Anderson takes six as Australia collapse

BIRMINGHAM, England: James Anderson took six wickets as Australia slumped to 136 all out against England after winning the toss on the first day of the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
Anderson took six for 47 in 14.4 overs, including a spell of four for seven in 10 balls after lunch, as Australia were dismissed inside 37 overs.
It was an impressive turnaround after the 32-year-old Lancastrian had gone wicketless with match figures of none for 137 in Australia’s crushing 405-run victory in the second Test at Lord’s which levelled this five-match series at 1-1.
Fast bowler Steven Finn had figures of two for 38 in 10 overs having been recalled for his first Test in two years, after Durham quick Mark Wood was omitted because of ankle problems.
Australia were indebted to opener Chris Rogers’s 52, with their next best score Adam Voges’s 16.
This was Rogers’s ninth fifty in 11 Test innings and came after he was cleared to play following a balance problem in the inner ear caused by being hit on the helmet by an Anderson bouncer during the course of his Test-best 173 at Lord’s.
It also proved the value of the 37-year-old Rogers’s experience of such awkward seaming conditions during several seasons in English county cricket, including a spell captaining Finn at Middlesex.
At tea, England were seven without loss in 3.5 overs.
Adam Lyth, was one not out and England captain Alastair Cook six not out.
At Lord’s, where Australia drew level after England won the first Test in Cardiff, Anderson had been frustrated by a placid pitch.
But although Australia captain Michael Clarke had said he would bowl first if there was as much grass on the Edgbaston pitch on Wednesday as he had seen on Monday, he opted to bat after winning the toss.
Anderson needed a mere eight balls to take his first wicket on Wednesday when David Warner, Rogers’s fellow left-handed opener, was lbw on the back foot for two.
Finn then took two wickets for two runs in nine balls.
Steven Smith fell for seven when squared up by a good length ball he edged low to Cook at first slip.
Finn’s excellent yorker then clean bowled Clarke, now with two hundreds in his last 27 Test innings, for just 10.
Australia, 72 for three at lunch, had no answer to Anderson in the second session.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh was caught behind for a duck and wicket-keeper Peter Nevill, retained despite Brad Haddin being available again after missing the second Test because of his daughter’s ill-health, suffered the embarrassment of being bowled for two when deliberately leaving the ball.
It had seemed that Rogers might bat through the entire innings.
But his more than three-and-a-half hours of resistance ended when he was lbw to Broad, having faced 89 balls including nine fours.
Anderson wrapped up the innings when he bowled last man Nathan Lyon (11).
Score Board
Australia won toss
Australia 1st innings
C J L Rogers lbw b Broad 52
D A Warner lbw b Anderson 2
S P D Smith c Cook b Finn 7
*M J Clarke b Finn 10
A C Voges c Buttler b Anderson 16
M R Marsh c Buttler b Anderson 0
†P M Nevill b Anderson 2
M G Johnson c Stokes b Anderson 3
M A Starc c Buttler b Broad 11
J R Hazlewood not out 14
N M Lyon b Anderson 11
Extras (lb 7, nb 1) 8
Total (all out; 36.4 overs) 136
Fall: 1-7, 2-18, 3-34, 4-77, 5-82, 6-86, 7-94, 8-110, 9-119, 10-136
Bowling: Anderson 14.4-2-47-6; Broad 12-2-44-2; Finn 10-1-38-2 (1nb)
England team
A Lyth, *A N Cook, I R Bell, J E Root, J M Bairstow, B A Stokes, †J C Buttler, M M Ali, S C J Broad, J M Anderson, S T Finn
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and C B Gaffaney (New Zealand). TV umpire: M Erasmus (South Africa). Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka)