blonde poker forum

Starts on Wednesday, really looking forward to spending 25 days on the sofa watching it.

Hoping we produce 5 raging turners and then pick 2 spinners for each game, as the Aussies don't have an international class spinner and Ponting seems to distrust them anyway unless they are called Shane Warne.

Current Betfair odds

Australia 1.91
England 3.2
Draw 5.8

on england heavy for the first test but expecting aussies to win series.

Hope we win but just don't see us having enough batting in our line up.

Aussies to win 4-1

1.91 for an Aussies series victory looks very tempting.

Just a shame i did my bollocks on Wimbledon - and the fact that i want to cheer England on that are stopping me lumping on at the moment.

This series is a coinflip, with those odds you should be lumping on England.

Brett Lee out of the 1st test and probably the 2nd test, which must be good news from an England point of view.

part 1 of a lookback at the '05 ashes with some unseen footage on c5 at 7.15 tonight

There are lots of recaps on the 2005 series on ESPN classic (channel 442 on sky), don't think I will ever tire of watching that series.

Cardiff is an odd choice

I gather they outbid other grounds for a test match when the ECB put it out to tender last year

In the hole therefore for many thousands of pounds they are obviously praying for weather to hold but are likely to want to produce a pitch that lasts for five days

In fact what we'd like is a raging turner that cracks after two days. Instead what we are likely to get is a slow low pudding that is far more likely to suit the Aussie batsman grinders (and Cook/Collingwood) than the "we want it to bounce and come onto the bat" players like Bopara and Pietersen

Seriously they have Hauritz and nothing else in the spin department we have Swann, on form, spins it,who loves bowling to left handers and they have six in their top 8...Prepare a dry cracked pitch!

Bet the buggers don't though. You don't turn up in India or Sri Lanka to find a green top suiting seamers, you find the home boards ordering something to suit their team. Why can't we do the same?

I too think we lack a bit of batting but expect it to be decided by one test either way

Backing the draw in Cricket is a really bad idea usually. I really think the first test is different though. They will prepare a very flat wicket, both teams bat much better they they bowl and it rains in South Wales pretty much all the time.

I think there is more to Cardiff being chosen than simply cash, although it is obviously a factor. More importantly they have gone for a random venue for the 1st test instead of Lord's where England don't have an especially good record considering it is a home venue for us. All the away teams are always really up for playing at the home of cricket and England often find themselves 1-0 down after a 1st test at Lord's.

I think the ECB have pulled a sneaky master stroke by having it away from Lord's and it gives England the best possible chance of being 1-0 after the Cardiff game.

Will Radio 5 have live coverage of all the games?

Yes

5 Live sports extra and Radio 4 LW I believe.  15 minute updates on Five live.

Don't think the groundsman knows how to produce a flat pitch.
If we lose no more then 4 sessions due to rain will get a result IMO.

3-1 series victory for the English - please.

why do we want turning pitches we dont have one world class spinner nevermind 2.  I dont think swann will have ponting and co 2 worried  imo

they have none

the seam bowling is a wash..Johnson and Siddle v ours....

we have an advantage in spin, world calss or not

It's just a pity that all the games are on when every self respecting poker player is fast asleep.

I like the look of:

Bopara top series run scorer for england

Simon katich top series run scorer for australia

Katich is a great shout, I can't see any value in the England lineup, KP is the likely top runscorer but no value.

You don't think that the test leading wicket taker in 2009 will have the Aussies worried? A team with a pretty dismal record of playing against spin?

The draw is often priced bigger than it should be, due to weather considerations, especially in England. Just ask Lancashire

I have taken the 2.06 on the Aussies to win the series - this is too big for me, and i am not one of these that believe this is a 50/50 shot either way.

Just think back to 2005 and how unbelievabley well we had to play on each and every day, in each and every test, to just about win it.
Both teams have lost major players , for the Aussies Hayden, Warne and McGrath, for England Trescothick, Vaughan and Simon Jones and to a certain extent i fear Flintoff.  There is no way he will have the impact he had in 2005, he is nowhere near test match fitness and has to be a doubt to play all 5 matches.

Also dont forget that on top of hammering us in the Ashes 2 years ago, the Aussies went to South Africa (the best test team in the world) earlier this year and won the series.

Opening batsman:  A lot depends on how Hughes and Katich cope with the new ball - they are both very dangerous players if they start to build an innings.  For England, Strauss will be targetted by the Aussies and needs some early runs for confidence.  Cook should score well, but will need support. Eng 8  Aus 8

Top order: Ponting, M Clarke, Hussey - a formiddable 3,4,5 if they hit form - capable of propelling the team to massive scores.  For England, Bopara is going to be under huge pressure and Collingwood at 5 needs to improve his fairly modest form of late.  We all know about KP, and he will be well up for the series.  He must keep his head though in pressure situations. Eng 8  Aus 9

All rounder:  As i said previously, Flintoff is probably not match fit and may hold the key to how England go in the series - if he fails with the bat and can only bowl a handful of overs in each innings i firmly believe that England will struggle.  Marcus North for the Aussies is a pretty good batsman, and will probably bowl a bit, but someone that England should be able to get at. Eng 8  Aus 7

Wicket Keeper: Prior has to score runs, and lots of them to make up for the 2 or 3 wickets he will cost behind the stumps.  Haddin is a top drawer keeper and also a very very good batsman.  His form with the bat will be one of the keys to the series and dont be surprised if he comes up with 4 or 5 half centuries. He is not Adam Gilchrist, but he is very very talented. Eng 7  Aus 8

Fast bowlers:  This is where England won the Ashes in 05.  The combination of Harmison, Flintoff, Hoggard and Simon Jones was too much for the Aussies.  Unfortunately we dont have them now, and Anderson, Broad and Onions are nowhere near as potent.  Early wickets are crucial for England, but i'm not so sure they will get them.   The Aussies are likely to go into the Test with Johnson, Siddle and either Clark or Hilfenhaus.  They bowled extremely well in South Africa, and if they repeat that here then England's top order will be under great pressure.  Lee is a loss, but as he wasnt match fit, not as big a loss as Johnson would be.  Eng 7  Aus 8

Spinners:  Every one is writing off Nathan Hauritz -this could be a major mistake.  The guy can spin the bowl, and just because he hasnt done anything on the tour yet (ala Shane Warne all those years ago) he will have a major impact.  He has played only 4 tests, but has taken 14 wickets. He can also bat a bit. For England Swann will be important but will be under pressure and must produce early on.  He is also capable of getting important runs for the team.  Eng 8 Aus 8


England 46   Austrailia 48


My prediction - Australia to win 2-1 or 3-1

Any other individual bets Matt?

Reckon that is a good toss to win, get the runs on the board and hope the pitch wears as the match goes on.

Bit disapointed with Sky Player, they've finished the first anthum on radio and they're shaking hands on the player still!

and it's lagging too much

I was thinking about the 2005 ashes, and remebered Shaun Tait, hows he's fallen...

''Cricket Australia announced on 14th May 2009 that Tait would not have his contract renewed for the 2009/10 season. Tait described this as "a kick in the teeth".

Tait has recently signed as an overseas player for Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians in Division 5 of the Surrey Championship playing alongside his brother Jarrod.''

Catch and a half from Hussey that. Sigh.

Session to Australia. Clever bowling from all three quicks

yep. spot on.

Agreed, this looks like a should get 400 first inning wicket.

Really enjoying having a day off and watching this.This piece during lunch showing Cardiff's preparations was very interesting,the commentators mentioned that Shane Warne would be commenting at some point after he had finished playing cards but it seems he's made day 3 of the ME on 175k so GL to him.

TMS FTW. Fantastic commentators

Bumble and Botham aside, I find the Sky commentators banal and insipid

England's session

1-1

Seems like once the shine has gone off the ball, its a very slow but easy pitch


Got to get wickets with that new ball when we come to ball

good session, pietersen and colly looking pretty solid

Really? I find Botham unbearable - facile, pompous, repetitive and quite often just wrong. Don't spose they'll ever be able or willing to get rid of him though unfortunately. Amazing to think how long Willis lasted in the commentary box before they finally had enough of him just reading out whatever numbers were on the screen and gave him something else to do.

Atherton and Hussain I think are pretty good - generally have something to say before they open their mouths.

MASSIVE let off for Pietersen there

Atherton is absolute class, Hussain just has a really annoying tone of voice, which overpowers anything he's actually saying.

Yep what a shame lol... Had to be out one way or the other, whether he hit it or not, what's the umpire thinking..?

the sky player advert is really tilting me

if you're not paying attention and they go to the ad you just hear commentary 'could be out........is out' and I think we've lost a wicket

horrible horribler horrible shot by Pietersen. Ugh

so much talent, so little common sense

So annoying, Boycs is making me laugh on TMS with his views on Hauritz.

At least it's in Cardiff so there is a decent chance of rain. ;frustrated;

It will give prior and Flintoff a blast with the bat, no mugs those 2...

Wtf at a night-watchman for Broad?

