Shane Watson confirmed that Australia have taken extra relish in dishing out punishment to Jimmy Anderson, which reached a new level of sadism during this Ashes series when George Bailey scored 28 off a single over on day four to equal Brian Lara’s Test record, a sweet revenge for the success the England bowler has enjoyed against them in recent years.

Watson has suffered as much as anyone against Anderson as the paceman has played such a crucial role in England’s victories in the past three Ashes series.

Watson had already belted his fourth Test century before Bailey launched Anderson for three sixes, two fours and a two in the last over of Australia's second innings at which point Michael Clarke declared – to leave England's spearhead with chastening figures of nought for 105 from 19 overs in the innings, and a bowling average of 67 for each of his seven wickets in the series so far.

Bad experiences
"It certainly provided a little bit of enjoyment for us," Watson said. "There's no doubt we've certainly had quite a few bad experiences against Jimmy Anderson, and I've been a part of that. So it's nice to see the shoe on the other foot, knowing that at certain times individuals in the Australia team have been at their mercy."

Watson refused the chance to put the boot in any harder, expressing some sympathy for Anderson’s predicament after the loss of his new-ball partner Stuart Broad to injury and suggesting that Anderson may be paying the price for the decision to play back-to-back Ashes series. “I don’t think they’ve lost their edge,” he said of Anderson and Graeme Swann, whose respectable overnight figures were dented by a savage early assault from Watson. “Stuart Broad’s injury made it a lot more difficult for the English quicks with it being so warm out there. It certainly provided a big workload for Jimmy Anderson.

"With both him and Graeme Swann, a lot of us have played these guys a lot in the last couple of series and we're starting to get closer to knowing how not to let them into the game."

Dumb dismissal
England could have at least one laugh at Watson's expense after his hilariously dumb dismissal, run out by Tim Bresnan as he stood vacantly in the middle of the pitch expecting Ian Bell to take a steepling catch – and Watson was prepared to laugh along with them.

"I wish Ian Bell had caught it because it would have made things a lot easier," he said. "As a young kid you're always taught to make sure that you run through and don't give up because there's always a chance of him dropping it, but I just thought it was too much of an easy one to drop. It wasn't good was it?
Guardian Service