For those interested, I think it's high time we started this thread.
That's right, THE date on the cricket calender is upon ladies and gents.

I think the best way to start it would be a nice little predictions table.

So, here goes...

Top England Scorer:

Top Aussie Scorer:

Top England Wicket Taker:

Top Aussies Wicket Taker:

Player Of The Series:

Here would be mine :) .

Top England Scorer: Ian Bell

Top Aussie Scorer: Ricky Ponting

Top England Wicket Taker: Steve Harmison

Top Aussies Wicket Taker: Shane Warne

Player Of The Series: Ian Bell

*insert obligatory Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy joke here*

:p

KP out for a duck first innings at Lord's. White tufts do not maketh the man. :) Still, unless the Aussies have Jason Gillespie preparing the sandwiches I think it'll be England's summer.

It depends when he goes in mate. If he goes in at like 50/3 or something silly, and Brett Lee and McGrath are swinging the ball about at pace, I can't see him hanging around for long. If he comes in later on in the innings, when the ball is soft and the field spread, I think he might post a score. It all depends on how he handles Warney though, that'll be in intruiging battle.

I reckon Ian Bell will be a sensation though. He's such a pain in the arse to get out, and manages to get a nice points total while he's at it. He's far more technically sound than KP. In a few years he'll be one of the best batsmen in test cricket, you mark Barmy Army's words.

White tufts do not maketh the man. Definitely

Top England Scorer: Andrew Flintoff

Top Aussie Scorer: Justin Langer

Top England Wicket Taker: Matthew Hoggard

Top Aussies Wicket Taker: Glenn McGrath

Player Of The Series: Glenn McGrath

In a few years he'll be one of the best batsmen in test cricket, you mark Barmy Army's words. Arguably, he already is 'one' of them.

Arguably, he already is 'one' of them. Who? Ian Bell? This will be his 4th test match mate. You talking about someone else?

How do you reckon the series is going to pan out then Harbs ma boy?

I'm gonna go for...

1st Test Lords - Australia always do well here and this will be no exception. Aussies to win in 4 days.

2nd Test Edgbaston - England fight back and clinch victory on a dramatic 5th day.

3rd Test Old Trafford - Draw in a rain affected game.

4th test- Trent bridge - Englands fast bowlers have a blinder, victory is clinched early on day 4.

5th Test Oval - Despite being peppered on the last day England fight out a draw.

England 2 Australia 1 The Ashes come home!!

I was making fun of your vague 'one of the best' statement that is a favourite of commentators. How many are included in 'the best'? One of the best 3, the best 10, the best 100? He's definitely one of the best 5000 current batsmen in the world.

I'm picking a 2-0 victory to Australia, with England being denied a win in the one test they dominate after the last day is washed out.

Canada's gonna kick all your arses. :p

Actually, Splunge, Canada had a bit of a star player at the last cricket World Cup in the form of John Davidson who has been playing well ever since.

This from Cricinfo.com:

At the 2003 World Cup, he emerged as a star. He stunned the West Indies with the fastest World Cup century in history, clubbing half a dozen sixes in a brilliant 111. He followed this up with the third-fastest World Cup fifty against New Zealand, making most runs and taking most wickets for Canada in the tournament. In the summer of 2004, after a good season with Victoria, he returned to Canada to captain the national team. In their first first-class match for more than fifty years - against USA in the ICC's Intercontinental Cup - he created history by taking 17 for 137, the best since Jim Laker in 1956 and hitting 84 as Canada won by 104 runs.

I've been at work so missed the match. I'll comment more when I've seen the replay thingy at 8pm.
Watching the scores on my phone though, I was extremely pleased to see we bowled Aussie out for 190. What a performance from Harmy. Some fantastic bowling.
I was then on the verge of tears to see us go down 25-5 or whatever stupid score it was. Either woeful batting, or McGrath showing those inhuman qualities again. I hear it's the latter, but I'll reserve judgement till I've seen the game.

Summed up: Disappointed.

I got up at 4am this morning to watch some of the game. McGrath was OUTSTANDING. That guy is an absolute machine. Now all you need is for Pietersen to crack a fairy tale 250 on debut and you'll be all set. It's still a better start than having Australia rack up 400+ in the first innings like they usually do and play you out of the game. At least now you're still very much in the match.

At least we're going to get a result in this game (weather permitting).

Pietersen will destroy the Australian attack no worries. :)

No, seriously, this looks like a good test. Good bowlers on both teams. Are England playing a spinner? Looks like they won't have to!

Pietersen will destroy the Australian attack no worries.Don't put the pension on it :)

P.S Ashley Giles is England's spin master and a pretty good one too.

What's the point of Ashley Giles?

What's the point of Ashley Giles? Someone has to wear those awful shades :cool:

Seriously, "wheelie-bins" had a good domestic season last year and bowled well against South Africa as well as picking up a couple of decent late-order runs. So all hail the King of Spain!

Ashley Giles is Spanish?

LOL.

I think Dan Vettori is a better bowler, and batsman myself... but then again I am biased. :D

Well, Australia look to have the edge at the moment but who can tell.....

Well, that's that and the 1st match is a close. 0-1 to Australia.

A slightly flattering win I think for Australia. Obviously, a very good team and only Kev seemed to be able to handle Warne and McGrath. Some terrific bowling from that pair. But, the way I look at it, if we actually claimed those dolly catches, the match would have been a hell of a lot closer. 9/10 times, we'd have had them and Australia would have been out for a lot less so we wouldn't be chasing a pretty much unchaseable total. Also, we had batsmen who did nothing, who would normall post a score. Vaughan, Bell, Flintoff et al, surely won't be going for single figures many more times, they are quality batsmen.
I've seen nothing here that persuades me that series is going to be a one-sided whitewash. The Aussies are human :D .

That's not a 'We could have / should have / would have...' argument. I just think that the 239 run defeat was more a result of us doing things wrong that we wouldn't usually do wrong, rather than Australia giving us a serious skooling and showing a massive gulf in class.

As for Pietersen (our only batsman of note this test), I'm not sure that his 50 in that innings quite makes up for 3 dropped catches. I mean, when he dropped Clarke on 21, that cost us 70 runs right there as he went on to make 91. Then he dropped Ponting who went on to make 40. Pietersen is a brilliant batsman and I know he can field better than he has done this match, but everyone in England will be sucking his dick, he's a big reason why we were chasing 420.

Magraa has to get MOTM; if he doesn't, there's something wrong. But special mention to our bowlers who I thought were superb. It wasn't their fault that we were **** in the field in the Aussie 2nd innings. Harmison was especially good. 5-43 in the first innings and 3-54 from 28 overs with 6 maidens in the 2nd innings. Great figures.

Well done to the Aussies and well played, bring on the next one :) . Bring it on :D .

