Ashes Fifth Test 2009, The

Day 1

England won the toss, and Strauss chose to bat. Although they lost Alastair Cook to an outside edge off Peter Siddle early in the innings, England recovered to reach 108/1 at lunch, with Strauss making his fifty in just 89 balls. However, Strauss put on just five more after the break before pushing at a ball outside his off stump, which just about carried to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. The next two wickets fell for Siddle in quick succession: Collingwood was caught by Michael Hussey, before Ian Bell inside-edged onto his own stumps for 72. In came Jonathan Trott, who took 12 balls to open his Test scoring tally, and continued to score as he lost partners in Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff, who made just seven runs in the first innings of his final Test match to take England to 247/6. Trott himself was next to fall, run out by Simon Katich: Trott clipped the ball to the leg side, but Katich made a smart stop and, with just one to aim at, threw the ball at the stumps. The eighth wicket stood for another 39 runs, when Graeme Swann was caught behind off Siddle, and with that play was closed for the day with England at 307/8.

Day 2

England added just 25 more runs for their last two wickets at the start of Day 2, Hilfenhaus trapping Anderson LBW for a duck, before dismissing Broad for 37. Shane Watson and Simon Katich took Australia to 66/0 before rain forced lunch to be taken three minutes early and then delayed the resumption of play until almost 14:30. After that, the Australian openers lasted just two overs before the start of a massive Broad-inspired batting collapse. First to fall was Watson, LBW on 34, then Ponting was deceived by a cutter from Broad and played onto his own stumps for just eight runs. Hussey and Clarke were next to go, Hussey given out LBW for a duck, before Clarke was tempted into a drive and caught by Jonathan Trott. After a spell in which Broad took four wickets for just eight runs, Swann returned to the attack and immediately took the wicket of North. Katich reached his half-century in the 37th over, but gave away his wicket with the next ball, gifting a catch to Cook at short leg. Broad completed his five-wicket haul in the 39th over, bowling Haddin to give him wicket-to-wicket figures of 5/19. Swann took the next two wickets leaving it to Flintoff to bowl Hilfenhaus and end the Australian innings for 160 runs. The English openers returned to the crease and put on 27 before Cook edged North to first slip for just nine. Mitchell Johnson then combined well with Simon Katich at short leg for the next two wickets, Katich catching Bell low before Johnson thumped a bouncer into Collingwood, looping the ball up for Katich to catch easily, leaving the home side at 39/3. Nevertheless, Strauss and Trott recovered well to take England into the third day at 58/3.

Day 3

Strauss and Trott built a partnership of 118 before Strauss edged to Michael Clarke at first slip five minutes before lunch. After lunch, Prior was run out while attempting to sneak a run. The next man in was Flintoff who added 22 off 18 before being caught on the long-on boundary. A lofted drive from England's most promising all-round prospect, Stuart Broad, brought up the 400 lead, but an attempted slog found his top edge and he was caught by Ponting off North for 29. Meanwhile, Trott progressed towards his maiden Test century, ably supported at the other end by Swann, who reached his half-century in just 44 balls. However, he top-edged a shot off a bouncer from Hilfenhaus, which was caught by Haddin. Trott then became the 18th England cricketer to make a century on debut with a four off Hilfenhaus's next over, but he and Anderson only managed to add another 31 before Trott was caught by North at point off Stuart Clark, prompting a declaration from Andrew Strauss. The Australian openers managed to get to 80 without loss by the end of play.

Day 4

Starting the day at 80/0, Australia lost both Katich and Watson LBW in quick succession inside the first five overs. Ponting and Hussey built an impressive 127 runs before Ponting was run out by a direct hit from Flintoff fielding at mid-off, which marked an important turning point in the match. Clarke was then run out in the very next over following some sharp fielding from Strauss, while Marcus North was marginally out of his ground when he was stumped by Matt Prior. Hussey and Haddin steadied the innings as Hussey reached his first century in 28 Test innings after earlier being dropped by Paul Collingwood on 55, but Haddin was eventually out for 34 caught in the deep by Strauss. Harmison took the wicket of Johnson for a duck in the next over, and then removed Siddle and Clark in consecutive balls. Hilfenhaus survived the hat-trick ball, but the match only lasted another two overs as Hussey was caught by Cook at short leg off the bowling of Swann. England won the match by 197 runs, to claim a 2–1 series win.

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