+1

Sent Broad in to score another 20-25 tonight imo

Advantage Australia I think, 7 wkts down is good news for them, and we're 70-100 away from a par score

Advantage England according to latest prices offered on Betfair.

Draw 2.66
England 2.9
Aussies 3.5

Disagree about the Sky commos, don't think there's a bad one among them. Big fan of Athers and Bob Willis on the highlights show. Bob'll stick the boot in over KP's shot and the poor decision to send Jimmy in.

Cricket is analysed so much better than racing.

Couldn't agree more.

Graeme Swann  ;tightend;

marvellous stuff

Is it worrying that Anderson is managing to reverse sweep the spinner?  ;carlocitrone;

Meanwhile Shane Warne is in Vegas playing poker...

Yeah he is a really useful batsman in these situations, I have seen him smack it all over the shop opening for Notts in limited over cricket.

Ball is turning as well, starting to like Englands postion in this match.

yeah, this

looking at the spin hauritz is getting the aussies aren't going to be looking forward to their innings

it's not often you get to look at an england scorecard and see everyone scoring let alone 10/11 in double figures, top stuff boys

lets go and defend 230 for the follow on please

shame swann didnt get the 50 though

 come on lets rip em apart with the bowling...

With the amount of spin in the pitch, you've got to like England here (weather forecast not too bad).

I've emptied my Betfair pennies on them.

Hughes has other ideas...

Please don't give Hughes width, ta

Flintoff v Hughes is going to be very tasty this summer.

1-0 to Freddie. Hughes has a great eye, tremendous natural talent but doesn't like it up him

Aussies rolling along very comfortably now. We need somebody to get a wicket and hopefully they will kick on. If not i can see us relying too much on Freddie.

Boycott is different gravy, class...

Is he still batting.....

Aussies looking at 550+ by Saturday lunchtime then some real pressure on our 2nd innings.

Ponting ton looking very likely.

I love an optimist.

gg pennies

Unfortunately Longy for this series it is more about the money than me being patriotic, and i have lumped on the Aussies to win the series big time.

[ X ] England's bowlers are performing as i expected.

It's not high tide til 9.28pm tonight. Explains why the pitch is doing far less today.

Fuck me Rich i know that England's cricketers like to look for excuses but that takes the biscuit.

Yesterday high tide was mid afternoon. Helped get more moisture into the pitch, and the ball wobbled a bit in the last 40 overs

Today the pitch is bone dry, hence less help to the bowlers


That said, we're disappointing. Expected the spinners not only to spin it a bit more (Swann is bowling too flat) but also excercise more control

From the Guardian OBO commentary.

The groundsman himself swears by its validity

This was nearly 3 hours ago. Things have not changed.

Hmm, the groundsman's only been there since February...

Swing or lack of it prompts a lot of conjecture at most grounds - whether it's affected by weather or tides or building a new stand on one side or whatever. I don't think much of it stands up well to scrutiny. In a way it's remarkable how little is understood about swing, conventional or reverse, even by top boffins with easy access to wind tunnels. Though then again I suppose it's not that surprising, given the enormous number of variables at work, with different bowlers in form or out of form, different weather, variable hand-made balls etc.

What a satisfyingly depressing partnership this is. Looks like it could be turning into a proper traditional Ashes summer. Not like that nonsense we had four years ago.

The ball will swing more, when other conditions are equal, if the tide is in. Marginally greater humidity = greater resistance on the seam/rough side of the ball. It is a minor consideration in the general humidity of the air though, which is the majorfactor in swing bowling.

Still, the telling factor could be our batsmen getting 50-60 and getting out and theirs, with ruthless effiency, converting 50-60 into 100+...getting a first inning leads and in effect making us bat last

Tomorrow morning is cruical, need wickets or we're sunk. In the bay. With swing.

  i agree  them scoring more runs than us could be a telling factor

TMS pwns

That is all

Saturday almost certainly looks like it could be a total washout and Sunday's forecast is for showers, so the match seems to be heading for a draw.

My guess is that the Aussies will try to get through the first hour (maybe until lunch) with only 1 or 2 wickets down, and then may try to increase the scoring rate and look to get to around 650 just before close of play and declare.  It would be a risk, but given the weather forecast they would be very very unlikely to lose the game.

If England get a couple of early wickets with the new ball, then it will just be a case of the Aussies trying to bat out the day.

The Australians are collapsing now - they've lost two wickets in a mere 76 overs.

Right, praying for rain now.  Did back Englad to win, decided to back the draw now to minimise loss on the England victory.  If the Aussies win, I'm screwed.

Australia 348-4 at lunch.

I dont really see any way this cant be a draw now unless either the weathermen have got the forecast totally wrong, or England have a major 2nd innings collapse.

In all likliehood if the aussies bat the rest of the day, they will make about 550, a lead of about 115 with probably a days play at most to come.  England would then just need to bat out for a draw.
If England dismiss Australia for 450 or less, then realistically they are unlikely to have enough time to get a decent enough lead to have a chance of declaring.

LEts just hope the weather men are wrong, in which case we could have a very good finish to the test.

That usually means there is a high chance it won't be a draw

If, weather permitting, we begin 2nd innings 150+ behind we lose. Completely different game batting in those circumstances

Its not looking good then as the weather forecast seems to be slightly improving and their may well be play on Saturday morning as well as most of Sunday.
The way the Aussies are going there lead will be about 150 at close of play tonight.
Depending on the forecast when they start tomorrow it may be enough for them to declare, but it would probably be a little to brave of Ponting this early in the series.
Instead they will probably bat and lead by 200 - 220ish before declaring.

/rain dance

I think Collingwood may have become England's leading spinner.

Has worked

Don't stop dancing Silo.

Until September.

lol :D

Being pummelled of course, shoddy in the field and psychologically shattered, but how Billy Doctrove who has not given a single LBW for four days gives Bopara out there I don't know

rain dance resumes

This is thoroughly depressing it is like Ashes groundhog day with the exception of 2005.

I had the misfortune of running into my Australian friend earlier. sigh.

  they sure look worried

I blame Silo - he's clearly stopped dancing.

Blowers is painful to listen to. The dear old thing has got too old.

Do you think Chris Broad will get picked for the next test?

I am starting to get nervy here, as I just know we are going to lose in painful circumstances. Couldn't we just have collapsed before tea and saved me all this nervous energy.

FML,wtf kind shot is that Swann.

Think that may have been my fault. Sat on the sofa for two hours then decided it was safe to go to the shop, and what happens... Sorry England. Come on Jimmy.

The over before Collingwood asked how many left, umpire says one, and he then takes two runs, to leave Swann on strike.
New ball, he should be farming the strike IMO.

I am not sure about that with Swann in, who can bat and had 30 on the board. I think you play normally, now with the true tail enders he should farm the strike.

No matter what happens, this has been a brave innings by Collingwood, if only the rest of the batsman made as much out of their talent as Colly does.

Yeah think that's right, it gets really confusing when you try and farm the strike because both players start thinking about that too much rather than about just batting. As demonstrated by Collingwood nearly running himself out a minute ago.

Shot Jimmy!

Am about to take up residence behind the sofa.

Crap crap and crap.

Please no more replays of that shot and Ricky's stupid little grinning face.

Monty knows how to farm the strike anyway. Maybe he can mentor Collingwood on it.

such a sick alowroll you know they r gonna get there

lolol

rarely has a boundary been celebrated so much

Quiet you!

I am dying here, this is taking a few months off my life.

cant believe he isnt yorkin him 2 death

Please don't send them a message from 12th man, just leave them alone. Such a mistake when they're in the zone.

So we are actually batting out time here not overs, got to survive till 18:40.

Yeah - if it was overs we'd be 4 balls from safety.

Shot Monty! That could be huge...

I am hating this so much yet loving it at the same time

what a fucking shot from panesar. the total is now defendable

Lol at this time wasting.

Had to do it I think to make sure that if we survive this over then they only get one over max.

There's a small perverse element of me that quite wants them to need 13 off one to win. And not get it obviously.

Last over now.

But they still get an over if we lose a wicket right now, no?

wtf is north doin bowlin it is it just cos he will bowl it quicker

I believe so

Love the fact that no one seems to know what the situation is.

I think that's it.

Yeah I think it is. Anticlimactic somehow!

Brilliant effort though, and great game in the end.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss get in, wow what an end

Please let this kick start 4 team performances of epic proportions in the coming weeks.

Think the Cardiff crowd have justified the choice of ground?

Great test.

lol at monty and anderson the heroes colly batted 4ever  hope this is a springboard for better things 2 come

I'm not at all jealous of my two friends who bought day 5 tickets for this months ago 'on the off chance we might see some play'...

awesome

completely different match circumstances but reminds me of 2005 when lee and mcgrath batted out the draw against the odds

a proper classic ashes match

Very low-key celebrations from England after burgling the draw. Interesting to compare with the famous over-the-top Aussie draw celebration after McGrath managed to block a couple in 2005. Think it's good to see, though surprised that Anderson and Monty were so calm in interview immediately after what were probably their most important innings ever.

