Bell sees England to Ashes series lead over Australia

BIRMINGHAM: Ian Bell delighted a capacity crowd at his Warwickshire home ground with a sparkling unbeaten fifty as England beat Australia by eight wickets to win the third Test at Edgbaston on Friday.
Victory, achieved with more than two days to spare, saw England go 2-1 up in the five-match Ashes series.
England, set a modest victory target of 121, finished on 124 for two after lunch on Friday´s third day.
Bell was 65 not out and Joe Root, who struck the winning boundary off Mitchell Marsh, 38 not out.
There was a moment of concern for England when captain Alastair Cook (seven) was bowled by a superb swinging delivery from left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc to leave the hosts seven for one.
But Bell, roared on by England fans in a sun-drenched crowd, then took charge with a flurry of four fours in seven balls off Starc, including one down the ground and a classic cover-drive.
Bell, arguably England´s most elegant batsman, then late cut off-spinner Nathan Lyon to the third man rope.
He was, however, given a reprieve on 20 when, with England 35 for one, he edged Starc to second slip only for Australia captain Michael Clarke to drop the two-handed catch.
It summed up a miserable match for Clarke, whose run of low scores in Tests continued with innings of 10 and three at Edgbaston. England opener Adam Lyth has also been struggling with the bat and when he was lbw to Josh Hazlewood´s inswinger for 12, it meant the hosts were now 51 for two.
Root, Lyth´s Yorkshire team-mate, showed few signs of nerves, however, in cutting his first ball, from Hazlewood, for four.
Bell´s late-cut boundary off Starc saw him to his second fifty of the match, off 68 balls with seven fours.
It was a fine performance by the 33-year-old Bell, who came into this match — his 113th Test — with a question mark against his place after several meagre innings.
Meanwhile there was mass barracking of fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, repeatedly taunted with a derogatory song regarding his accuracy that became commonplace during England´s 2010-11 Ashes series win in Australia.
It appeared to get to the left-arm quick, who aborted his run-up for one delivery and then bowled from well behind the crease before he was taken off.
“I don’t think the pitch was 140 all out but the way Jimmy (Anderson) bowled, backed up by Steve (Finn) was fantastic. It’s the sort of pitch we want to play on,” said Cook.
But whereas that clash had taken place on a largely placid pitch, the course of this Test owed much to Clarke´s decision to bat first on a seaming surface offering sideways movement.
“I guess credit has to go to England, they came out and bowled really well on day one,” said Clarke.
“I still would have batted first, with the wicket deteriorating, we wanted to get deep into day four, day five,” he added.
James Anderson, England´s all-time most successful Test bowler but wicketless at Lord´s, led the way with an Ashes-best six for 47 as Australia were dismissed for just 136 in their first innings.
However, come Friday, he had been ruled out of both the remainder of this match and next week´s fourth Test at Trent Bridge with a side strain suffered while bowling on Thursday.
An England and Wales Cricket Board statement issued Friday confirmed that, following an overnight assessment, he had suffered a side strain.
“England bowler James Anderson has been ruled out of remainder of the current Investec Ashes Test with a side strain,” the statement said.
Australia resumed Friday on 168 for seven, 23 runs ahead and the two not out batsmen overnight, Peter Nevill and Starc, both went on to make fifties and shared an eighth-wicket stand of 64 that boosted Australia´s second innings total to 265 all out.
England fast bowler Steven Finn led the attack with his best figures at this level of six for 79.
Starc´s straight six off spinner Moeen Ali gave Australia a lead of 100 before Ali ended the innings when he had Starc caught in the covers.
Score Board
Australia won toss
Australia 1st innings 136 (Rogers 52; Anderson 6-47)
England 1st innings 281 (Root 63; N Lyon 3-36)
Australia 2nd innings
C Rogers lbw b Broad 6
D Warner c Lyth b Anderson 77
S Smith c Buttler b Finn 8
M Clarke c Lyth b Finn 3
A Voges c Bell b Finn 0
M Marsh b Finn 6
P Nevill c Buttler b Finn 59
M Johnson c Stokes b Finn 14
M Starc c sub (Poysden) b Ali 58
J Hazlewood c Root b Stokes 11
N Lyon not out 12
Extras (b2, lb9) 11
Total (all out, 79.1 overs) 265
Fall: 1-17, 2-62, 3-76, 4-76, 5-92, 6-111, 7-153, 8-217, 9-245, 10-265
Bowling: Anderson 8.3-5-15-1; Broad 20-4-61-1; Finn 21-3-79-6; Ali 16.1-3-64-1; Stokes 11-3-28-1; Root 2.3-0-7-0;
England 2nd innings
A Lyth lbw b Hazlewood 12
A Cook b Starc 7
I Bell not out 65
J Root not out 38
Extras (w2) 2
Total (2 wkts, 32.1 overs) 124
Did not bat: J Bairstow, B Stokes, J Buttler, M Ali, S Broad, S Finn, J Anderson
Fall: 1-11, 2-51
Bowling: Starc 6-1-33-1 (2w); Hazlewood 7-0-21-1; Lyon 11-1-52-0; Johnson 7-3-10-0; Marsh 1.1-0-8-0
Result: England won by 8 wickets
Series: England lead five-match series 2-1
Man of the Match: S T Finn (England)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand). TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (South Africa). Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)