I just think that the 239 run defeat was more a result of us doing things wrong that we wouldn't usually do wrong, rather than Australia giving us a serious skooling and showing a massive gulf in class.Agreed, England have been the authors of their own calamity. KP aside England did not bat well enough, bowled poorly at the Australian tail and the catching has been wretched throughout.

Watching Moto GP today, (at Donington Park, UK) the commentator said that today wasn't the bikes the most important thing in UK but a cricket match (or some such) called something like 'Ashes' and I remembered this thread, they said that this match or championship is celebrated every 18 months? just when is summer in England and in Australia? Is there a reason for this? How many teams play there?
I would like to watch some matchs but I can't, when I had ESPN they didn't show a match ever and here at Spain I have no hope on ever watch a game.

The Ashes is a historic event and the biggest thing on the cricket calender. It's a test series between England and Australia. The winner takes home 'the Ashes'. A little urn barely 6 inches high and falling apart because of its age.
Australia are without doubt the best cricket team on the planet, and the team they have now is arguably the best cricket side ever. England have not managed to win the Ashes since 1987 I think. This year we have the best chance of reclaiming the Ashes since 1987 as we have a brilliant test side that hasn't lost a test series in over a year. Unfortunately, as I say, Australia have one of - if not THE - best cricket sides ever.

The series' are 5 test matches long. Australia have won the first one - on a pitch that we have not beaten Australia on since the 1930's. People will be saying 'Oh, here we go again, Australia will win 5-0', but we were the mechanics of our own defeat in this match and I think if we stop making silly errors, we will stand a great chance.

A slightly flattering win I think for Australia. Flattering? Both of England's scores were less than Australia's first innings and it would have been an innings defeat if Australia had had their second innings first.

This test reminds me of the recent series between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand had patches of domination (like England on the first morning) but Australia would always come back with one or two good sessions and win the game easily. I remember bloody Simon Katich scoring a 100 in similar circumstances to his 50 yesterday when we thought we had them on the ropes.

The lesson is that to beat Australia you have to play well for the whole game. If you give them even one session, you're done for.

As for Ian Bell, I haven't seen much to justify the faith you seem to show in him, Barmy. He didn't seem to have a clue.

Yes, flattering. We missed 6 dolly catches, which would have meant we would be chasing closer to 250 rather than 420. Normally, we would bag them no worries. We were very slack in the field for almost the entire innings. This will not happen again. We did not lose the match because Australia out-classed us. We lost because we made silly mistakes.

And Ian Bell is a good batsman, you will see. He has been unlucky so far, especially in his second innings. If you're going on the 'clueless' idea, then Vaughan and Flintoff have easily been mor clueless with the bat. Bell got out to a piece of magic from the 2nd best spin bowler of all time. Vaughan and Flintoff have been out to standard balls.

The rest of what I mean is in my post, if you fancy bothering to read it our kid. I am confident we will do better next time.

The only weak link in our side right now, is Ashley bloody Giles. I have never seen a more negative spin bowler. For one, he never actually spins the ball; for two, he never looks like he is actually trying to take a wicket, more preventing runs, and for three; his average is atrocious. The selectors really should replace him with Graeme Swann. Not only can he actually spin in the ball and play aggressively, he can bat a little bit as well.

The only weak link in our side right now, is Ashley bloody Giles. And your fielding. And your reliance on a debutant to score all your runs. And your inability to score more than 200 runs in an innings.

But I do agree that Ashley Giles is a bit pointless and has long owed his place in the side to a lack of competition. I mean, how often was Graeme Hick played purely because you needed a spinner? We had that problem in the 1990s when Dipak Patel got loads of games because we had no other spinner.

Well, you did predict that Australia would beat you inside 4 days in one of the tests. Maybe the rest of your prediction will come true as well.......

I very much doubt that Australia will win 5-0, but it's a tough road for England from here to win at least 2 tests to take the series.

Yes, but that fielding will sort out, we've had no problems with fielding. And the batting will sort out as well. We are talking about Vaughan, Flintoff, Strauss et al here. Real quality batsmen. You honestly believe they will go for single figures in the other games as well?

And yes, Ashley Giles is pointless. As I saym, Graeme Swann should be in, he's a great player and still very young.

Hey, I tell you this, the future of England cricket is bright. We have some superb talent coming through; we will have our time :) .

It's definitely going to be tough from here on in, because the Aussies will feel really confident about things now. They will really have the winds under the saild after such a comprehensive win.
I think Australia will win the Ashes, but not 5-0 like Magraa said they will.

Well only England have the bowlers to seriously threaten Oz at the moment. Just missing a quality spinner that's all.

NZ have Bond and Vettori, but need two more that aren't fodder.

Yes, but that fielding will sort out, we've had no problems with fielding. And the batting will sort out as well. It's funny seeing how one-eyed you are! Do you also think that Adam Gilchrist will fail twice again? Or that Justin Langer will run himself out again? or that Australia will score less than 200 again?

Also, dropping McGrath twice hardly changed the course of the match.

Everything you've said about dumb things England did can be said about Australia as well, but they still won comprehensively.

Usually I don't like watching sport when I don't support either of the teams, but The Ashes is riveting. I look forward to the next test.

Except for one decent knock in a one day, we've pretty much got Gilly sussed.
Langer, yes that was a poor run out, but I'm sure we'll get him out another way. Harmy is bowling superbly well and no batsmen is safe when he is bowling like this.

You underestimate England mate. I think I'll risk my nuts on the chopping block and say that you'll notice much closer tests now that away are away from the Aussie hunting ground that is Lords. We now know a few weaknesses and will work on sorting them out. Obviously, Australia will do the same, but I feel that they threw everything they had as us in this test and it ruffled our feathers a bit. Whereas, we were well under-par.

Yes, the Ashes are absolutely riveting. What you have here is the best 2 teams in world cricket having at each other and it makes for compelling viewing.

I love your optimism! Especially about a man who has a batting average of over 55 from 69 test matches.

I still think everything you've said can also be said about Australia:

Strauss, yes that was a poor shot, but I'm sure we'll get him out another way. McGrath is bowling superbly well and no batsmen is safe when he is bowling like this.

You underestimate Australia mate. I think I'll risk my nuts on the chopping block and say that you'll notice much closer tests now that we are away from that dodgy batting track that is Lords. We now know a few weaknesses and will work on sorting them out. Obviously, England will do the same, but I feel that they threw everything they had as us on that first morning and it ruffled our feathers a bit. Whereas, we were well under-par in not having our top order fire.

;)

Yes, but England were well under what they coukd play at. And other than Langers run out and Gilly getting out by Flintoff (again), there weren't many more errors of note.
England made many errors in the way dropped catches, general poor fielding and bad performances with the bat. Australia didn't do a great deal wrong all test. That was the difference between the teams.
It'll be interesting to watch when both teams are flying on all cylinders.