Well, Monty will be dropped for Lords as they won't play two spinners and he's behind Swann.

lolol

how the fk did we do that?

Now lets ram it down their throat on Thursday at Lords.

Hopelessly outmatched for four and a half days but the Aussies didn't have a strike bowler when it counted

what changes  would you make for lords?  harmison for panesar imo

Onions for Panesar is what I think they will do.... a control bowler
 
Possibly Harmison for Broad, would consider that as Broad isn't quite ready for this series I think.

i agree i think they will put onions in  cant see them droppin broad tho

my chubby arse hasn't stopped boogying!

(how do you spell boogieing?)

Ship the draw though, obv

I think Harmison will replace Panesar, they need something different from the attack and he gives that and appears to be on form. Onions might replace broad but I think the selectors like the fact that Broad can bat so that will be close.

This.

Collingwood to 3? Bopara to 5?

Expect they'll leave the top seven alone..but Bopara and Cook both looked to have technical flaws against the Aussies that they will need to sort quick

Swann has to go, he was a below average spinner with a dreadful record in county cricket before it was decided he was the man for England. He had a couple of good series against woefully underperforimg sides he simply is poor. Sidebottom and Onions for Anderson and Swann. Possibly Rashid for Monty too.

but there is not a cat in hells chance Anderson or Swann will go.

Anderson really wouldn't deserve to go, been the best England seamer for 18 months plus. Sidebottom is only just fit without much bowling either

extremely disappointing Swann in this test, but its too early to jettison him. At Lords a spinner is a stock bowler, and his batting and the fact that he has six LHB to bowl too (assuming he performs adequately not poorly and thus causes them a problem) will get him in for sure

In this test Swann appeared to have lost the one delivery he got a lot of wickets with, the arm ball. Without that he lacks the variation to damage the best 

Such a good test to watch. Even in 2005 we were written of at this point after an awful first test. So to start with a draw is a nice change.

I can only see one change for Lord's, Onions for Panasar.

Let's face it Harmison has had far more than his fair share of opportunities and fallen short most of the time recently.

The Times

Ricky Ponting accused England of failing to play in the spirit of the game after James Anderson and Monty Panesar survived 69 balls to complete a Great Ashes Escape in Cardiff.

The Australia captain was angry at what he saw as delaying tactics towards the end of the first npower Test, when England’s twelfth man and physiotherapist rushed on to the field to speak to the last-wicket pair.

Andrew Strauss, the relieved England captain, denied foul play and said: “The reality of the situation is that Australia did not take the last wicket and we got away with the draw.”

But the five-match series was given fresh spice on a nail-biting day when first Mitchell Johnson and Kevin Pietersen, then Peter Siddle and Stuart Broad, were involved in altercations.

Johnson had to be dragged away by Michael Clarke, his team-mate, when Pietersen appeared to hit a ball into his path during pre-match practice on the outfield.

Broad and Siddle were spoken to by the umpires when they made shoulder contact twice after Broad edged the frustrated bowler to the third-man boundary.

Ponting was more annoyed that Bilal Shafayat, the reserve fielder carrying a glove, and Steve McCaig, the physiotherapist, held up play in the final stages when Australia wanted to cram in as many overs as possible.

“I don’t think it was required,” Ponting said. “I think he changed his glove the over before so he shouldn’t have needed another, and I don’t know what the physio was doing out there.

“I thought it was pretty ordinary. But England can play whichever way they want, we will play in the spirit of the game. I was unhappy with it and I am sure others will be taking it up with the England hierarchy.”

Having loaded the gun, Ponting will hope that somebody else now fires the bullets. “I am not going to take it any farther,” he said. “I am not making it an issue. I won’t think about it after tonight.”

Strauss said that Shafayat had been sent out to tell Panesar and Anderson that Australia were likely to bowl more overs than the minimum because they were rushing through balls.

“Some drink was spilt on his  glove,” Strauss said. “Jimmy called up to the dressing room, but in the confusion we did not know if he needed the twelfth man or the physio. Our intentions were good. We were not deliberately trying to waste a huge amount of time.”

Anderson has never shown anything against world class opponenets in tests. In favorable conditions against a poor side is he is an obvious pick but he has never performed well at this level against decent sides. His bowling average is really bad against Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. India obviously don't bat well in England and no one else really bats well at all in tests anymore.

Turning the ball away from the bat on slow turners is invariably totally ineffective. Cardiff was slow, hopefully the rest will be quicker, so maybe keep Swann but he is a very limited cricketer. gl mr Swann and gl England.

edit: younis khan, mohammad yousuf and chanderpaul all bat well obv.

Flintoff injured, FOL!

Harmy for Freddy and Onions for Monty?

Harmison added to squad.
http://www.skysports.com/cricket/ashes/story/0,26376,12340_5431152,00.html

EVERY side would have done exactly the same thing under the circumstances. It was a bit of a piss tkae that they came on twice but its not unusual behaviour at all.

Whinging aussies IMO

ponting wasted more time on day 5 than the whole england camp combined as he repeatedly and completely unnecessarily walked the length of the field to speak to his bowlers. he really should've realised much earlier than 6.30 that time was a big consideration in the testmatch

A Flintoff news conference today doesn't sound good...

Retiring from tests AFTER the ashes is the best we can hope for

Whats to gain from announcing it now?

They really should play form players. Rashid is in form, takes wickets and is a good batsman. Why was he not selected?

He's 20, I doubt he is ready. As we've seen with Cook and Bopara its a completely different kettle of fish with the pressure of these matches

At Lords, with only one spinner, you aren't going to pick a leggie...too little control. Would have him on tour in the winter, and introduce him over the next 12 months to the Test side

Flintoff retires from tests after the Ashes http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/8151402.stm .

Can't say i am surprised but is a blow for the England test team, his record especially as bowler doesn't do him justice and England will miss the control and agression he brings to the attack.

  if he was going  to play i think cardiff was the match notlords

ok he's a leggy so could take some punishment so its a little different, but phil hughes is 19 (i think) and he seems to be coping alright. shane warne was only 23 when he bowled gatting...

Win toss and bat

Onions for Panesar the only change


Now bat better please, lets get a score that puts it out of reach for the oppo

Game is going to be severly disprupted by the weather, with showers possible every day and tomorrow looking like it could be a total washout.

The more games Strauss keeps winning the toss, the longer England stay in the series IMO.

Cricket = Poker

How you play doesn't really matter as long as you win your flips.

The greatest cricketer ever - W. G. Leknave

Found myself agreeing with Warne this morning. Harmison should be in the side.

Well, that was all strangely fantastic.

Assuming our attack will be as toothless as the Aussies' the draw looks nailed on.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Mitchell Johnson has been awful.

Truly awful, he was pretty unimpressive at Cardiff but as you infer his test record is actually very good, so I suspect he will improve.

Ouch! Looking at Hauritz's finger made me feel a little squeamish!

All hail HDTV! not.

I don't think i needed to see it on hotspot either!

Why can't we go and make a good score rather than just ok or a bit below par?

Fk knows, i guarentee Ponting doesn't get himself out playing a stupid shot. I almost tempted to say they are playing in 2020 mode, but they played less attacking shots in that form of the game.

because our batsmen mostly won't show patience and build an innings without taking chances

I think it is related to the amount of one day cricket they play, though it affects the Aussies less for some reason

and thats Pietersen, Colly and Prior all getting themselves out, not got out by good bowling

Sigh - we've now lost 5 wickets for 125 runs.

Old England are back.

Marvellous

Hilfenhaus is a good bowler though, by far the most threatening today

whats the score please

340-6 having been 192-0

333-6, flintoff just got out. My mood is darkening by the wicket.

ffs  do they realise you cant win a test in one day

has play finished for the day? what is the score?

364-6

We need about 200 more really, its a blameless pitch

Strauss 160*. Shown the rest how to do it

This from Skipper Strauss: "There's more in this wicket than at Cardiff, but it was pretty good to bat on. From 196-1 we'd like to be in a better place than we are now. As captain you always want to lead from the front, so it was nice to get a big score today - hopefully I can carry on tomorrow. It's jus a little frustrating we couldn't get another big partnership today."

cheers 4 the update tighty

FFS

[  ] Good leave Strauss

Interesting stat about Strauss.

Five times he has resumed on an overnight score of 120 or more.

He has never added more than 4 runs before being out.

And now Swann has gone.

At least if the ball is doing something we might be able to bowl them out for less than 800  ;carlocitrone;

Silo - get dancing.

Dun dun dun - another one bites the dust!

 :'(

Only if monty was there him and anderson could have put on a hundred run partnership now lol

Watch it swing for the Aussies this morning, the thing won't deviate when we bowl.

We're about 200 under par, ridiculous   

It would have been nice to have played harmison in my opinon, so if the ball doesnt deviate there would have been another dimension to the attack

I reckon its going to swing for our bowlers, assuming they bowl in the right places........

