Tuesday, December 07, 2010

No debating England's dominance

KERSTIN and I listened to some CRICKET history being made last night, as I helped her find statistics for a negative case she is preparing for a HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE.
There was no debating the dominance of ENGLAND (620-5d), victors by an innings and 71 runs over AUSTRALIA (245 & 304) in the Second Ashes Test at Adelaide.

We listened on ABC Radio online as the English bowlers took care of the Australian lower order of batsmen, piling on the pressure on Aussie captain Ricky Ponting (pictured, looking frustrated).

Kerstin and I would be hunting for juvenile offender recidivism rates when I would interrupt and say:

"Listen to that! It's another wicket!"

I'm not sure Kerstin understood the state of play.

English bowler Graeme Swann took the final wicket an hour before lunch to finish with figures of five wickets taken against 91 runs scored against.

I don't think Kerstin understood the significance of the victory, either.

Here is how it stacked up historically:

* England won their 100th Test victory against Australia.

* Australia had not lost by an innings to England in 24 years

* England won for only the ninth time in 30 Tests at Adelaide.