Whenever I back my home country, I get called a blind fan :( lol.

I have to say, I am very impressed with Pietersen. As the only batsman to stand up to Australia, I'm guessing that if anyone else can hold it together to support him (Bell, perhaps), this could be a very tough series. The first Test will not be the yardstick for England and I think that predictions of a 5-0 drubbing are extremely far-fetched.

For the first time in 16 years, England can put up a decent fight. The problem is that at Lord's, they went down with hardly a whimper. Without that thug Harmison or Pietersen, they wouldn't have even managed that.

Without wanting to sound like a smug Aussie - we didn't outplay England, they just couldn't get the job done. They made simple mistakes and it meant they got utterly embarrassed. The Australian press is having a couple of pot-shots at the umpiring (I don't put much stock in that) but is avoiding the point that Australia almost certainly didn't play at its best. They didn't make too many mistakes, but the batsmen in particular were a far cry from peak form. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, though... Pigeon may be getting older, but he's still the best fast bowler in the world, bar none.

I agree with NonSequitur that there is no way that Australia were playing at their best. Another example: none of the Australians scored a 100 and they didn't reach 400. Yet another example: Gillespie's bowling was not particularly threatening.

The main reason why it won't be a 5-0 whitewash is because there will be some games drawn due to inclement weather (as almost happened in this match).

I'll repeat what I said before: in order to beat Australia in a test match, you can't let them dominate you at any point because it seems to only take Australia one session to take control of a game. In this test, they did at the end of the first day. England never recovered from Glenn McGrath reducing them to 21-5. In another test, it will be Gilchrist smashing 150 from 75 balls to take them from 100-6 to 300-6. The Australian team has 11 such game breakers whereas England only has 2-3 players who can completely wrestle the control of the game from the opposition (Harmison, Pietersen, Flintoff). THAT is why Australia will win this series.

But, I am not as sure about the next Ashes series when this England team will be more experienced and the current Aussie stars will be gone.....

Without that thug Harmison or Pietersen, they wouldn't have even managed that. You enjoyed Harmy's bowling I take it, NonSequitur :D .

It was refreshing to see that. As Lee was sending his usual beamers and showing his great array of balls; the aggressive bouncer followed by the slightly more aggressive bouncer - we had Harmy sending balls down prety much intended to cause injury and upset. Lovin' it :) . I think Harmy is now a better bowler than Brett 'c*nt' Lee.

And Harbs, I pretty much agree with what you said there. All except that Australia have 11 game winnings players. I'd say they have 6 or 7 players capable of turning a game, where as wer have 3 or 4. But that is not the reason why they will win the Ashes. They will win because they have those legends Magraa and Warne. Our bowlers have shown that we can bowl the Aussie batsmen out twice; something that we have not often had the firepower to do. The only problem is that Magraa and Warne are just too hot to handle when they are playing this well. You could have a line-up of Tendulkar, Lara, Laxman, Afridi and Ganguly, but when you are talking about a pair that have more than 1050 test wickets between them and are playing at their best. There's not much you can do. Although, have faith in Bell. I told you about Big Kev before he 'made it' and Bell is a few years younger - now I'n telling you about him :D . He'll come good, he was just a bit bamboozled by Warne moving the ball allover the place then giving his a dead straight slider. He's only young and has never had to play against that kind of world class spin bowling before. He learns quickly though and I think you'll see his talent before long.

He's only young and has never had to play against that kind of world class spin bowling before Surely he plays against Warne in county cricket?

Well, only occasionally when he plays Hampshire. But, seeing as Warne doesn't take all that many wickets in county cricket, considering, I would suggest Warney doesn't try quite so hard as he does in the Ashes. Even Chrissy Tremlett takes more wickets than Warney for Hampshire.

Well, almost time for the second test. I see that England are comfortably second on the latest test rankings (but still miles behind Australia) although they are only 6th on the one day rankings.

I predict that this test will see the first centuries of the series, one to Adam Gilchrist, and one to an Englishman.

You should seek Gilchrist out and suck his dick mate; you'd love it.

He won't get a century in this next test, I'll tell you that for nothing.

BAD mistake leaving Collingwood and giving Ashley 'useless' Giles another un-earned nod. Giles has done NOTHING to deserve his spot, Collingwood has 3 centuries in a week.

Shocking.

England need to win this, or bye bye Ashes. Damn work means I'll miss most of it... :(

Damn sleep means I will miss most of it, unless I get up in the middle of the night again.

I hate Adam Gilchrist but he smashed us to pieces earlier in the year (straight after I laughed at him for failing in the first few games) so I'm expecting him to do the same to you.

What's the point of Ashley Giles?

Not exactly fair, but McGraths absence appears to be showing in Englands favour. Up comes 111 without loss, I guess neither of these umpires is likely to do the silly dance though.

Edit:

I'm going to have to steer clear of this thread. Everytime I open my mouth we get a batting collapse.

[ August 04, 2005, 16:42: Message edited by: Carcaroth ]

Great news on McGrath! Let's hope he's out for all the Summer, but maybe our luck won't run that far.

What a days cricket! 407 all out with nearly an hour of play left on day one. We were flying at a superb rate at one point. Freddy and Big Kev smacking Shane 'Where's your hair?' Warney allover the park, brilliant.

I would have taken 407 yesterday, it's a decent enough total. However, this is a lovely batting wicket. We failed to get someone having a proper innings i.e. triple figures. If a few of the Aussies get their eye in (as I expect them to on this docile wicket), then they will smack centuries for fun. Will need some really intelligent bowling tomorrow.

Oh, and don't worry about Gilchrist. Freddy'll get him ;) .

[ August 04, 2005, 21:17: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

It's not very sporting to say "great news on McGrath". You didn't hear me saying "Great news on Dallaglio" at the start of the Lions tour. True sportsmen always want to measure themselves against the very best.

That aside, this was truly a remarkable day's cricket. I got up and watched the Pietersen / Flintoff partnership, so I was probably lucky enough to have seen the best passage of play in the day. Fortune certainly favours the brave and England did what you have to do against Australia, which is take the attack to them and not allow them to dominate. They're going to get you eventually so you might as well get as many runs as you can before they do. The English attitude today was fantastic and a great way to bounce back from the disappointment of the first test. I hope the weather holds so we can see where this fascinating match goes next.

Oh, and Ian Bell showed once again why he is arguably one of the world's great batsmen.

Sod 'sporting'. Their main player is out, that is only good news to any England cricket fan.