For those who missed Ponting's face when he got out:

http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/image/414871.html

Absolutely brilliant!

that was proper com. he knew he should've been out lbw but thought he'd got away with it when they referred it upstairs

ffs silo, stop dancing. you're only supposed to do it when we're struggling

Starting to make progress here, come on lets captilise on this.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Cmonnnnnnnnnn

GOGOGOGOGO England

here comes the ironside rain dance

Even better, get in

loving haddin running away to stop cook catching the dead ball

still up to 90 minutes play. do we enforce the follow on?

If we get to i say definitly do,not that clued up on cricket but why wouldn't we ?

Really depends on a few things but i would imagine we will, we haven't bowled that many overs. It is likely if we get them out before the follow on it will be late this evening meaning we will have an awkward 6 or 7 overs at the openers again and then a fresh attack in the morning. I don't think this pitch looks like it is going to fall apart to make batting 4th chasing a small total a problem.

I would, especially if we get them tonight. more wondering if there's any argument against

Word is that Hauritz will come out to bat, but dont expect too much from him.

The arguements against are normally

1) Bowling attack is weakened through tiredness or injury and would be better with a rest to bowl 4th innings.

2) Batting 4th on the wicket would be a nightmare cos the pitch is likely to fall to pieces.

3) Poor light, means the batsman will walk off.

Haddin is the danger, such a quality batsmen in my opinion and always plays in a postive manner, wouldnt be suprised if he makes another century

England's work is not done yet though. Johnson is the new batsman and, if he could bowl, he'd be an all-rounder

whoohooo OUT

I dunno if I'd enforce the follow-on...Australia have no spinner and Siddle's got food poisoning, so I might have a quick smash at them.

Deffo enforce the follow on, bowlers will be rested and ready for a full day tomorrow.

It depends on the conditions tomorrow for me. If it's cloudy stick them back in, if it's sunny probably have a bat. Either way we win from here.

Yeah, definitely now (I'm following BBC commentary and wrote that before I saw they were off for bad light lol!)

Will be another on/off day tomorrow, difficult for the batsmen to get settled in.

Strauss thinks the pitch will stop offering anything to the bowlers after the 3rd day so we need to enforce the follow on and get them out quick.
Good day though!

  lol

wtf bad decision imo  we have to bowl them out twice to win why restrict  the time we have to do it  strauss and ponting should just shake hands and call it a draw

I wouldn't mind us batting again if we weren't such pussies when it comes to declaring. Strauss won't declare unless he gets a lead of 550, brings the draw back in. Should have enforced the follow on.

They can got close to a a lead of 550 today though. Strauss will probably want 800 to be sure though.  ;frustrated;

If Johnson bowls 20 overs today we could be 800 in front tonight!

With so much time left in the game i really don't think it made much difference whether we enforced the follow on or not. I actually think it's rarely the correct decision to make a side follow on.

Botham really pisses me off with his criticism of Strauss, like he was ever in a position to enforce the follow on when he was captain.

  it doesnt matter how many we r in front if we dont bowl them out

Hmmm i actually don't mind not enforcing it, looks like a good batting day at the moment. What we don't know is how the England bowlers are feeling, I am sure giving Freddie a rest played a part.

Exactly, and it's perfect batting conditions at present so let's make hay while the sun shines and bowl when it suits.

Remember that Strauss has been captain of Middlesex for years now and understands Lords as well as anyone.

why don't you just watch it?

[  ] I have Sky Sports

you have now

http://www.p2p4u.net/watch-live-sports.php?id=2979&link=Link%202&site=MOPAGES.co.uk

p/w is     p2p4u.net

Cheers :)

Perfect innings this from Prior at this stage, fancy we should have a quick half an hour at them this evening.

Yeh great by Prior. I'd probably get to 550 and then start to look. I wouldn't be declaring if Freddie was still in. If they can bat for 2 days they can probably chase 500 down too.

can't see us putting them in tonight after the light meter just came out

lol, this is strauss remember, he'll want 700, 'just to be safe'

i bet he is wishing he he had waited now

this could go down to the wire

No it won't, new ball etc

We'll lose

bs

probably not but i'm trying to get upset about it now just incase

Nearly £200 was traded on Aus @ 95's!  Would love to be freerolling that...

Fk that would rather see England win

20K>>>>>>Eng win

Mmmm 20k ok then, less than £5k forget it.

Clarke down that's the wicket! Should do it easy now.

wooooohooooooooooooo :)

(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/884/freddien.jpg) (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/freddien.jpg/)

imo

Fred will be a massive loss

(http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/9533/graphofz.png) (http://img38.imageshack.us/i/graphofz.png/)
.

longy's graph makes me smile

It made me chuckle too :)

wp sir

+1

Great result,i'm going to day 3 of the next test at edgbaston really looking forward to it,one time Sir Fred and KP be passed fit please

KP out for 3 months...  Gonna be interesting now, Ian Bell?

Yup, ahead of Key and Shah

Makes the top six look a lot weaker though. Bopara at 3 remains a big worry too

Ugh, bad news. Let's hope Freddie stays fit.........

Bell at 3 and Bopara moved down to 4/5?

meh. would've liked to see bopara dropped for bell, gonna have to keep him in now

chances of shah appearing in the series at some point?

iv always enjoyed watching him bat but it seems that he's got a rep for just being a one-day player these days

Behind Bell in the pecking order

Also got a rep now for being lazy and a bit unfit. Fielding v poor for example

I don't especially like the look of a middle order of Bopara, Belly, Colly..looks a bit powder puff to me..but with Shah not trusted too much, Key's face not seeming to fit and the likes of Denly and Moore untried I don't see we have another option for the moment

A bit damp then

the scene ten minutes ago

Rain affected draw please

Is there any legs in the idea that this will be a semi-washout, so instead of fred playing 85% for 3 tests, rest him for this, and get him 100% for the last 2?

Nah. Got to play him. Weather affected would be good though, as Headingley follows straight o

FYP

Bollocks. I have tickets for tomorrow :(

+1

Just managed to get a free ticket for Sunday, got to love families imo.

In Birmingham now - weather's shocking. Not looking good for play tomorrow.

Ah well, least tickets and hotel were free :)

Lucky git!

Big decision to drop Hughes, Watson to open presumably...

Pitch inspection at 11.00

"It's like the Sargasso out there. " according to the BBC

The draw has got to be a silly price in a hurry. Got to be laying at 1.5. They'll play a lot of cricket on a wicket that's bound to assist the bowlers.

1.38 now the draw

forecast for Weekend is horrible

If they get enough play it can't be a draw, but will they get enough play?

surprised punter's decided to bat

PHil Hughes quite unlucky I think.

Surprised he is batting too.

Ball gets wet it's harder in the field.

Depends how much swing there will be.

Sandy

Strauss is running hot - wins the first two tosses then loses the tricky one.

And now Brad Haddin breaks his finger in practice so the Aussies have a debut wicketkeeper.

well that was crap

would've been very diff if the 2 clear lbws had been given though

bowling very inconsistent. I reckon Broad or Onions will go for Harmison next game

Looks a good pitch though


rain please

2 balls, 2 wickets!!!

What a start!

Get innnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awsome

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

ship the session to england

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooohooooooooooooo

Jimmy Anderson is a great bowler when it swings.

Also

I'm backing Australia when the final wicket drops, hopefully at around 6.
If they get the first wicket quick, I can see the rest tumbling.

^^^ ban please!

Will it swing for the Aussies? If not we're in business. If it does, tight match

No room for sentiment here cobber.
Will green up at 3 if the chance arises.

Pass the sugar!

[ ] Good Luck

probably been mentioned here before but i hope shane warne stays commentating for sky, he's quality.

Good wind up material for Botham etc as well

Surprised also how well Matthew Hayden comes across both on TMS and on Channel 5 earlier

Never liked his whole persona as a player but seems yet another good bloke, inisghtful too

Looking forward to my first cricket match tmoro,sure expecting to see any cricket SIGHHHHHH

+1

Hayden has been excellent on TMS.

Very much so. Completely different to how I thought he would be when you watch him as a player.

His argument with Boycott was superb. It'll be on a podcast somewhere. Old skool meets new skool and ended up with Boycott storming out of the box


Meanwhile, Rain. Brum will be underwater soon!

If anyone finds a link please post it as I didn't hear it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lw62g/Test_Match_Special_30_07_2009/

Starts hotting up at about 1h 15 mins

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lw62g/Test_Match_Special_30_07_2009/

a minute in onwards

Has the link changed?  6 mins into an 8 hour recording and nothing yet.

same here I listened to both days as well..........

1hr 5 mins in

SORRY!

