Mitchell Johnson's magnificent 7 was the highlight of the match as he ran through England's middle order in the first innings on his way to another man of the match performance.
2ND TEST WRAP-UP
While Mitchell Johnson was man of the match and picked up a nice 209 points, his skipper Michael Clarke scored the most this test, with 226 points.
It was somewhat surprisingly a great test for the Aussie quicks on what was dubbed a lifeless Adelaide pitch. Ryan Harris (183) and Peter Siddle (134) also had very good games and both scored more than any English player.
It was also a good game for the batsmen. David Warner (136) was among the runs again and was unlucky not to get a chance to go on and make his ton in the second innings. Brad Haddin (162) also got the century in the first innings that he deserved at the Gabba, in the middle of a 200 run partnership with skipper Clarke.
For the Englishmen, it was less of an impressive performance. Joe Root (114) and Michael Carberry (110) did show some encouraging signs with the bat, and James Anderson (109) picked up a few wickets, but there were not many other good performers.
Matt Prior did manage to get a quick 50 in the second innings to maybe suggest his form is on the up and picked up 109 points for the match.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
The pitch at Perth is looking like a classic WACA wicket; a hard and fast surface with plenty of grass. There should be plenty of catches going to the slips and the quicks will be licking their lips at trying to extract some movement out of this surface.
It is not going to be a paradise though, with the weather forecast looking very hot for the entire match. It will hover around the 38 degrees mark with blue skies. That's going to make for a lot of tired fast bowlers.
TEAM NEWS
With the weather forecast looking so hot, it is unlikely that Australia will play 4 quicks, so Nathan Lyon should keep his spot. There has been an injury cloud over Ryan Harris this week, and while he did bowl in the nets at training this morning, he is still a 50/50 chance to play.
Harris' likely replacement, James Faulkner, broke his thumb at training today, so he won't be playing. This leaves the standby bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Doug Bollinger poised to make an appearance in the test team if Harris indeed does not get up. Interestingly, neither of them are available to trade into your team on Sportal, so bad luck if you wanted one of them for this test.
Over in the England camp, changes have been promised to the line-up, and there will definitely not be 2 spinners played. Monty Panesar will make way for Tim Bresnan who will run in all day and add some decent lower order batting.
Graeme Swann could stay to shoulder the spin duties, or he could make way for a tall quick like Boyd Rankin or Steve Finn. This would leaves the slow bowling duties down to Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen, who have both shown they are decent part-time options.
CAPTAINCY CORNER
To me there only seems one logical option for captain this week, and it is man of the moment Mitchell Johnson. In amazing form with bat and ball, he returns to his adopted home ground, the WACA, where he has always had success. Who could forget that amazing spell of late swing to win Australia the Perth test back in 2010-11 against the English? He just loves this ground and should dominate again.
If you have your heart set on not picking MJ, some other good options could be Clarke (2 hundreds in this series so far), Warner (A 69 ball hundred at this ground 2 years ago) or Ian Bell (the only Englishmen who looks at ease playing the Aussie quicks).
TRADE TABLE
Hopefully by now you have Mitchell Johnson in your team. If you don't get him in straight away, it doesn't matter who has to make way for him.
If you aren't going to be around to see teams announced at the toss, it might also be a smart move to trade out Ryan Harris for another bowler. If you already have Siddle, Johnson and Harris though, as most teams do, it is hard to find a replacement. You might have to end up taking the safe bet with Nathan Lyon.
The other player I would suggest getting rid of is Alistair Cook, who just cannot make the runs he needs to at the moment. Ian Bell and Joe Root both looked good in the last test, so they should be good options.
Congratulations this week go to my team with Star Waughs topping the SuperCoach HQ league with 1641 points. I'm still a fair way behind our leader Stuart though, with KratosFC out in the lead with 3274 points, 70 over his closest competitor.
Remember that you can still join our league at any time. Join us with the code 502963 at http://cricketdreamteam.sportal.com.au
While Mitchell Johnson was man of the match and picked up a nice 209 points, his skipper Michael Clarke scored the most this test, with 226 points.
It was somewhat surprisingly a great test for the Aussie quicks on what was dubbed a lifeless Adelaide pitch. Ryan Harris (183) and Peter Siddle (134) also had very good games and both scored more than any English player.
It was also a good game for the batsmen. David Warner (136) was among the runs again and was unlucky not to get a chance to go on and make his ton in the second innings. Brad Haddin (162) also got the century in the first innings that he deserved at the Gabba, in the middle of a 200 run partnership with skipper Clarke.
For the Englishmen, it was less of an impressive performance. Joe Root (114) and Michael Carberry (110) did show some encouraging signs with the bat, and James Anderson (109) picked up a few wickets, but there were not many other good performers.
Matt Prior did manage to get a quick 50 in the second innings to maybe suggest his form is on the up and picked up 109 points for the match.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
The pitch at Perth is looking like a classic WACA wicket; a hard and fast surface with plenty of grass. There should be plenty of catches going to the slips and the quicks will be licking their lips at trying to extract some movement out of this surface.
It is not going to be a paradise though, with the weather forecast looking very hot for the entire match. It will hover around the 38 degrees mark with blue skies. That's going to make for a lot of tired fast bowlers.
TEAM NEWS
With the weather forecast looking so hot, it is unlikely that Australia will play 4 quicks, so Nathan Lyon should keep his spot. There has been an injury cloud over Ryan Harris this week, and while he did bowl in the nets at training this morning, he is still a 50/50 chance to play.
Harris' likely replacement, James Faulkner, broke his thumb at training today, so he won't be playing. This leaves the standby bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Doug Bollinger poised to make an appearance in the test team if Harris indeed does not get up. Interestingly, neither of them are available to trade into your team on Sportal, so bad luck if you wanted one of them for this test.
Over in the England camp, changes have been promised to the line-up, and there will definitely not be 2 spinners played. Monty Panesar will make way for Tim Bresnan who will run in all day and add some decent lower order batting.
Graeme Swann could stay to shoulder the spin duties, or he could make way for a tall quick like Boyd Rankin or Steve Finn. This would leaves the slow bowling duties down to Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen, who have both shown they are decent part-time options.
CAPTAINCY CORNER
To me there only seems one logical option for captain this week, and it is man of the moment Mitchell Johnson. In amazing form with bat and ball, he returns to his adopted home ground, the WACA, where he has always had success. Who could forget that amazing spell of late swing to win Australia the Perth test back in 2010-11 against the English? He just loves this ground and should dominate again.
If you have your heart set on not picking MJ, some other good options could be Clarke (2 hundreds in this series so far), Warner (A 69 ball hundred at this ground 2 years ago) or Ian Bell (the only Englishmen who looks at ease playing the Aussie quicks).
TRADE TABLE
Hopefully by now you have Mitchell Johnson in your team. If you don't get him in straight away, it doesn't matter who has to make way for him.
If you aren't going to be around to see teams announced at the toss, it might also be a smart move to trade out Ryan Harris for another bowler. If you already have Siddle, Johnson and Harris though, as most teams do, it is hard to find a replacement. You might have to end up taking the safe bet with Nathan Lyon.
The other player I would suggest getting rid of is Alistair Cook, who just cannot make the runs he needs to at the moment. Ian Bell and Joe Root both looked good in the last test, so they should be good options.
Congratulations this week go to my team with Star Waughs topping the SuperCoach HQ league with 1641 points. I'm still a fair way behind our leader Stuart though, with KratosFC out in the lead with 3274 points, 70 over his closest competitor.
Remember that you can still join our league at any time. Join us with the code 502963 at http://cricketdreamteam.sportal.com.au