Australia lose two wickets in reply
SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) England captured two vital wickets to put the brakes on Australia's run chase after their own batting collapsed on the second day of the fifth Ashes test at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.
James Anderson dismissed departing opener Justin Langer for 27 then Steve Harmison removed Matthew Hayden for 33, restricting Australia to 109 for two when tea was taken.
Captain Ricky Ponting was unbeaten on 37 with new batsmen Mike Hussey not out three and Australia trailing by 182 with eight first innings wickets in hand.
England's first innings ended abruptly just before lunch when they lost their last six wickets for 46 runs to be all out for 291 with Shane Warne polishing off the innings to claim his 1,000th international victim.
Warne, who with Langer and Glenn McGrath retires from test cricket at the end of the match, capped his farewell by trapping Monty Panesar lbw for a duck, joining Muttiah Muralitharan as the only players to claim 1,000 international wickets.
RESISTANCE England resumed on 234-4 and were looking to build on their encouraging performance from day one only to see their lower-order batting crumble after the Australian seamers took the second new ball.
The only Englishman to show any sustained resistance was skipper Andrew Flintoff, who made an aggressive 89 in easily his best performance of the summer.
Flintoff started the day on 42 and quickly brought up his second half-century of the series with a three off McGrath. He belted 11 fours and a six before throwing his wicket away at the end chasing his first century since the last Ashes series in 2005.
McGrath triggered England's collapse when he dismissed Paul Collingwood for 27, caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, to finish with three wickets for the innings.
Brett Lee and Stuart Clark also bagged three wickets each with Lee dismissing England wicketkeeper Chris Read for two and Sajid Mahmood for a golden duck in successive balls.
Clark trapped Harmison lbw for two with a full toss then grabbed the vital wicket of Flintoff when he danced down the pitch and top-edged another catch to Gilchrist.
Langer struck four boundaries in his quick-fire 26 before flicking a legside catch off Anderson to Read while Hayden nicked one to Collingwood at second slip after mistiming an attempted cut off Harmison after sharing a 66-run partnership with Ponting.
REUTERS
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