1:05 in is not minutes oops

has ther been any play 2day yet?

nah. lunch at 12.50. pitch inspection at 1.30 but unlikely they'll be playing until late if at all

play called off for the day

I say scrap the test and arrange a 1 dayer for monday instead like they used to do in the good old days

Meh i am going tomorrow and would still rather see a days test match than impromptu one dayer, ofc it is never going to happen no matter how likely a draw is. Weather forecast is good for tomorrow as well.

did you have fun?

i just cant believe england

they get 1 nil up in the series but makes sure it rains so they cant give away the advantage

atleast the windies just made it impossible to take 20 wickets on there flat pitches

Yeah thanks day on the lash with me dad,could be worse 

Rubdown fail

gotta lol at this

if it wasn't for the rain we'd 100% be 2 up with 2 to play by tomorrow. properly screwed by the weather

anybody at the game who can get 2 tickets for tomorroW?

nah aussies had it covered

according to sky commentary you can buy online @ edgbaston.com and print your own tickets. I can't see where though

found it

https://www.eticketing.co.uk/edgbaston/default.aspx

what an amazing position we're in now. 1 up in the ashes and playing a game that we can win but can't lose, love it

you sure you cant lose?

cheers, already found that and i've been in the queue for 2 hours. They are selling them at the ground and got someone trying to pick me some up on the way out.

do you even know what sport this is?

how do you envisage the aussies setting a defendable target?

batting collapse from england seen them all out for 49 before

only possible way is Aussies all out with a 100 lead, so 220-250. England all out for less.

Not impossible, but a huge long shot

big difference between a team likely to collapse and the 11 out there now

  dont forget we would have been one nil down if it wasnt 4 the rain

yeah the team likely to collapse have more backbone

wiiiiiiiiiiii, went today fantastic day out.

+1. Had a fking great day today, nothing quite like giving the Aussies a bit of stick.

great choice of days from you 2. that was proper test cricket

Great day to have there

Didn't like the booing of Ponting personally (though you could boo Mitchell Johnson all day for all I care, a real panto villain!), but expect everyone was a bit carried away in the moment. Certainly the players had plenty of aggro in the middle which was spicy.

Great over from Swann that got Ponting

Sure wasn't jealous and wishing we had went today

Wish we could have got one more wicket today but we still have a decent chance to win if play a full day gogogogogogo Anderson & Co.

Ponting got some boos on Thursday when he came out to bat as well.

He also got a standing ovation led by the Barmy Army when he hit his 20,000th first class run.

I think the booing is meant to be banter and tbf where we were there was applause in reaction to the booing from England supporters. Mitchell johnson was getting standing ovations from the barmy army whenever he went to field over there and chants of "there's only 1 Mitchell Johnson", thought it was pretty funny personally.

The booing of Ponting was a bit unseemly, but the Eric Hollies stand does get very rowdy in the afternoon and it does all get a bit pantomime.

Brilliant day's cricket - not one single Mexican wave all day.

+ 2

What a fantastic day today.. That is all.. bed time

No comment about England having to play a Scotsman? Have you got no home bred cricketers?  ;whistle;

He only Scottish when he's out, he's English until then IMO............

He's not just Scottish, he's a teuchter - went to the Gaelic School in Glasgow.

Best of it is he was dropped by the Scotland team last month.

who's scottish?

not that we care, we played 3 south africans in the first test, foreigners ftw imo

nationalities have always been very fluid in cricket

Mike Denness, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton all Scots who played for England at some point

Many Welshmen too, recently a few Irish

loads of naturalised Saffers, Aussies too based on residency laws etc



Menawhile Flintoff must be very touch and go for this one.  He was on one leg fielding that last day.

ok, I'm seriously confused now. who are you talking about? trott's been called up so he'll be the 4th SA player of the series if he plays and sidebottom but he's def english. who the hell is scottish?

I didn't have a clue who he was talking about either, I just say a spotted an opportunist piss take v Scotland without knowing what he talking about LOL.

lol. anyone got a clue?

twitter with bumble lol


@ tighty big prob for me is that grounds insist on taking all grass off pitch..i.e. slow pitch...leave grass on and harmy is a must...we don't get it

@BumbleCricket. Is that because the home clubs want revenue from five days? Or instructed by the England coach/captain?

@tighty club holds sway

nope. can't see a Scot in the 14 names.

 ask bumble who the scottish guy rod is talkin about is

I think Rod misheard 'Trott included in England cricket team' on the radio. :)

Is the scottish person, back up wicketkeeper Neil Sullivan?

the doncaster goalkeeper?

Yeah you can't get anyone more Scottish, have you heard him speak?

lol. another one replying to rod without knowing who he was on about

you're my new hero rich for talking to bumble

I assumed Rod meant Trott. When prompted by you I wiki'ed Trott, I realise Rod must have meant someone else.

Perhaps Gordon Strachan is the new physio or summat.

McHarmison?

Calum MacLeod from Stepps (just outside Glasgow), played as the emergency fielder.

Funny enough when you search Google News for any stories about it only the Scots papers have mentioned it ;D

Even better he was dropped by Scotland a couple of weeks before.

My favourite person from Stepps was Lisa.

(http://www.pop-music.com/steps/steps.jpg)

So, completely irrelevant then?

I work with a girl who is the spitting image of Lisa, she's a beauty......

sigh, it's like being a ballboy at tennis. they get the local youngsters to do it, he won't be involved again as we move grounds.

if he ever turns into a decent cricketer then he's welcome to come and play for us but he needs to work on his bowling action first. even worse than malinga's

What kind of game can have people who play as irrelevant? Like saying a sub at football doesn't get a cap for coming on.

A substitute fielder does not get a cap at cricket.

ergo, posturing that there was a Scottish influence on the English cricket team is irrelevant

Still, I got to check Trott's wiki bio.

in test matches sub fielders on the travelling team are drawn from the squad

sub fielders on the home team however are not squad players, they used to be but that stopped some time ago. they are now kids from whichever ground the match is being played at given a bit of experience of being around the test team. you could have 3 or 4 of them on at once on a 5th day if the result isn't in doubt and you're resting a few niggling injuries.

they are completely irrelevant, can't bowl, don't think they can keep wicket and their name isn't recorded if they're involved in taking a wicket

Can we ban Scots from posting on this thread.

So if he'd caught someone out would he have got a cap?

No.

That's just weird. What other sport has people playing but not officially playing?

Scottish lower leagues often have "A Triallist" scoring in league games.

Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday often questions why this guy never gets a transfer to an SPL club as he tends to score a lot of goals. :)

it would be listed on the scorecard as- c sub

if there was more than 1 sub on the field at the time you wouldn't even know which one it was

June, whats happened today?

I had £500 on Austrailia last night on Betfair @ 2.82, and now they are 2.6

Gona lay off for a £100 freeroll, wiiiii.

They call me the Blatchly of Cricket, yo!!! ^^^

Presume it is injury news, Freddie struggled in the nets today. Whereas the Aussies could well have Haddin and Lee fit for the game. Possibly the forecast has improved as well?

probs realised that the scottish bloke won't play the whole game

I live in Headingley, sure am going to the games tho.

Went down to the bars/pubs area earlier to go to Laddies and there were thousands of Aussies there, pretty comedy.

Think the forecast now is ok for next 3 days but bad on Mon & Tues.

Rest Fred and draw please

Just diagf for betting against your motherland imo.........

Norrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - Freddie's out.

Aussie fans setting the fire alarms off last night too, naughty naughty...

FFS, at least we seem to have a couple of guys on form to potentially still do a good job.

Prior out?!

Collingwood behind stumps until a replacement arrives?!

False alarm...

Fire and Prior

Hmmm...would have thought Trott would have played with Priors back a worry.............lucky we won the toss!

you do have to wonder about the warm ups that cricketers do before a test.

in 2005 mcgrath injured himself on the morning of the 2nd test playing rugby and today we nearly lose prior from playing football. if he was out and punter refused to allow us a replacement as he's perfectly entitled to do we'd be in huge trouble





v.v. lucky man first ball strauss

Good start from Billy Bowden - more of that please.

what a catch that was.

Looking at that middle order this spells trouble for england, can bopara finally step up and make a gd knock

no

we know he's poor at 3, really should've had him at 4 and moved bell up

Bokked!

Totally agree with that, bopara confidence is really low, this is the reason i think puttin him in at number three is just asking for trouble

Putting him in at all is worng at the moment. Just doesn't have it against reasonable quality bowling and in my humble, never will unless he makes a big change to his attitude

Bopara does not have a tight enough technique to play 3 in tests, except on something very flat

He's a number six

GG Ashes

Think we need Dancing Silo back again.

Harmy better be ready to fire...

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... big weight on Cooks shoulders now.

Worth ringing up on the hour every hour for the next 5 days reporting a bomb in the ground?

Cunning plan by England this - giving away the wickets waiting for England to hit 500 on Betfair then BOOM, betting coup.

GG

Oy pack it in bokker.........

We had a good run.

gg

wiii

ZOMG this is embarrasing!

Such poor poor batting on this wicket!

could be over by sunday at this rate!

My tickets for Tuesday sure will be needed.

sigh, 98/8

We should just declare and get cracking at the Aussie openers

The top scorer is the man injured in the warm up!  ;frustrated;

weeee

9 more please

Because I'm knowledgable about cricket patriotic stupid, I've laid the Aussies at 1.19.

One time please :)

Not been able to watch for the last few hours, WTF happened? >:(

Has Swann been shagging Mrs Strauss or something ?