And I never said Ian Bell was one of the best batsmen in world cricket, you said that my friend. I said he *will* be, in a few years time. Let's not forget the lad is only 23 years old. Plus, to be fair, he got out to a good ball from Kaspro; although I was a bit miffed at him. He came in, played two really nice shots, then got out the next ball. It's obvious the talent is there if you just watch his technique, and I'm sure he'll come good. I just wish he would learn to think on his feet a bit more. It'll come though.
He'll need a decent score next innings, or I think Collingwood will be brought in for him, as a knee jerk from the selectors.

Personally, I'd opt for someone like Ed Joyce, but then, I'm not a selector.

Sod 'sporting'. It's comments like that which make me want to support the other team when England is playing. In my book, injury to opposition players is always a bad thing. I always hope that the other team fields their best team because that makes it all the sweeter when you win. Better to will your own players to play better than to hope the other team get injured.

Hard to see England losing this one from here, scaoring 400 should give you a big psychological boost, so it should be a draw or an England victory - but stranger things have happened........

Don't take that comment as a view shared by all England cricket fans, please Gaz. So don't let the comment shove you in Aussies favour (if you weren't there already). The comment was one borne out of a frustrated England fan seeing a hopeful light at the end of a very long tunnel. In other words, this year we actually have a chance of lifting the Ashes (a 'chance' that something that most people didn't even give us before the Summer). I am absolutely DYING to see us beat the Aussies this year. I have never seen it proper in my life time (I was 4 the last time we won the urn) and it would delight ALMOST as much as if England won the football world cup. It's a very close second. So, forgive me if I greet news that the winning hope is increased with happiness!

On your second paragraph - one would hope so, Gaz. But on this wicket, I predict a big Aussie score. We are in a situation where, if our seamers fail to get any movement, and Harmison proves to be ineffectual because of a lack of real bounce and pace, we're pretty stuck for a Plan B. Although Warne got slapped a bit, he still took 4 wickets. The Aussies can turn to Warney if the pitch is flat and has no movement off the seam, whereas we have Giles to turn to if our pace boys aren't producing anything. 'Nuff said.

We have thrown down the gauntlet and have an advantage, but I'm pretty wary. There are some superb batsmen in that Aussie line-up.

Yeah, but it's hard to see you losing. You'd have to have a big second innings collapse (or a generous declaration) for that to happen and we've already seen that that should be unlikely on this strip. The onus is really on your bowlers and fielders to do the work required to hammer your advantage home and force the victory.

What a ball from Warney in the final over of play. What an absolute peach that was. It moved a mile!

I'm wary about tomorrows play. Warne will cause every batsmen serious, serious trouble if he is seriously on song. Realistically, we need to be looking at 250 at the very least to leave Australia chasing 350. Personally, I want more! On this wicket, I want the Aussies chasing 450...

Interesting days cricket tomorrow, to be sure! And I will miss it all, because I am going to Blackpool to watch my team, Chesterfield. Ah, the sacrifices I make as a football fan...

What a series though! The best two sides in world cricket, really having at each other and playing the game as it should be played. Extremely entertaining!

Well, well, well, it's game on now. Will Flintoff's cavalier innings be enough to secure victory for England? It could be the difference in the end. Or will England rue letting Australia dominate the morning session today? Looks like a great finish coming up.

The best two sides in world cricket Correction, the two best test sides. England are only the 6th best one day team.

Meanwhile, South Africa are beating the All Blacks at the moment. Goes to show again how terrible the Lions were.

Tell me there are statues dedicated to Flintoff all around Edgbaston. That England have even a chance of winning this test is primarily due to him.

Ofcourse all the Australian team has to do is bat conservatively while Katich pulls another century out of his arse.
That should have Barmy sputtering and screaming till the next match. :grin:

EDIT: Well that prediction went wrong :o

Heh, what a dilemma for the Indians, who do you want to lose more, England or Australia? If only they *both* could lose... :hmm:

Well done to England, those last 4 wickets on Day 4 should be enough to ensure that this test is theirs. Flintoff has been the main man today and has played brilliantly.

Cricket is one game where home advantage can mean a lot. Ponting must have completely misread that pitch to have decided to bat first after winning the toss. He would never have got it that wrong in Australia. In the end that has turned out to be one of the crucial factors.

So the series will go to 1-1 which is great for us neutral observers. If the Aussies had gone 2-0 there would have been little left for us to watch. Now the English will be full of confidence and the series is definitely still alive. No 5-0 whitewash this time and no Glenn McGrath for the next test.

But, what are those long sleeved skin tight body suits that some of the English seem to be wearing under their short sleeved whites? They look ridiculous, as if they're going to be riding their bicycles home or something. The look is almost as silly as Pietersen's hair.

I didn't think we'd got enough runs, after I saw us get bowled out for 182. But what you have seen today is brilliant bowling from England.

What a sublime piece of bowling from Harmison in the days last over!

Off to watch the highlights. Should be 1-1 anyway :) .

FREDDY! FREDDY! FREDDY!

You can stick your 5-0 up your arse :D .

You didn't have enough runs at 131-9 but Freddy turned the match with his smashing innings which gave England the confidence they needed to bowl well at the Aussies. This will be a well deserved victory for England.

The 51 run stand with Simon Jones was probably the most decisive point in the match today.

What a player Shane Warne is though. His array of spin bowling is dazzling at times. I saw only one bad ball from him all day, when he was on a hattrick. The ball to dismiss Straussy last night was absolutely unreal. The man is a legend.

Today belongs to the big man from Lancashire though. A wonderfully aggressive innings followed by some really good bowling, especially in the over where he dismissed Langer and Ponts. Two VERY important wickets, and all with an injured shoulder. The ball of the day belongs to Mr. Harmison though, to produce that ball in that situation was incredible. Bewilderingly, that was his 1st wicket think, this test match. He's been underused in favour of the other bowlers. That in itself, shows how deep the quality runs in this England side and is really pleasing to see.

A fully fit Glenn McGrath would be the difference though. I wish him a lengthy recovery ;) .

@Bion
I don't think anyone here is really thinking about England or Australia when we are getting whipped by a second string side of the West Indies. (Sometimes I wonder if Lara's retirement wasn't the best thing that happened to the windies in the last 5 years.)

****IN YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but we got it!!!

WOOOOOO C'MON!!!!!

INGERLUND! INGERLUND! INGERLUND, INGERLUND LA LA!!!! :D :D

Bring on OT!!!!!!!!

Wow. What a finish! Fantastic viewing for the neutral observer. Who says test cricket is boring? Amazing stuff. Congratulations to England but well done to both teams for piutting on such a great match.

What the **** is an Ingerlund? And who is OT?

You know full well what Ingerlund is ;) .

OT = Old Trafford. The next test match is at Old Trafford.

What a test match that was though! That match got tight as a knats chuff! Fair play to Warney, Kaspro and especially, Lee. We threw the kitchen sink at him and he just brushed himself up, looked the bowlers in the eyes and smiled. he has an answer to everything we threw at him.

