The Ashes: Match One

Australia has lost the Ashes to England three times in a row, but they seem pretty determined not to lose again.  The Aussies crushed England in the first Test Match of the current Ashes series, taking place down under.

Test matches are supposed to last up to five days, but it only took Australia four days to finish off England in the match in Brisbane.  Here's what happened:

1.  Australia batted first and scored 295 runs.

2.  In their first innings, England could score only 136 runs.  One big problem was England's number three batter, Jonathan Trott, who scored only 10 runs.

3.  Leading 295-136, Australia scored another 401 runs in the second innings before declaring themselves out.

4.  Trailing 696-136, England needed a miracle in their second innings.  They didn't come close.  Trott was retired after only nine runs, and the whole team was retired after scoring 179.

So the final score was Australia 696, England 315 -- Australia won by 381 runs.

After the match was over, much of the commentary focused on the fact that Australia had bowled in a very aggressive and intimidating style, and that the English batsmen didn't handle it well at all.  In fact, Trott left Australia after the Ashes, heading home to deal with a stress-related illness that will prevent him from playing any more in this series.

The next match in the series starts tomorrow in Adelaide.  The English will want to show that they are not afraid of the Aussie bowlers, so this match could be very intense.