Sandy

Edit :- Bok

The umpires have been really bad this whole series, Aleem Dar is an exceptional umpire and so is Billy usually but in this series there've been some real shockers and they all seem to go one way. Australia can't get an lbw unless it's hitting the middle of middle (they've had at least 4 turned down when it was hitting the middle of middle), then they lose Ponting and Hussey to balls that were barely shaving leg stump (according to hawkeye).

I agree that they have been some poor decisions in the past, but criticising umpires just after making 2 correct decision is pretty bizarre. They both looked out when i first saw them and they were.

I'm not criticising either of those decisions, they highlight the inconsistency though. They were marginal and the correct decision was made. KP, Strauss, Cook and Bell have been plumb in front several times this series not given.

I think Swan has had 2 or 3 LBW's turned down that were out.

What goes round comes around, its ok picking out a mistake or two in a particular game, these things even themselves out in the long run. Always has done, always will do.

2 very clear lbws weren't given in the aussies' 1st innings last test. think it was watson and clarke who got away with it

in general the umpires haven't been giving the decisions either way, certainly not been one sided

siddle is comedy. in his 2 minute post match interview he said 'yeah' 29 times and that was only from when I started counting. even when the answer to a question was 'no' he said 'yeah, no'

Was going to day 4

FML

Better than watching 2 hours of day 3 and paying full whack to be humiliated no ?

Sandy

ffs this just aint cricket

Bopara just got a complete shocker from Asif Rauf

He hit it, outside the line...obv LBW then

This'll be over tomorrow, sadly


Don't worry. I'll get the lads round to distract Ironside til he forgets about the cricket!

farce what sort of batting display is this

wow the 11 this week look alot like the 11 last week bet the aussies are kicking themselves for not declaring now

why?

Just Ironside. Hopefully he'll self ban because it has got very tiresome. People who troll aren't too funny after a while

I vote Ramprakash to replace Bopara for the Oval. It will be Trott.

Somehow we have to get some steel into the batting. Without Pietersen and Flintoff the middle order is powder puff and the tail too long

actually i aint trolling

i am a big cricket fan

although i do love tms as it helps me sleep

my posts on this thread are just because of the easy easy expentations of posters after 1.5 good matches

Like Tighty said, every post just seems like an uneducated rubdown.

fair enough


expentation? I don't know what this word is meant to be. Expectation?

sorry trying to post and 4 table hi/lo

think you will find that today is the first rubdown i have given

as for uneducated i think my knowledge on the game compares favourably against most poster on this thread

what would you do with the English team before the last test...team changes? batting order changes?

All piss taking aside, without Pietersen and maybe Flintoff, how do we win back the Ashes?

I take you comments about Ponting declaring in the last test were a joke then?

82/5 at stumps day 2?

Wow, that's bad.  Was 52/1 last time I checked.

wow your quick today

I actually think this is about the only circumstances I would agree with bringing back Ramprakash as a pure 1 off option, our batting is all fine and dandy when batting is easy, or the match situation requires attacking shotmaking.

I am thinking they will wheel Freddie out if he is anywhere near capable of bowling for the final test.

tighty there isnt much england can do when there team is built around a couple of world class players and a few journey men

if the world class players are missing then the journymen are going to struggle

the media have a habbit of building up the journymen after one good innings/match

england will struggle when freddie gives up

if I'm on the board of selectors I proper shake things up and throw in mascheranas for a debut in place of broad and throw in ramps instead of bopara

abs no point putting the same 11 out again

I think I finally ditch Bell too. Just not quite good enough

Colly is in his last year...gone a long way on limited talent.

When Freddie goes might as well do a thorough rebuild

My team for the fifth test would be:

Strauss
Cook
Ramps
Trott
Collingwood
Prior/Foster (dependent on Prior's injury)
Blackwell
Broad/Swann (decision based on pitch)
Anderson
Harmison
Onions

u ruling out flintoff already?

Blackwell?  Not a hope

Swann is an automatic choice. Second spinner if played maybe roll the dice on Rashid rather than Monty.

Flintoff - would play but when I chose my team it was based on the assumption that he wouldn't play.

Blackwell is arguably the most in-form man in the CC this year. His move to Durham has rejuvenated him plus he's a lefty. In other sports, we pick the players based on form, why not cricket?

Blackwell blotted his copybook on the tour he was selected on, unfit, not popular with the management for being a party animal

Similarly Key had a ruck with the management at World 20-20 time. Probalby our most secure number 3, technically solid....unlikely to get a look in again


Much the same as someone falling out with Capello, or Martin Johnson...if your face doesn't fit or you blot your copybook its pretty hard to get back.

Unless you are Steve Harmison. Who gets seventeen chances to be forgiven for whatever the management got pissed off with him for last time, and the time before that......

harmison on form is the best bowler england has by a mile problem is he is out of form more often than inform

Real travesty that Key doesn't get in this team

I would like to see davies the worcestershire wicket keeper play, i think hes a real classy player

Lol @ Blackwell, and Maschrenus for that matter.

The media always say we must pick players in form, so how do you judge a player is form? Because he has plundered a few runs in county cricket? I'm afraid you don't get too many 75 mph long hops in international cricket. It's been said time and time again by many respected players that county cricket simply doesn't prepare players for the teat arena, and it never will in it's current format. When you go from a four day game, to a one day game to a 20/20 game, where is the time for practise and preparation?

Duncan Fletcher took a huge amount of criticism from the media because he wasn't 'media friendly', but the guy was a brilliant coach, and team manager if you like. When he selected Trescothick and Vaughan neither of them were 'in form' in county cricket, if i remember correctly Trescothick was batting at 7 for Somerset at the time, and Vaughan had hardly scored a run for Yorkshire. However Fletcher identified players that had the mentality to improve for the step up to test cricket. Rob Key is also certainly one of those players, until the last two or three weeks he had a poor season for Kent, but that's not important. Key showed a lot of promise in Australia in 2003, but i'm afraid he may have missed the boat , maybe his face doesn't fit now. David Sales is another that has somehow slipped through the net, a remarkable talent that has never played international cricket, partly due to injury, and also due to a lack of self fitness, someone somewhere should have addressed this though.

I was a big fan of Andy Flower as a player, and i was sure he was the right man for the England coach's job, i still am sure he is the right man, but surely he must have had something to do with the length we bowled this morning? Was no one in the England camp actually watching the area's the Aussies bowled on the first day?

You can bet your life that there will calls for mass change for The Oval in the media, but i would be very surprised if this happens, who should go? who should come in? I'm not sure right now. Ramprakash? Highly unlikely imo.

We bounced back from an awful performance at Cardiff, i believe we can do it again.

I don't no a great deal about cricket Pelham boy that the difference is huge between int cricket and county cricket.People like bell and bopara are completely unreliable to get you out of the shit bell isn't good enough he was lucky to get his 50 but he definitly shouldn't play for eng imo.Surely the suggestion of a wicketkeeper wasn't to replace prior ? since he's been one of our best players 

Hooligans ::)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ud5o-8eOnk

England without Pieterson and Flintoff are only better than W Indies and Bangladesh of the test playing nations IMO.

Key, Bopara, Bell, Ramprakash, Collingwood etc etc are all of the same average standard, so the selectors may as well go for a couple of players with form and confidence ahead of those under extreme pressure.

If it was up to me the team would be:

Trott
Cook
Strauss
Ramprakash
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions/Rashid (depending on pitch)


If Flintoff is not fit then either Sidebottom or Plunkett to bat at 9

New Zealand could barely make 200 against our bowling attack in the last few series.

Why does everyone want Ramps in the side? He's like 40 years old and hasn't played any test cricket for 8 years. When he did, his test average was under 30

He might have over 100 first class centurys but he only has 2 in test matches.

Far better player now than he was a decade ago, has made 60 first class centuries since he was last dropped for England

Test Ave of 42 vs Australia back then even so

Best batsman in the country, well one of them. Pick a team for a one off cup final..I'd have him in over any of the alternatives

Don't think they'll pick him though

Say you do pick Ramps and he goes out in the first innings for under 20 (which would probably happen ~50% of the time) Would that not have a huge psychological impact on the rest of the innings, the secret weapon not working.

Ignoring the last test, England have had a pretty good series. If Freddie's fit for the showdown (fit enough to play anyway) then why make too many changes?

Bowling wise I wouldn't make too many changes

Maybe a second spinner, of course Flintoff if fit

Batting wise numbers 3,4,5 are the big problem. Bopara has to go. Question is do you go the whole hog?

Ramprakash is good now, in county cricket, where there is absolutely no pressure on him.

The only time he has been under recent pressure (when he was on 99 first class hundreds) it totally got to him and he got stuck.

I think there might be a bit of pressure on him were he to play against Australia...

Chopping and changing batsmen rarely works as well as swapping bowlers. I'd keep Bopara and Bell in - give them the opportunity to respond to the situation. They're not terrible players (otherwise they wouldn't have got picked). It's not as if we've got Wally Hammond and Len Hutton on the sidelines - there's absolutely no reason to think Key, Shah, Ramps et al are appreciably better. If they were they'd already be in the team.