You know full well what Ingerlund is Gibberish? Like "knat's chuff"?

Anyway, fabulous game. I'm so tired from watching this stuff in the middle of the night, along with the rugby as well.

I take back my initial comments about the result of this series. Barring weather, there should be a result in each test, given that no batsman on either side has shown the ability or the application to bat for long periods in the face of confident bowling, unless there are some seriously flat tracks coming up.

So, should be 3-2. But to whom? We've definitely got a competition on our hands now. And Shrikant, you're missing something special by not caring about. The NZ cricket team is playing at the moment as well, but that's no reason not to watch as much of the Ashes as you can.

Man, it hurts to say this, but we got beaten by England.

I could make all the excuses in the world (LBW decisions and bodyline tactics, for starters), but it won't change the result. Of course, I am quietly hoping that this will actually galvanise the Aussies into action. If I were Flintoff or Harmison, I'd be wearing as much padding as is legally allowed after their conduct in the last Test.

Still, my hat's off to the big lunk - Flintoff won it for England despite their best efforts to choke at the line. It should never have been that close; were it not for England's *wonderful* wicketkeeping, Australia would have been finished off much earlier. No-one would have expected that kind of a finish, with Australia scoring more than 100 for the last two wickets. Ponting admits he cocked up by bowling first, as he did. Hopefully this will kick him and a few others out of their complacency.

BA, glad to see you want to test yourselves against the best line up Australia has. I'd be happy to lose McGrath for two tests if I could guarantee that someone would put Harmison or Flintoff out with a fractured toe or a head-high full toss.

Nice to see you're not sour in defeat ;) .

1 - LBW decisions? Umpires decisions go both ways. What about Pietersens dismissal for starters? No way out. Bodyline tactics? What are you talking about? There's been some tremendous bowling from Harmy, Freddy et al. I wouldn't come with that one whilst Brett 'bouncer-boy' Lee is in your 11 mate.

2 - What was wrong with Geraint Jones' wicket keeping this test? I don't recall him dropping a single catch in the 2nd test. Plus, that was a clever little catch to get Kaspro out at the death. Maybe critics will get off his back a bit now. Berating him for a few missed catches, when he's been really good for us over the last 2 years is ridiculous and does nothing for his confidence.

3 - I don't get what you mean with that last bit? I have already said that McGrath's absence was a big factor in the victory. I should be sad he is out? What is he doing playing rugby just before a test match, anyway?

The Aussies are a better cricket side than we are, simple; and we need all the advantages we can get.

Australia lost because you allowed us to smack a 400 run 1st innings, then let us get a 50+ 9th wicket partnership. Not any bad tactics or any dodgy umpiring. Also, is it too hard to praise your tail-enders for that wonderful stand? It was more good batting (and, dare I say, a slight bit of luck) than any bad bowling on Englands part.

Anyway, looking forward to the next test. The winner of this one will all depend on how they have prepared the pitch at OT. If, as usual, it's a spinners wicket, I expect the Warne to nick it for the Aussies. If it's not, then momentum will stick with England.

Where would have the England team been without Freddy. He was the highest scorer as well as the highest wicket taker for the poms.

In comparision everyone from the aussie side played equally dreadfully (in the batting department). Yet lost by just two runs.

You had better get some :coffee: BA, coz you are way too high. The aussies are pissed and wont be going down again. McGrath is going to play for atleast two tests. The ashes are going south.

Too high? :confused:

I don't recall myself saying we will walk the Ashes now. I'll leave that to the tabloids. I am just basking in an England victory whilst the series is stil alive that is long, long overdue.

I think the Aussies will still win the Ashes, because of a fat little bloke called Shane Warne (Harbs; how dare you talk about Big Kevs hair cut when Warney is walking around with that ridiculous mop?). If Magraa comes back to partner Warney, we've had it. England aren't looking a bad side right now though (and haven't for nearly 2 years...), so you can't blame a little optimism. We've not come even close to winnings the Ashes in sooo many years...

I don't think I've ever come out boasting that we will walk the Ashes though ;) .

I don't see how EVERY Aussie batsmen didn't perform though...
Also, saying such a thing is a disservice to our bowlers. Not many of their batsmen gave their wickets away, they were simply outfoxed by good bowling.

England teams never get enough internationak respect... ;)

We'd thrash India, put it that way. We might even let Kabir Ali, Sajid Mahmood and Vikram Solanki lead the line :lol: .

At least you're not playing Zimbabwe. What a joke. We just beat them inside TWO days. Two days!! The first time in 50 years that a team has been dismissed twice in one day. I'd like to say it was our superior bowling, but I fear it is more that Zimbabwe were dreadful. Bangladesh should get over there now to rack up a few test wins of their own.

Back to the Ashes, this is the best England bowling lineup I have ever seen. Usually there are one or two weak links in the attack (e.g. for every Darren Gough, there was an Ian Austin. For every Bob Willis, there was a Norman Cowans) but this attack is relentless. Given that ball has dominated bat in this series so far, I think the next test will belong to the team who can find a batsman who is determined to really defy the bowlers and score a big 100 (not just whack a few sixes). The only guys I can see who have the patience (and form) to do that might be Langer, Ponting, or Trescothick. Glichrist, Flintoff, and Pietersen will chip in with some quick runs but the next test winner will be built around a big long innings.

EDIT: Brett Lee is in doubt for the 3rd test. That swings things more in England's favour, especially if uncapped Shaun Tait is exposed to Flintoff's flashing blade. Unless, of course, Tait is another of these amazing talents that Australia seem to always manage to dig up out of nowhere who turn out to be awesome. But you'd have to say that the unthinkable (England taking the LEAD in this series) is looking more and more likely.

[ August 09, 2005, 02:43: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

Barmy, not sure you've seen this, but certain you'd like it.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/microsites/B/bringiton/bringiton.html

Mate, I was trying to be as gracious as possible in defeat. It's just a lot harder when you lose to England, not so much because of the players, but the press and the commentators. We lost because Ponting made a bad call, plus we didn't get the job done with the bat - when Brett Lee top-scores for Australia, something's seriously wrong. Even then, as you put it, you guys nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against a side that's out of form, because England let their guard down when we needed 100 runs from the last 2 wickets.

BA, England beat us, fair and square. I won't pretend it doesn't rankle.

Of course, Botham is championing the cause now, so we can expect all sorts of conspiracy theories about the wicket for the next test, regardless of the result. The prat's showing the same anti-competitive streak I've come to expect in rugby, that's just not cricket!

HB, I don't think losing Brett Lee is necessarily a bad thing, as long as he can still bat... Tait can't be as expensive as Lee.

