia.[23] Harris got a king pair (two first-ball ducks), becoming only the second Australian ever to do so in Test cricket.
Attendance figures
Day 1: 38,141[24] (Highest attendance at the Adelaide Oval in the 21st century.[25])
Day 2: 33,797[26]
Day 3: 32,369[27]
Day 4: 20,157[28]
Day 5: TBA[29]
[edit]Third Test
16 – 20 December 2010
Scorecard Australia
268 (76 overs) v England
187 (62.3 overs) Australia won by 267 runs
WACA Ground, Perth
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) and Marais Erasmus (SA)
Man of the Match: Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Mitchell Johnson 62 (93)
James Anderson 3/61 (20 overs) Ian Bell 53 (90)
Mitchell Johnson 6/38 (17.3 overs)
309 (86 overs) 123 (37 overs)
Michael Hussey 116 (172)
Chris Tremlett 5/87 (24 overs) Jonathan Trott 31 (61)
Ryan Harris 6/47 (11 overs)
England won the toss and elected to field.
Following an innings defeat, Australia made four changes, with pace bowlers Johnson and Hilfenhaus returning in place of Bollinger and Doherty, all-rounder Steve Smith replacing North, and opener Phil Hughes replacing the injured Katich. Australia's bowling attack comprised four main pace bowlers and Smith as the premier spinner. England made one change, with Chris Tremlett chosen to replace the injured Broad.
On the first day, Tremlett marked his return to Test cricket with three top-order wickets as Australia were reduced to 69/5. However, the middle-lower order rescued Australia with Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson scoring half-centuries. Australia were finally bowled out for 268 runs.[30]
On the second day, England reached 78/0 before suffering a batting collapse with Johnson taking 6/38. In a spell costing just 7 runs, he accounted for Cook (32), Trott (4), Pietersen (0) and Collingwood (5) to leave England 98/5. Strauss and Bell made half-centuries before Johnson took two further wickets as England were all out for 187.
Starting their second innings with a lead of 81 runs, Australia lost Hughes, Ponting and Clarke cheaply before Hussey and Watson steadied the innings with a 113-run partnership. Watson fell five short of his century, but Hussey recorded his second century of the series before a late flurry of wickets left Australia being bowled out for 309. Hussey was last-man-out for 116 and that wicket completed Tremlett's maiden Test five wicket haul.
With England needing 391 runs for victory, England quickly collapsed to 81/5. Johnson picked up two more wickets, and Ben Hilfenhaus collected his first since the opening over of the series as the openers and Pietersen fell cheaply. Ricky Ponting damaged a finger parrying Trott to wicket-keeper Haddin in the penultimate over, before Paul Collingwood was caught behind off Harris from the last ball of the day. On day four, the remaining England batsmen were quickly bowled out within ten overs. The final five wickets fell for just 42 runs with Ryan Harris taking 47/6. England were all out for 123, losing the game by 267 runs.[31] For his 61 runs and 9/82 Johnson won the Man of the Match award.
Attendance figures
Day 1: 27,473[32] (Highest attendance at the WACA Ground in the 21st century.[33])
Day 2: 20,661[34]
Day 3: 20,073[35]
[edit]Fourth Test
26 – 30 December 2010
Australia
v England
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
[edit]Fifth Test
3 – 7 January 2011
Australia
v England
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
[edit]Statistics
England
Ian Bell reached a career total of 4,000 runs in the 1st Innings of the 2nd Test when he scored 68 (n.o).
James Anderson reached a career total of 200 wickets when he took Peter Siddle's in the 2nd Innings of the 3rd Test.
Chris Tremlett achieved his first 5 Wicket Haul in the 2nd Innings of the 3rd Test.
Alastair Cook achieved his maiden test double century and his highest score yet of 235 (n.o) in the 2nd Innings of the 1st Test. Note: This is also the highest score for a single batsman at the Gabba.
Kevin Pietersen achieved his highest score yet of 227 in the 1st Innings of the 2nd Test.
Australia
Ryan Harris achieved his first 5 Wicket Haul in the 2nd Innings of the the 3rd Test.
[edit]Media
[edit]Television
Nine Network: Australia
Sky Sports: United Kingdom and Ireland (HD) Highlights ITV4[nb 1]
Star Cricket: India
Willow Cricket: USA
GEO Super: Pakistan
SuperSport: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya
Sky Network Television: New Zealand (HD)
Asian Television Network: Canada
Orbit Showtime: Middle East
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