England get one hand on the Ashes urn, lead series 1-0

England have beaten Australia in the 2nd Ashes test convincingly by an innings and 71 runs. Yes, the Aussies have been by an innings for the first time since 1993. To be honest this game was only England's to win after they gained a huge lead of 375 runs in their innings thanks to a century from Cook, a double century from KP and a fifty from Bell.

Australia could only score 245 runs in their first innings which was never going to be enough because Adelaide is not a 245 runs all out type of ground and like Ian Chappell said "You would be disappointed if you don't get 400". It never got any better for the Aussies after that, they had a chance to restrict England from getting such a huge lead but they dropped a couple of chances at very crucial moments and their bowling attack again performed very dully.

Australia will now have to win at least 2 out of the remaining 3 matches and must not let England win if they are to have any hope of regaining the Ashes urn. It's going to take something really special from them.

Their bowlers need to perform better as well as their batsmen. They might want to drop the spinner Xavier Doherty who has failed to impress in the first 2 test and should bring in Steven Smith. It will also be interesting to see who they are going to include in their bowling attack for the 3rd test because in both previous games, their bowling attack has failed to get wickets. Opener Simon Katich is out of the remainder of the series due to an injury and they might consider bringing someone like Usman Khawaja. Marcus North as well will be under pressure and could be dropped. 

However for now England can sit back in peace as they are now the favorites for retaining the urn, unless of course the Aussies perform another one of those remarkable fight backs that they are so famous for.