Non Sequitur, you have summed up brilliantly why the English rugby team is my most disliked sports team in the world - more because of the English press than the players themselves.

I have to say that England is a very difficult team to support. Although I am neutral in this series, I have to say I'd slightly prefer Australia to win (and that's a big call for a Kiwi) rather than England, and that is for the reasons you have outlined.

That said, a close series is a good series as far as I am concerned.

Although I am neutral in this series, I have to say I'd slightly prefer Australia to win (and that's a big call for a Kiwi) rather than England, and that is for the reasons you have outlined.Wow, HB... that IS big. My former housemate went through the same thing at the last Rugby World Cup - I think he was secretly hoping for a nuclear attack on the stadium. He ended up - grudgingly - supporting Australia, more because he'd rather NZ got put out by the winners. And don't think he didn't take every chance to call Australia a bunch of chokers when we lost, either.

I said the same thing when we won the one-day series; that I wouldn't really have cared as much had the English press not been so smarmy. There's nothing better than shutting someone up after they run their mouth about being better than you, IMO. I'm just hoping Australia got the kick in the arse it needed to do so.

Well, I don't see why the press will cause you to dislike a team... ? What do they do anyway, that's so bad? I'm sure the Australian press is just as bad. The press are press, whatever the country.
Surely you mean just the tabloids with this, anyway?

I really don't see what is hard to like about the English cricket side! They're a bunch of decent guys. Did you see Flintoff go straight over to Lee to console him after England won? There are no pricks in our team like Brett 'beamer-happy' Lee or that adulterous idiot Shane Warne.

The Australian team is EXTREMELY arrogant (5-0 whitewash I ask you!!!) - surely that makes them infinitely more dislikeable than England, who have a section of bad press (which in no way reflect on the side itself).

Are you talking bout the recent one-day series before the test series? I hate to piss on your parade, but that was a draw mate. Also, I don't recall any press saying that we are better than Australia during the ODI series... ?

Oh, and things like this:
BA, England beat us, fair and square. I won't pretend it doesn't rankle. ... and...

Man, it hurts to say this, but we got beaten by England. Is far more insulting and degrading than any press stories :rolleyes: .

The problem with the Australian cricket side is that they have been top-dog for far too long. The Australian side has to be the most arrogant team with the biggest superiority complex in world sport. THAT is why England love to beat them at 'their' sport.

All this rivalry just makes the series more interesting and exciting!

But to answer your questions, Barmy, I know it is probably a little difficult to explain but the English press and fans are just more annoying than any other countries. It's like the way that EVERY time England wins a cricket game in the leadup to the Ashes, they all starting raving about how the Ashes are coming home (even though until this series there was no justification for that statement). It's like how English rugby writers are forever moaning about Southern hemisphere rugby is too flashy and not real rugby. It's like how your soccer commentators always think England has a great chance to win the World Cup, but hardly ever acknowledge that there are usually about 12 teams with the same or better chance. It's the number of stories I've read about Flintoff being the next Botham. It's Clive Woodward. It's Will Carling. It's Michael Vaughan's girly body suit. It's Kevin Pietersen's hair.

Don't get me wrong. Australia annoys me as well. I loved seeing Shane Warne getting smashed by the Sri Lankans in the 1996 cricket World Cup final. Wallaby lock Justin Harrison is a complete munter. Australian cricket commentator Bill Lawry can't ever admit a weakness in any of the Australian players.

I also have to say that I usually do back England in the Ashes because it is in my nature to back anyone who is playing against Australia. And it would be great to see someone else take the top spot in the cricket rankings. But something in me wants to see this great Australian team win one more series before they all head off to the old folks' home. If England don't win this series, they should be favourites to win the next one as all their current players will still be there and should be even better, but Australia will have a whole new inexperienced team.

Have you also noticed how the press absolutely destroyed the England side after the loss at Lords?
Press are press. They go for an easy story line to sell papers. We won = We'll win the Ashes. We lose = We're 'Vaughan Again Losers'. It's just the way of the press. What should they run stories on?

You can't dislike a team because of the actions of the press. The team can't control that. It's a tad unfair.

As for the next football World Cup. It's defo coming home ;) :D :lol: .

@ Harbourboy

*All* the Wallabies are complete munters. Giteau better than Carter? Hahahahaha what a load of crap. Witness Jerry Collins destroy their entire pack by himself on saturday and watch the body count rise. :D

Barmy Army, it's not just the press. Remember that I lived in England for three years. The people I worked with were all just as bad (maybe because they spent so much time reading their own press). They even thought Jason Robinson was the world's greatest back!

You mean Jason Robinson isn't the worlds greatest back? :D

Well anyway, fair play. Your allegiances are just that. Yours.

Obviously, I'll support England to the death in most sports.

Off-topic, but - how is it that you came to live in England for 3 years and then returned? Was it study? Visiting family or just having a break in another country?

Off-topic, but have you not noticed how many New Zealanders, Australians, and South Africans are living in England? There are loads of us there because its almost become a rite of passage for those of us who live on the other side of the world to go and spend a few years living in England and using that as a base for visiting other parts of Europe etc. I guess because England is English speaking and we can find work there to support our travels.

But it also gives us a chance to get to know how the English sporting mind works and to get into sports like soccer which we might not normally watch. It is also great to be living there when your own sports team travels there, like when I watched NZ play England at Lords (and win) or when I saw the All Blacks play Wales at Cardiff (and win), but not when I saw the All Blacks play France at Twickenham (and lose).

So all that has helped form my opinion of English sports teams, fans, and media and impacts my view on the Ashes.

(woohoo, look how I managed to get this all back on topic!)

Also, I don't recall any press saying that we are better than Australia during the ODI series... ?Three words for ya... "Well played, Canada!"

You can't dislike a team because of the actions of the press. The team can't control that. It's a tad unfair. Sure I can! But I don't deny it's unfair.

At the risk of coming off as a typical arrogant Aussie, BA, the reason why they've been so arrogant is because until very recently, that arrogance has been something they've backed up just about every single time.

That 5-0 comment was pretty stupid, though.

There's nothing insulting about saying it hurts losing to England. I just flat-out don't like Australia losing to England, and I'd much rather Bangladesh or Zimbabwe beat us than England simply because I can't stand the nob behaviour of many Brits when they think they're on top.

There are no pricks in our team like Brett 'beamer-happy' Lee or that adulterous idiot Shane Warne. Well, Warne may be a wanker in real life, but he's still a better spinner than any Englishman. If he was English, you'd be defending him with more passion than you allege HB has for Gilchrist.

As for Beamer Boy, well, I guess you think it's okay when "Grievous Bodily" Harmison or Flintoff does the same thing, hm? I'm actually HAPPY that Lee might be out of the next Test; I don't rate him anywhere nearly as high as most seem to.

