Twitter Reactions: Australia breach fortress Edgbaston as Nathan Lyon rips England apart
It was a tremendous effort from Australia to come back and win this game after being 122/8 at one stage in the first innings.
England’s attempt to draw the first Test against Australia went in vain as Nathan Lyon was on fire on the last day. There were several talks about Australia taking a little too long to declare on the fourth day. However, that decision didn’t impact the result of the game much as they brought out a clinical and memorable performance. Along with the off-spinner, Pat Cummins also bowled quite well to provide his team with a 1-0 lead in the series.
With an overnight score of 13/0, England continued to bat on the fifth day. A win was out of the equation as they had to chase down a mammoth total. Thus, only two results were possible and the Brits, at the most, could draw the game. However, that didn’t turn out into a reality courtesy of some excellent bowling from Nathan Lyon.
Nathan Lyon picks up a six-wicket haul
The ball was turning a lot on the last day and the 31-year-old off-spinner made the most of it. However, it was Cummins who provided the team with the first breakthrough. He got the better of Rory Burns with an excellent delivery when the left-hander was batting on 11. Then, Lyon dismissed both Jason Roy and Joe Root for 28 runs each which pushed England onto the back foot.
After that, wickets kept tumbling one after the other. At lunch, the hosts were at 85/4 and it needed an unbelievable effort to bail them out. However, Cummins did really well to get both Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow in quick successions. Ben Stokes also couldn’t do much and fell into the trap of Nathan Lyon. Even though Chris Woakes tried to help England get closer to the target towards the end, he didn’t have much support from the other end.
Ultimately, England was bowled out for 146 and they lost the match by 251 runs. The fans hailed Australia after this fabulous victory. When the team was at 122/8 at one stage in the first innings of the game, not many backed them. But, Steve Smith scored centuries in both the innings and Matthew Wade also did really well.
Here is how Twitterati reacted to Australia’s victory:
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