Ashes T3: Australia Gather Up a Win in Perth, Go Into Boxing Day Test 1-1 Against England

If Mitchell Johnson revived hopes of the Ashes for Australia, Ryan Harris has brought the hosts closer to it by taking a six-for on the way to sealing a rare win for Australia to keep the Ashes intrigue going into the Boxing Day Test.

ryan harris in perth

Ryan Harris completed the formalities for Australia on the fourth day of the third Test of the Ashes 2010 at the WACA in Perth, handing England a humiliating defeat that nullified their lead garnered in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval. The win for Australia now means that England will have to continue to fight to retain the Ashes urn with two Tests to go including the Boxing Day Test that is coming up next.

While England were able to bowl Australia out reasonably cheap in the first innings, their own batsmen were able to cope with the ferocity and aggression of a fired up Mitchell Johnson, conceding a lead that Australia then built upon once more on the back on the man almost forced to retire before the series, Michael Hussey.

Hussey's Test century amplified plenty his hunger to succeed against all odds and to virtually singlehandedly carry the Australian batting on his shoulders. Hussey's efforts and Watson's five run miss of a century were rewarded in that England were forced to chase a target of 391 if they wanted to win the Test and make sure that they could retain the urn with a 2-0 lead.

However, it proved to be a task monumental despite the fact that until this Test, England's batting has been their pillar of strength. With more than two days to bat and a formidable target to chase, England's batting collapsed woefully a second time, this time though to a different Australian bowler.

Johnson was picked, dropped and then picked. However, the WACA Test is Ryan Harris' first in the Ashes series thus far and he made the most of the opportunity of the musical chairs being played by the Australian selectors.

The writing was pretty much on the wall for England by stumps on the third day itself as England lost of their top five batsmen with only eighty-one on board. This time there were to be no heroics from the bat of the England captain, Andrew Strauss, and the defiance of Alastair Cook or the sheer big match passion from Kevin Pietersen. Jonathan Trott's top score of thirty-one explained sufficiently the problems for England in this Test.

Johnson added only one wicket to his overnight tally of two. However, Harris was all over England, adding four more to his overnight of two as he sent England crashing in less than an hour in to the fourth day's play with both teams having all to play for when the fourth Test arrives.