And as for my earlier comments about Ian Botham, well, have a squiz at this and tell me I'm not justified in hating the guy for the right reasons:

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16197270%255E11088,00.html

Australian cricket commentator Bill Lawry can't ever admit a weakness in any of the Australian players.You reckon he's bad in international cricket? Hell, you should hear what he's like commentating in a match involving Victoria! The Twelfth Man piss-takes weren't much of an exaggeration, HB.

The other thing that this Ashes series has highlighted for me is that some of the Australian batsmen are not as great as their statistics would have you believe. Classic example is Matthew Hayden who I would describe as a ‘flat track bully’. That is, he is fantastic at capitalising on below par bowling or on flat batting strips but he is useless when the going gets tough. In this sense, I put him in the same basket as Graeme Hick who scored triple hundreds against county bowlers but was easily found out by the top test bowlers. Compare this to guys like Brian Lara, Graeme Gooch, or Allan Border who often scored their best innings in tough circumstances when their team was in trouble. I think that Damien Martyn is probably just as bad, as he has a very suspect technique outside off stump.

It is amazing that Australian selectors never seem to consider dropping any of their batsmen, especially given that there are always half a dozen world class batsmen waiting in the wings who would waltz into other test sides. A quick look at the county batting averages in any given year usually shows Australians dominating the stats, including guys who have never seen the inside of a baggy green cap.

In fact, I have read that there have only been 11 new test caps for Australia since Adam Gilchrist in 1999. That is absolutely staggering, given that England probably had that many new caps in their last injury ravaged Ashes tour a couple of years ago, and given how good the Australian second XI is.

There really needs to be more competition for spots in that Australian team. The guys who are there might be getting complacent that they’re never going to get dropped.

Anybody watching the Womens cricket at Hove?

Aus 355 all out, England 206 for 3.

Highest score so far by the Aussies no. 10 - 81 not out.

Hmm, I see that Brett Lee is fit to play but that Glenn McGrath has not been ruled out of contention. Surely he can't be fit that quickly.

Plenty of disagreement over what the pitch is going to be like. I have heard:
a) that it is a traditional turner
b) that it is hard and fast and will suit the seamers
c) that it might be damp on the first day meaning that the game will be decided by the toss.

No idea who is right but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

England won the toss, & decided to bat.

McGrath is fit again, amazingly.

Oh dear, I've posted, time for an English wicket to fall.

Dear, dear I'm a bit dissappointed with Big Kev. Giving his wicket away like that, when all we needed in that situation was a bit of consolidation...

Great stuff from Vaughan. He was a bit lucky to still be in to be honest, but made the Aussies pay in the best way possible for crap fielding. What an innings from Bell as well. They don't half go after him! Every single run was worked extremely hard for. Very patient and tidy innings, showing good mental strength. Hopefully he'll carry this onto a big score, perhaps playing second fiddle to Freddy tomorrow and slowly totting his scorecard up. Then he could go on to make a decent score in the 2nd innings and have this match Englands. I tell you, Harbs, the lad is young, talented and learns very quickly. He's good now and will be magnificent before long ;) .

Lee seemed to be getting a lot of joy today. That bodes well for our pace boys. Harmison will get dangerous pace and bounce off this wicket, so expect a few hits when Australia come in. Oh, and Non-whatyername, there's nothing wrong with bouncers and aggressive bowling into the body. Nothing at all. I was just saying you were hypocritical for having a dig at the England pacers when Lee is the same, if not more so.

A good day for England overall, but Kev has handed Aus a big lifeline. At 332-3 that was massive and we were cruising. 341-5 is still big, but if we don't get decentg innings from Freddy and Jones, we might be looking at just 400 when 500+ was definitely on the cards for me.

Ah well, we'll just wait and see tomorrow.

I watched about an hour of this last night and from what I saw, Michael Vaughan looked in complete control (except for when he was dropped and then bowled off a no-ball). Great batting from him and that was exactly the innings I said was needed by the team that would win this game.

I feel that the psychological momentum of this series is now with England. There is something in the body language of the Australians that I have not seen before. They almost look like they are already defeated sometimes.

I think if England can maintain their confidence, that maybe they can go on and not only win this series but win it comfortably. There, I've said it. Hard to see them losing this one, as they should go on to get 500 on what looks like a good batting strip still.

As for Pietersen, his stupid blue hair dye has probably seeped into his brain.

What shocked me was the Australian's fielding: I can't recall them ever dropping so many chances. Their fielding's always been so dependable and - at times - spectacular. I think the defeat may actually have got to them - now they know England can beat them, the pressure is on. Previously, the Australians have rarely been so pushed. Hopefully, this will be a real boost to England: to see that they are human. Frankly, I'm shocked myself! I'd hoped England could do it: losing at Lords was on the cards (BA called it just right, IMO); Edgbaston's been England's ground of late; but now, if they can capitalise on the good start and go 2-1 ... I really believe it can be done. And as a tender 22-year-old, it'd be the first time I could properly remember.

And if England can win the Ashes, maybe some other of my wishes could come true: Pietersen stops going to a chav's barber; the British press gain some kind of sense of proportion...

:lol: :shake: Nah, too much to ask.

BA called it just right, IMO You should post here more often, you clearly know your stuff :) .

Pietersen stops going to a chav's barber Yes. The Magpie certainly DOES know what he is talking about!! Big Kev is an embarrassment to all the traditions of the England team. Don't they have any minimum standards of presentation? Surely he wouldn't even be allowed into the Lords clubrooms looking like that.

That sure wasn't the start to this Test that Australia wanted. Hopefully we have a flurry of quick wickets at the start of the next day, get Flintoff out early and keep them to around 400.

That said, Australia is playing exceptionally poorly. I don't think I've ever seen such a woeful fielding effort from Australia. Things just aren't falling our way, and to make it worse, we're not capitalising when they do.

England are definitely playing better cricket than Australia at the moment.

Yes, Harbs, yes we are :) .

We are in a very strong position going into tomorrows play. If we can get the option to force a follow on, I will absolutely crease up laughing.

Great play by the England side today, especially on the bowling side. Thank you so much Ashley Giles for making me eat my words. Sometimes, being wrong is ****ing brilliant.

Hopefully, we should be able to take a 2-1 lead now. Hopefully....

Based on the difference between the performance and attitude of the two teams at the moment, England are heading for a 4-1 win in this series. Hard to believe that the Aussies haven't had to follow on since 1988 (before many people on SP were even born).

From what I saw last night, Michael 'Lycra Clad' Vaughan and his boys have complete control and deservedly so. Matthew Hayden only confirmed my earlier comments that he is useless against good bowlers. Great catch by Bell got rid of the only guy I reckon has the application to defy the English.

The Ashes are going north. That's my current opinion now unless a month of rain washes out the rest of the series.