It's our bowlers I worry about - on a good batting track without help from the conditions they are just not good enough. I'd be tempted to tell the groundsman to attack the pitch with a blowtorch and play two spinners.

agree totally. For gawd's sake prepare something that loads the dice in our favour

Yeh seems like a bit of an over reaction to me. Vaughn Ramps and Key all been mentioned to ship out Bell Bopara and Colly. I'd probaly drop Bell. Let Key bat at 3 and let Ravi come in as late as possible.

Freddie gonna be fit by the sounds of it...........

Other than openers the Aussies tend to bring new batsman in the team at 6 and then let them work their way up. Bopara at 6 might be OK

LOL that we crush them in 2 tests then they crush us in one and we now want to change whole middle order,only player i'm not keen on is bell,obv bopara had bad series but he's better than any of the replacements being mentioned imo and has had a few harsh decisions against him, show of faith may be the boost he needs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8195859.stm

WTF. Just typical of Surrey, they should concentrate on getting their own house in order before telling the England selectors what to do. What about the speculation surrounding Bopara,Bell etc? I expect us to name a 13/14 man squad, so even if he's in the squad, there's no guarantee he will play.

I have cogitated, ruminated etc Lloyd Grossman style and overall I think we should stick with the same top 6, bring Flintoff back for Harmison and let the bulk of the guys who took us this far (1-1 with 4 played is better than the general trend of the last 20 years) & see if they can finish the job, no panic, no weakness of mind shown.

After this series is over think about who our 3 & 5 should be for the long run, the rest of the top 6 picks itself. Could even consider promoting Collingwood to 3 for a year or so and just look for a 5.

Replacing Flintoff at 7 not directly necessary imo, horses for courses picks  (batsman, sipinner or seamer) in his spot should do, as I think Onions, Anderson, Swann, Broad (with a little more development) represent a half decent attack with useful runs to contribute too.

2 2 in my book

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8201312.stm

Bad bad decision if true imo,bell should be dropped bopara moved to 5 or 6

wouldn't be the worst move if it happened

pure speculation though as they say in the article

Here we go then

How do we score enough runs?

and take 20 wickets?

Pitch has been left open with the sun shining. It should turn, will we play Panesar?


got to win the toss too

Going to be a result either way I reckon.

glgl

make the batsmen bat for a change instead of being rescued by the tail


hope the aussies have bad day at office


2 headed coin anyone and hope teh aussies choice tails

If we lose the toss it's game over.

We have to win the toss and have scored 500 by tea on Friday. We are bowled out/declare an hour before the close and end the day with the Aussies on 32/3.

Anything worse than that and we're out of it.

Caught the tail end of some news about betting irregularities on the ashes ...

Anyone know the story or has a link to it ?

A shady character known in betting circles approached an Aussie player

Aussie player reported it to the authorities who are now investigating the attempt

ahhhh found it ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/8208736.stm

Probably explains Hicks England career.

Cook out already - uphill battle for England!

gg Cook.

From the Guardian OBO commentary.

"Could you confirm whether Ian Bell will be undergoing a gender test this morning?" chortles Dan Smith, "They seem to be popular at the minute and I'd like to know in advance whether he has grown the necessary balls."

FFS Blameless pitch, won the toss. Need to bat for two days. Leave the flipping thing alone outside off-stump!

Don't panic, our rock solid middle order will save us. I am not worried at all, sigh.

Am actually skiving from work today, fk it...........

Will take that at Lunch. Strauss looking good, hopefully he can get a big score here. Bell looks extremely shaky and could get out at any stage.

not sure he could leave that tbh. not edging it would be nice though

great session, exactly what was called for. wp england

At least Bell is scoring runs while not looking completely settled. Decent session England

Longy, can you please shout out loud Utd & Chelsea will be the only teams contesting the league this year...

If you want me to say that, I will. It won't be too far from my opinion on the league this year.

Collingwood. Sigh. No excuse for playing so loose, not his strength

Meh Aussies session. This really is a big final session reckon we can only lose 1 for it to be considered a goodish day for England, given our record so far this series of blowing good 1st innings in the final session, i am not overly optimistic.

Collingwood dismissal was very disappointing, you are not Viv Richards so stop trying to play like him.

another disappointing dismissal. Needed to go on to the close, but a technique misjudgement

We are just not strong enough in the top six, without Pietersen

Huuuuugggeee partnership now need a 100 between them here

Encouragingly its turning a bit and quite a few are going through the top. Not a five day pitch, hey presto they've finally prepared something that might give us a chance to get wickets if it deteriorates more, if we set a total

Every run in this first innings is vital, we have to then bowl with discipline

What do you reckon we need Tighty as a par score, 400?

suppose so. Watch the ball on the surface, dust when it pitches is encouraging if we can set them a target 

we have to get a first innings lead, simple as that. They have to bat last

If we score 350, they then get away and get 550, game over



edit. Flintoff out, wicket given away. Usual theme

We're dead.

twitter news

philtufnell This wicket is going to crumble, even me aunty could spin on this

I have no idea why we seem so keen to score at 4,5 runs per over, if there was a situation and a position to grind out 500 in 2 days this was it. I am starting to come round to the idea that these players play far too much one day cricket and it has destroyed their ability to build a proper test match innings. Strauss is the only one to make a century this series and to be frankly honest the only one who hasn't seem to want to give his wicket away.

Yes - the big difference between the teams is that the Australians just don't give their wicket away.

Too many times our batsmen have got in, scored some runs, then spazzed out on some shot when a century was there to be taken.

Totally agree

The Aussies play more one day cricket than us

The answer lies in concentration levels and our less than teak tough temperaments, both of which are underdeveloped in our soft county game where too many average players appear the business, but in fact are far from it

So how would you make the county game "harder" to use a word? I agree that the difference between county level and Test level is far too big right now and this will only hurt the national side in years to come.

In an ideal world would we get something that equates to Sheffield shield (is it still called that??) cricket, where there are small number of teams with mainly homegrown players playing tough hard quality cricket.

Of course this never going to happen because of the structure of the county game which is run and watched by people who are snobbish, self interested and not in touch with what is required. That has been the case for over a century and has to be part of the reason the Aussies have been dominant in the Ashes for eons.

Big question

It will probably never happen, too many vested interests...but I am not sure our professional game should support 18 counties each with staffs of 20 plus

Six regions, 15 players each. One 4 day comp, one 20-20 comp and that is it..that The Australian model, works well...with a well developed structure beneath it in the states/counties

I think the comments of someone like Gillespie are quite telling, talking about county players finishing a 4 day in leeds at 6pm, starting a 1 day in Canturbury at 11am the next morning, then back to Bristol for a 4 day two days later.Slimline the whole thing IMO...as it is too many players coast through games


And cancel central contracts. Players need to play, not sit doing nothing between tests. Someone like Pietersen has played once for Hampshire in a four day game over three years. That's unfair to the county game, the county and its supporters

At Taunton today, Murray Goodwin has scored 344 at nearly a run a ball - who says county cricket is easy to bat in?

p.s Longy..snap!!

Ramprakash, for one.

great fielding

North is spinning this sideways. 350 might be adequate..got to get there though

Sigh about the first person have felt sorry for today is Trott, was actually got out and played alright I thought. Worth a further look on todays evidence, i have to find something positive to say!

i think england have been guilty of giving there wickets away today, but i wouldnt rule them out the match, if the aussie can swing on this pitch then england SHOULD rip into the aussies

Yes, he looked good. Showing signs of good old-fashioned English determination like Strauss and Pietersen - we need to find more of these Englishmen from somewhere.

Tee hee

I reckon half of white saffies would be able to play for us, lets start scouring the country now IMO..........

Wow, Ironstein excluded you boys really are English.

I have always rated Stuart Broad as a bowler.

Booooooooom, Broady!

Fuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkiiiiiinngggggggggg game on!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope u haven't bet on the convicts this time :(

wooo hooooooooooooooooooooo!

Joseph Hachem will be livid...

Pass the sugar...

*ponders risking the sack to go down the pub for the rest of the afternoon*

Should stop Tighty and Longy from writing the obituaries for a while anyway.

Lol I have found pessimism is best way to be when you follow sport, it gives you a sense of balance and you don't end up being featured on tv as one of those idiots crying at the end of football match, like a near relative has died.

Fyp

Sandy

Please stay off the English thread and go argue about celtic/rangers or something...............

Is it ok for me to stay here as I'm irish? Let it be said i support England and want them to pump the Aussies if that will sway it in my favour.:)

There is another side in the ashes you know .....

Sandy

Only if your a Protestant...........












Joke obv

How many Aussies have posted on this thread?

Not on this thread there ain't :P

No idea but the notion of being an ashes thread kind of suggests it's about the ashes and not the English.

Besides it was an Englishman that brought up regarding typical fans was it not ?

Sandy

5 down wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, looks like he was unlucky though.

LOL, what an awful decision. Can almost hear Bob Willis chuntering about the standard of umpiring from here.

Terrible decision, [ ] I care.

