Onions hails England's patience

Graham Onions says patience was the key to England's improved bowling display on the second day of the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston.

Bowlers give England Edge

Australia collapsed from 126-1 to 263 all out in the third Ashes Test against England, who ended the second day on 116-2 in reply.

Wobbly start for England

England had an excellent morning in the field dismissing Australia for 263. After losing Cook for a duck England are now 41/1.


http://www.stickapinin.co.uk

Bell back for Edgbaston Test

Ian Bell will be recalled to England's middle order at Edgbaston after being named in a 13-man squad for the third Ashes Test.

Bell can shine in Ashes - Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan backs Ian Bell to succeed if he replaces the injured Kevin Pietersen.

Croatia 1 - England 4

England put on an accomplished display last night to beat Croatia 4-1. Theo Walcott opened the scoring in the 26th minute, drilling the ball past the croatian keeper after Danijel Pranjic's clearance luckily rebounded off Robert Kovac into his path. It turned into a far worse evening for Kovac when he caught Joe Cole with his elbow whilst going for a header. That was the end of the match for Cole who was carted off with a blood pouring from his head. Normally England go to pot when the opposition lose a man but not this time. They passed the ball along the floor waiting for an opening if none was forthcoming then the ball went back. It was the sort of football that they should have been playing for the last 5 years rather than the lump it up front approach that used to be employed. The shot for Walcott's second was a carbon copy of his first making you wonder if Pletikosa in the croatian goal has a vulnarability in that area. Croatia looked like a broken side and must have wondered if the black hole experiments at CERN had caused us to go into an alternative dimension when Rooney slotted the ball into the back of the net to score only his 6th international goal since Euro 2004. Croatia managed to pull one back although the whistle should have been blown for a high foot by the croatian which nearly left stud prints in John Terry's face. It wasn't to matter though as Walcott became England's youngest hattrick scorer with his third to wrap up an excellent all round display. The problem now is that everyone will be expecting England will win the World Cup now, until they lose to Belarus or draw with Andorra when it will be Cappello for the sack. But for now England have beaten the 5th best team in the world in their own stadium so we can celebrate until the next batch of qualifiers.