England's 1990s team progressed to the knock out stage with an emphatic 269 run victory over their Australian counterparts. This was achieved at The Gabba, traditionally a stronghold of Australian cricket.
For the 1st 2 days this Ashes contest followed the familiar script.Taylor put the visitors into bat on a typical green wicket and England were skittled for 162, although it was Shane Warne who did most damage with 4 wickets.
Australia did well to achieve a 57 run lead on day 2, and must have been further heartened when Atherton was dismissed cheaply before the close.
Much of this match was played under heavy cloud & humid conditions. 1hr 25 mins were lost to rain on day 3 and a further 2 hours to bad light. In between England went from 6-1 overnight to 163-4 at stumps, a lead of 106. Alec Stewart battled well for 68 before he was bowled by Warne. The pivotal 4th day saw England shine with the bat, captain Hussain scoring a superb 109 and Thorpe an unbeaten 70.
Set 329 to win, Darren Gough tore through the Australian top order, reducing them to 23-4. Angus Fraser then took 4 wickets on the 5th day as the home team collapsed to 59 all out inside 31 overs.
Mention must be made of left arm spinner Tufnell, picked only because of Caddick's bad back but who bowled beautifully for 5 wickets in Australia's 1st innings. But Hussain captained with authority and imagination, and along with his century deserved his MOM accolade.
England 1990s: MA Atherton, AJ Stewart (wk), GA Hick, N Hussain (c), RA Smith, GP Thorpe, DG Cork, D Gough, ARC Fraser, DE Malcolm, PCR Tufnell
England 1990s 1st Innings 162-10 (69.1 Ov)
D Gough 39, DG Cork 26, GA Hick 25, SK Warne 4-22, DW Fleming 2-29, MS Kasprowicz 2-39
Australia 1990s 1st Innings 219-10 (88.2 Ov)
IA Healy 66, ME Waugh 29, MA Taylor 27, PCR Tufnell 5-36, ARC Fraser 3-64
England 1990s 2nd Innings 385-8 (130 Ov)
N Hussain 109, GP Thorpe 70*, AJ Stewart 68, TBA May 3-66, CJ McDermott 2-58, SK Warne 3-100
Australia 1990s 2nd Innings 59-10 (31.1 Ov)
ARC Fraser 4-8, D Gough 4-30, DE Malcolm 2-20
England 1990s won by 269 runs
Man of the match: N Hussain
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