5 wickets so far for England Nottinghamshire.

LOL mofoing this........

bopara is currently 199 not out

meh who cares now....

shall we enforce the follow on?

Lets get there 1st, but interesting decision on this wicket.

Oh and Swannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

details currently at health centre and they wont put on tms

England 1.5 on Betfair, lump on surely?

Can't believe they'd even think about enforcing the follow on

That's a difficult one. We've got to take 20 wickets, but will it be easier to take the second ten in the third or fourth innings?

Gut feeling is yes they should, give the bowlers as long as possible to take the full 20, at least then we can chase the runs knowing how many overs are left. Especially given Aus have no regulation spinner in the side, batting last is less of a concern for us.

England got 332 and Australia in reply are 109-6 after being 74-0. 4 for broad and 2 for swann (1st of which was lbw when North clearly hit it).

Weeeeeeee

Follow on please, carry on the momentum

Wiiiiiiiiii got a chunk at 1.6 just before that wicket

Enforcing the follow-on would be crazy. Part of the reason to win the toss at the Oval is to make the other team bat last - you don't want to give up that advantage. The only reason to take the follow on would be if you thought you had a really good chance of winning by an innings (ie not having to bat again).

As much as the Aussies are collapsing here you wouldn't want the English bowlers' hot streak to end and then the Aussies grind out 350-400 in the second innings, leaving us to chase 150-200 on a pitch which is falling apart.

would be so com to win the ashes with an innings defeat though

This is exactly right, not a chance they'll enforce it if the option arises

Good point, thinking about it again, the wicket is such that you'd expect all 40 to go down in 5 days, so yes, I agree now, 150 1st innings lead, a quick 250 over 3 sessions then a good day and a half to knock the Aussies over on inconsistent pitch.

lol U-turn-aments.

Best afternoon off I could of taken this summer.

Laugh at me they did as I left the office with a bounce in my step looking forward to an afternoons cricket.

Bat again if the choice has to be made.

lolz, I jokingly asked about the follow on when it was 5 down and didn't look likely, didn't think anyone would think it was a good idea

the only way 40 wickets don't fall on this pitch is if monsoon season starts

though still think an innings defeat would be com

australia's session imo. they got 72, we only got 8

Get in there you beautyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, COME ON ENGLAND

i have got a very broad smile this afternoon

possibly the worst decision I've ever seen in a test match

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Another awful decision, hahahahah.

How the hell can the umpire not see whats going on , hes got a good vantage point looking straight at it no?

Bat hit the pad - think the umpire gave it on hearing two sounds.

It's more likely he gave the LBW, the bat was a foot away from the ball the LB was closer than that.

PS  http://domain779724.sites.fasthosts.com/forum_archive-2004/philboard_read.asp?id=735&recordnum=50

http://www.fiso.co.uk/fsn57.htm

"FCC England-India Test series - Top prize won by FISO member, Alexander Hughes, following the success of S Legg (aka Goose) in the First 2002 Fantasy Test Game."



Sandy

Given the way the wicket is playing now, I actual don't mind England playing their shots within reason. If we get over 200 here i will be delighted.

Tha'ts plenty..........

Just having 1st beer of the day, feels good...........

no longer neutral wanted to put tenner on aussies but got offered 4 to 1 got offer of 1 to 4 on england so took the value with 20to win 5 come on flintoff

Sighhhhhhhhhhh, Edgbaston 05' anyone?

so sick. didn't think that going to footy on saturday afternoon would mean missing the end of the ashes but it's starting to look like it might

These umpires have been terrible, that is 5 wickets this test they have given that haven't been out. Two Aussies lbw and three England batsman to clear no balls.

Based on this I have backed the Aussies.  ;)

Well done to the Oval groundsman who prepared something a bit less than normal, left it uncovered for a few days, and thus produced a result wicket

County games at the Oval all year have been 500-5 dec, 600-8 draw

just as well we won the toss

If I was a gambling man I'd lump a small wodge on the Aussies now, and then lump a bigger wodge on England at the end of the first session tomorrow after they go all out for ~100 more

Get the book looking like Aussies +$0 England +$xx Tie -$millionsquillion

Is plan?

swap the aussies and the draw and that's what my book looks like. I have to sell a kidney if the aussies somehow win this

A tie and a draw are vastly different in cricket.

Sandy

Not according to betfair which is the context it is being used in.

Wow that's pretty bad even if there have only been 2 ties.

Sandy

Lol I suppose before some else corrects me i presumed that was the case. Checked my info now and i am wrong.

If the official result is a tied match and there is no such eventuality offered in the market, all bets on match odds markets will be void.

I am surprised by this as voiding an event costs betfair commission, so fair play I suppose.

yeah, law 16 defines a draw as a game that doesn't end in a win or a tie

I thought a tie was a type of draw, apparently not

put more on after england lost wickets in the 2nd innings got 4/11 ffs no one is going to make 200 on that wicket on a 4th day
just want england to get anotehr 100 runs and i'll be happy

if england lose i will never support them or bet on them to win again

atleast the money i get back will make up for the next 18 months

Why the hell is Bumble banging on about us declaring, the pitch is only going to get worse and I will be surprised if we ever get to that point. If we bat to Tea, it should be gg Australia.

Strauss gets to 50 excellant start to the morning,englands best player in the series by far, great captain imo

Will deffo take that session, wp Trott and Strauss. Think we can afford to have a go after lunch and anything over 400 lead will be fine. Also lol at Ponting taking one in the face.

He's got a permanent scar on his cheek from the last ashes here, when a Harmison ball smacked him square on in the face. Maybe he'll get another scar just to remind him of this series for the rest of his life as well :D

So immense how good a mood it put's you in when where winning at any sport,gogogogogo England

Especially when u have to wait 4 years since the last one...............I don't do footy so this is my biggie along with rugby.

Love watching Swann bat he is a very useful No.9 (soon to be 8). Come on Trott, deserves a century.

I would give my left testicle now for 2 sessions lost to rain... :(

WTF!? Hang your head in shame if you have bet against your homeland...........

ticket for monday?

Let u off then lol

VWP Trott - lovely hundred.

....Is the correct answer..

We should declare now............

I will give my right testicle.

Glad I never put the bet on. Storming day for England.

Whole series comes down to this: 10 wickets to win.

all over tonight

If no wickets fall this session, will anyone get nervous overnight?

no

gg england
sorry england fans but i am running real bad
losing to 12-1 shots
so what chance have i got of winning when australia are only 4-1

this has got a lot of play left in it yet.

Cliff notes on the latest from the ashes please.. Including what we need to do and what they need to do etc. Is it 2-2 now? I haven't watched any so far obv.

they need to break a world record by some margin to win
we need to take 10 wickets in 2 days

Series is 1-1 after 4 matches, currently playing the 5th. We won the 2nd at Lords and lost the 4th at Headingley, other 2 were draw.

This test we have played 3/5 days and our in the final innings with Australia batting, they need nearly 500 more to win (which has never been done in history) to win, we need 10 wickets.

Winner takes all effectively, England are big favourites.

I and many others are extremely excited by this, if we lose I will probably committ suicide, gg me.

What was Strauss doing bowling Harmison for so long tonight, ahead of Broad?

Anyway, 2 days to do it. No one approach me for weeks if we don't!

Pitch is not deteriorating as fast as I thought, although obv taking turn and the odd seamer breaking through the top.  England batted very well today, so did Oz too.  Hopefully a little bit of rain 2mrw and a few runs scored, so going in to day 5 Australia need 280 runs with 6 wickets left.

In which case, I will require surgery in order to get my hand off my cock.

finally caught up watching today after stupid football interupted it

strauss needs knighting, abs immense

welcome to the team trott

great to see freddy going out and just enjoying himself in his last ever innings, knighthood with strauss please queeny

tighty, if we lose this please take me off the list for leeds as most likely I will be dead

they would score 350 if it goes all day tomorrow

so 430 (350+80) on the board going into day 5.  Maybe a session left

Please let us win tomorrow.


gatso, joint funeral if we cock this up.

thx for cliff notes

You are all nuts to think the Aussies have anything other than a tiny chance of making these runs..

This is the best 1/3 chance I have ever seen.

Lump on England, they are true 1/20 shots.

who are you talking to keith?

I thought by you and tighty talking about defeat you two believe there is a realistic chance it might happen.

I total agree, it is the fact that we are such big faves, is giving me thoughts that I would be devestated if we lost it.

lolz, no. the fact that I'm so sure we'll win means I put the house on england yesterday which is why I'll need to at least fake death if we lose

Anyone wanna lend me their house so I can put it on England pls?

i did that yesterday

No, I would just hate it if this was the one time a miracle happened

We have to be at least 1/10 to win, in truth

No contest Rich ,your boys done good.(and i supported them for once) ;D

come on englaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand! plz dont fk this up!

Amazingly, before the first wicket fell, but after Broad bowled that first ball which ripped off the pitch, England were still 1.35 on Betfair, which, as The Camel said, is the closest you could ever come to buying money.

I can't, I've already bet mine :)