England beat Australia in Second Test

Second Test, Day Five: England (425 & 311-6 dec) beat Australia (215 & 406) by 115 runs. England beat Australia at Lord's yesterday to take a one-nil lead in the Ashes series with two matches played. It was the first time since 1934 that the home side had beaten the tourists at the home of cricket.

Man of the match Andrew Flintoff led the effort on the last morning of the game, bowling unchanged from the Pavillion End for ten overs during which he took three wickets for 43 runs. Off spinner Graeme Swann removed the other two batsmen to fall, including Australian dangerman Michael Clarke for 136.

The teams now travel to Edgbaston for the Third Test, which begins on Thursday next week. England will be hoping that Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen recover from injuries in time for Birmingham, while Australia while want fast bowler Brett Lee to be back in their ranks.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Mike Atherton, the Times: "Flintoff was the plot, the subplot, the chapter headings and the footnotes of the 21 overs it took England to bury 75 years of Ashes hurt at Lord's. Bowling unchanged for ten overs from the Pavilion End, as quickly and with as much hostility as any England bowler has mustered in recent times, he took three of the last five wickets to fall, giving him his first five-wicket haul at Lord's. The sight of Australia batsmen clearly brings out the best in him, as do the grandest of occasions. It was at the Oval in 2005, when the Ashes were decided, that Flintoff last took five wickets in an innings of any match and there has been no grander stage for him since than yesterday morning, with Lord's bursting at the seams and Australia at England's mercy."

Duncan Fletcher, the Guardian: "This was a huge match for Andrew Strauss, both as a batsman and a leader, and it just confirms what I've always believed: talent will only get you so far, but character will get you further. People criticised his decision not to enforce the follow-on on Saturday morning, but they don't seem to realise the follow-on is over-rated in the modern game. Sides bat deeper now, pitches are flatter and more games are back to back. If Australia had batted third, a tired England side might have been chasing 200 on the last day, with all the pressure that comes with fourth-innings run chases. Strauss did the correct thing in all but batting Australia out of the game."

Simon Barnes, the Times: "Flintoff’s may not go down in history as the greatest of great careers. But Flintoff can do greatness - genuine greatness - on a seasonal basis, as he did four years ago, and on a daily basis, as he did yesterday. His thundering spell of mesmeric hostility first snuffed out the candle flame of Australian hope and then plunged them into the darkness of defeat. He bowled for an hour and a half in excess of 90mph, and every ball was a drama. Not bad for a lame lad. Ten overs of remorseless spite, ten overs of unsparing effort. That’s one of the hallmarks of greatness: the ability to seize a moment. Flintoff never feels upstaged by greatness of an occasion. When the occasion is right, when all is right in himself, he can find the greatness to match it."

Peter Roebuck, Sydney Morning Herald: "Inevitably Freddie Flintoff was the successful bowler, a larger-than-life figure responding to the battle cries issued by a large and transfixed crowd. Flintoff is twice the bowler when he is given the new ball, used in short bursts and advised to attack the stumps. Nor did the speedster flag, charging in from the Pavilion End, pushing every batsman back with raw pace, imperilling their stumps with searing deliveries. On the fourth evening the Australians looked like immoveable objects. Now Flintoff was an unstoppable force as he ripped through Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle. By now the improbable had become impossible. Flintoff will play in the rest of the series and on this evidence means to go out with a bang."

Mike Selvey, the Guardian: "Australia's bowling is a disaster, with Johnson's timing, an essential ingredient in an unorthodox method, totally out of kilter and his confidence in the basement, while Siddle has huffed and puffed but blown down only Swann's Cardiff house. They have few places to which to turn with Brett Lee unlikely to play in the game against Northamptonshire that starts on Friday and therefore too high a risk for Edgbaston, and the need to retain Johnson if the lower order is not to be weakened, but to have the option of a fourth seamer should his woes continue. The performance of the all-rounder Shane Watson will be intriguing for he might be pencilled in to replace Marcus North at six and bring a further bowling option."

Derek Pringle, Daily Telegraph: "With the pace threat coming only from one end, Strauss turned to Swann, something of a gamble given Clarke’s nimbleness against spin and Johnson’s ability as a clean striker against it. But just as the rub of the green has gone England’s way in this match, so have Strauss’s bowling changes, and Swann promptly clean-bowled Clarke, with his second ball. A man who likes to use his feet, Clarke played inside and over the ball as he danced down to meet it. Swann will tell his grandchildren that he drifted the ball out then spun it back to hit the stumps, but Clarke seemed to change his mind over the kind of shot he wanted to play, the moment’s hesitation undoing his previous 319 minutes of graft."

Angus Fraser, the Independent: "Flintoff would have considered several possible scenarios as he placed his head on his pillow on Sunday evening, but even he could not have imagined striking with his fourth ball of the day, when he forced Brad Haddin, on 80, to edge a low catch to Paul Collingwood at second slip. Big players make an impact when it is needed most and by removing Haddin, Flintoff had done just that. With the workload of four tough days taking its toll he was beginning to tire and Strauss must have been considering taking him off after five further hostile overs. It was then that fate began to take over. Graeme Swann bowled Michael Clarke, a wicket that encouraged Flintoff to have another over. In it England's hero bowled Nathan Hauritz with a beautiful nip-backer."

Mike Dickson, Daily Mail: "Next week Ricky Ponting's tourists take on England at traditionally their most partisan ground, Edgbaston, with its Eric Hollies Stand, temple of beered-up Brummiedom. Then it is Headingley and the notorious Western Terrace. These are not places you particularly want to go when you are trailing in an Ashes series, especially when you have issues such as one strike bowler being injured (Brett Lee) and another losing his radar (Mitchell Johnson), and your rookie opener (Phillip Hughes) struggling, with nothing in the way of cover. Ponting, now 34 and a parent, has a longer fuse than he used to, but the next few weeks are going to test him out on all fronts." ·