England beat Australia by 347 runs in the second test to take a 2—0 Ashes series lead after claiming the last wicket in the final over of day four at Lord’s on Sunday.
Graeme Swann finished with 4—78 as Australia was bowled out for 235.
Joe Root, who earlier scored 180 as England declared at 349—7 in its second innings, also took 2—9.
England is well placed to win the five—match series and claim its third straight Ashes victory while Australia has now lost its last six tests — its worst streak of losses for 29 years.
Australia, set an improbable target of 583 to win, had two below—par batting displays, including all out for just 128 in its first innings compared to England’s 361 with a century from Ian Bell.
Swann claimed nine wickets in the match.
Australia badly needs to improve ahead of the third test at Old Trafford on August 1, especially in its batting department.
The tourists faced an unenviable task from the outset given that West Indies’ 344—1 in 1984 was the highest score to win a Lord’s test.
England delayed its declaration Sunday morning so Root could reach his maiden double century, but he faced just four balls in 15 minutes and was caught at third man off Ryan Harris trying an audacious ramp shot over the wicketkeeper’s head.
Root batted for almost eight hours, striking 18 fours and two sixes, to cement his position as Alastair Cook’s opening partner after Nick Compton’s omission before the series began.
Australia made the worst possible start in its unlikely attempt to bat out the final two days. Shane Watson (20), Chris Rogers (6) and Phil Hughes (1) all departed in the 22 overs before lunch.
James Anderson trapped Watson lbw, with a ball that came back into him down the Lord’s slope. It was the 10th occasion Watson had been lbw in 19 test innings against England.
Opener Rogers was bamboozled by Swann’s trickery and played no stroke at a ball he thought was going to spin away but went straight on to bowl him. Hughes was lbw by Swann.
Captain Michael Clarke, who should have been stumped by wicketkeeper Matt Prior when on 2, fought back and put on 98 with Usman Khawaja. But Clarke eventually clipped an innocuous ball from Root to leg slip for 51.
Khawaja batted maturely and looked as though he was going to survive the afternoon session until he drove Root to Anderson at gully. That was after he came through an England review on the same score after the ball hit a footmark and was caught by Jonathan Trott at slip.
Steve Smith fell to the last ball before tea, caught behind off Tim Bresnan, though Smith failed in his bid to review his dismissal, with the third umpire Tony Hill upholding the onfield umpire’s decision, apparently due to a slight mark on hotspot.
That was 136—6 at tea, soon to become 162—8 after another controversial failed review by Ashton Agar, who did not feel he edged Bresnan to Prior. Brad Haddin was lbw to Swann.
Last—wicket pair James Pattinson (35) and Ryan Harris (16) threatened to take the match into a final day with a stand of 43 in 62 minutes, but Swann trapped Pattinson lbw with three balls remaining in the day.
Scoreboard :
Alastair Cook b Siddle 8
Joe Root c Smith b Harris 180
Jonathan Trott b Siddle 0
Kevin Pietersen c Rogers b Siddle 5
Tim Bresnan c Rogers b Pattinson 38
Ian Bell c Rogers b Smith 74
Jonny Bairstow c Haddin b Harris 20
Matt Prior not out 1
Extras- (15b, 8lb) 23
TOTAL- (for seven wickets) 349
Overs- 114.1
Fall of wickets- 1—22, 2—22, 3—30, 4—129, 5—282, 6—344, 7—349.
Did not bat- James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann.
Bowling- Ryan Harris 18.1—4—31—2, Shane Watson 12—5—25—0, Peter Siddle 21—6—65—3, James Pattinson 20—8—42—1, Steve Smith 14—0—65—1, Ashton Agar 29—5—98—0.
Shane Watson lbw b Anderson 20
Chris Rogers b Swann 6
Usman Khawaja c Anderson b Root 54
Phil Hughes lbw b Swann 1
Michael Clarke c Cook b Root 51
Steve Smith c Prior b Bresnan 1
Brad Haddin lbw b Swann 7
Ashton Agar c Prior b Bresnan 16
Peter Siddle b Anderson 18
James Pattinson lbw b Swann 35
Ryan Harris not out 16
Extras- (4b, 5lb, 1w) 10
TOTAL- (all out) 235
Overs- 90.3.
Fall of wickets- 1—24, 2—32, 3—36, 4—134, 5—135, 6—136, 7—154, 8—162, 9—192.
Bowling- James Anderson 18—2—55—2, Stuart Broad 21—4—54—0, Graeme Swann 30.3—5—78—4, Tim Bresnan 14—8—30—2, Joe Root 7—3—9—2.
Result- England won by 347 runs.
Series- Englands 2—0 with three tests to play.
Toss- England.
Umpires- Marais Erasmus, South Africa, and Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka.
Third umpire- Tony Hill, New Zealand. Match referee- Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.
