England takes 2-1 Ashes lead

Shane Warne and Brett Lee fought to the death yesterday, but it was not enough as England eventually reached Australia’s total of 129 to win the fourth Test at Trent Bridge.

England reached the total with three wickets to spare after Ashley Giles (7) and Matthew Hoggard (8) steered the chase past Warne and Lee’s control.

Warne finished with 4/31 off 13.5 overs while Lee claimed 3/51 off 12.

England now have the opportunity for the first time since 1989 to reclaim the Ashes, and it will take a mighty effort for Ricky Ponting’s men to square the series up at The Oval in two weeks time.

Andrew Flintoff received man of the match honours for his match-winning knock of 102.

Meanwhile Cricinfo reported that both Ponting and Simon Katich are facing disciplinary action from match referee Ranjan Madugalle today. Ponting will be up for his heated comments to the English dressing room after he was dismissed in Australia’s first innings, while Katich will face charges of dissent after he questioned Pakistan umpire Aleem Dar’s decision of giving him out lbw when he was on 59 in the second innings.

Replays show that Steve Harmison pitched the ball outside Katich’s left-stump and, because of that, ICC rules state that Katich should never have been given out. The ball was also going to go over the stumps.

It was not a great day for the umpires, Dar signaling a Harmison over finished when only five balls were bowled, prompting Richie Benaud on England’s Channel 4 to comment that he ‘‘had never seen anything like this in 57 years’’. The English field went back into place as Harmison bowled the final ball to an unsteady Shaun Tait.

Both Dar and Jamaican umpire Steve Bucknor would be glad that they could put Trent Bridge behind them after making many dubious decisions throughout the Test.

Australia set England 129 to win after Steve Harmison bowled Tait, who walked across his stumps, just before tea.

England then briefly lost its nerve in their run chase, Warne and Lee beginning another great escape and taking the match down to the wire.

Michael Kasprowicz (0/19 off two overs) and Tait (0/24 off four) was getting hammered by Marcus Trescothick (27) and Andrew Strauss (23), so Warne was brought in early as Australia needed quick results to retain a sliver of respect out of this Test.

Loving his role as the man Australia counts on to the death, Warne had the in form Trescothick nick the ball to silly point in the fifth over.

Then panic briefly struck the old enemy, as Warne had Michael Vaughan on his way with a donut after being caught in slips by Matthew Hayden, and Lee made Ian Bell hook the ball to long leg where Kasprowicz was waiting.

The tensions could be felt throughout the crowd when England lost three wickets for 13 runs in the dying stages. Kevin Pietersen (23) and Flintoff (26) were both, for their standards, dismissed cheaply, and every second passed felt like a lifetime after Geraint Jones fell trying to hit Warne over the top when England needed 12 runs to take the Test. Though England could thank its lucky stars as veteran Giles and Hoggard kept their temperament to reach the total.

Full scorecard available here.

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