That's my current opinion now unless a month of rain washes out the rest of the series.Which is certainly possible, being England! :shake:

Especially as the ECB decided to start the tour ridiculously late in the season. I managed to lose count of the number of matches England and Australia played in the run-up to the series, and going in to it, it looked like a big mistake. Australia seemed to have used the time well, acclimatising to the wickets, and coming on from being beaten by even my beloved Somerset. I really thought that the run-up would give the Australians the edge, especially when they began turning us over in the one-dayers. Lord's seem to confirm this. If England can do it now - and it's still an if with so much time remaining in the series - it'll have been against the scheduling, too, not just against the best team in the world.

I don't know about 4-1, HB, but 3-1 is possible as is 2-1 to Australia, if the rain does it's worst. I think it'll be close, because Australia aren't going to take this for long without upping their game, believe me.

Maybe this England team is just better than this Australian team?

Ah, and talking of rain . . . . .

Going well here. Bell cracks a six off Mcgrath and moves to 45.
England cranking it up now, just pasted Mcgrath in that last over.

Lead is 340. 50 more and we'll declare.

Aussies taking the p*ss with the slow over rate now, though.

Well, the end of the day, and England couldn't quite get the wicket they wanted. Vaughan came closest, though, and arguably should have had Langer lbw. But I'll assume Bucknor gave him the benefit, and let him off! ;) I like it when Vaughan bowls; he's better than you'd think, and if he gets a wicket the look on the batsman's face is usually priceless! :lol: :shake:

Looks interesting for tomorrow; will Australia go for the record or will they all be taking batting tips from Dizzy Gillespie and blocking until the England bowlers fall asleep from boredom? Will the Aussie batsmen be able to outscore the tail? Will Vaughan bowl some more? Will someone tell Gillespie to re-apply the Just For Men to stop his roots showing? :shake:

Or will Australia be saved by the rain? If not for the rain on day 3, England might already have won. The psychological shift in momentum is now almost complete. The boys in the girly lycra are so firmly in command that is hard to see how Australia can come back. It's an amazing situation that even the most die hard England fan would have struggled to believe at the start of the series. Many thought England might have a chance of winning but few thought their dominance would be so comprehensive.

England is now in a situation where all of their players have made a contribution. Each of the batsmen has now had a good score and all of the bowlers are performing.

I wonder how many games England needs to win to make it to the top of the test rankings?

Nonetheless, good to see the youngest member of the blue rinse brigade getting out for a duck. Time to go back to the Coronation Street hair salon with Hilda Ogden, Kev.

Well, this is going to end up a draw. Australia are more than capable of batting out the day, and that's not taking into account further rain delays. The likes of Langer, Martyn, Ponts even Warne and Gillespie are so hard to shift, even when they are looking for runs.
Ironic really, that the British weather that has saved our arse so many times in the past is now haunting us.

As a side note, the picture of the day must go to Brett Lee...
http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/image/216027.html

.. I believe the abbreviation is 'WTF'.

The main reason that the weather is now haunting England is that they are now the dominant team. The weather saves the team that is losing and this time around, that's Australia. I wouldn't be so sure that Australia can bat out today. They'll be under immense pressure and Vaughanetta can set attacking fields and not worry about conceding runs. If I was a betting man, my money would be on England to win if they get a whole day to play with.

If there's a full day's play, it's going to be hard to salvage a draw, let alone pull off an upset victory. I didn't think I'd be saying that Australia would be praying for rain to save them in any of the Ashes tests before this series began, but I'd be willing to acknowledge it now.

England has comprehensively outplayed Australia in this Test match. Coming from an Aussie, that's probably the greatest mark of (grudging) respect possible. The task before Australia - assuming they escape without a loss here - will be to try and wrest back the initiative from England, because at the moment it's all they can do to keep up.

I still think they have to make some changes to the team. Stick in some new guys who'll be desperate to make an impression and get rid of a few of the old heads who have forgotten what it is like to have competition for their place in the team.

A completely undeserved draw, but not at all unexpected.

Bit of an anti-climax. We out-played the best cricket side in the world for the entire match and only get a draw.

Bring on the next one I suppose, I just hope the players aren't too deflated.

Anti-climax? What an amazing series this has been. It just keeps getting better. Another match goes right down to the wire. Classic stuff! I can't remember a test series that has been this exciting.

We've all been so lucky that we've only had one day interrupted by rain but it just so happens that that day was a crucial one for England. Here's hoping we get ten fine days with which to complete the series.

Good to see both captains stepping up to the plate with the bat when their teams needed it most and defying the bowlers who had previously dominated the first two games.

I still think Australia needs to shake things up a bit and make some changes to their team, otherwise they will be staring down the barrel of a 3-1 series loss.

Brilliant. This is a test series to savour. Maybe it will go down to the last day of the last game.

Anti-climax? What match were you watching, BA? Four overs, one wicket, all it takes is one mistake or one brilliant piece of bowling. Give credit where it's due, please - England was the better team in that match, but they didn't get the job done on the last day.

Yes, England out-played us. Yes, Australia looked like they couldn't find their arses with both hands for most of the match and gave the English far too many reprieves in the field. The umpiring on the last day didn't go in our favour (the LBW decision against Martyn was a clear mistake, while the Gillespie verdict was similarly questionable) and we held on.

I'm surprised by the MOTM going to Ponting; I had Vaughan pegged for that.

Yeah, I can't wait 10 days for the next game! Start it tomorrow!

Actually, no, I'd quite like to catch up on some sleep for a while before the next game . . . .

The facts:
The series is all square with two tests to go. I for one would have taken that at the start of the Summer. Our bowlers are as dangerous as are theirs; our batting is improving with one or two always coming to the fore when needed, as is theirs (from some unusual people I'll admit).
If the rain hadn't cut the test short we would have won, of that I feel sure. Yes it's all 'ifs and buts', but we could easily have set them 500 with a day and a half to get them out. I don't think Lee & Mcgrath could survive two sessions.

The feeling:
It feels more of a loss than a draw as it's a chance missed to gain an advantage, but I guess it's similar to how they felt after Edgbaston. It's thoroughly exhausting to watch, nevermind to play in; this is definitely the greatest Test series I've ever watched. That's why I said it was an anti-climax though, because we didn't take a 2-1 lead after dominating the Aussies, 1-1 with 2 tests to go is going to be hard. Let's not forget that a draw means Australia retain the Ashes.

The future:
The next two tests are likely to be as absorbing, and difficult for both sides again. An ideal scenario would be a win for England or even a draw, as that would keep the series alive going into the Oval. An Australia victory would effectively kill the series dead, along with half the interest and banter I would suggest.

Australia now know that we are the main threat to their world crown and we aren't to be took lightly. It must be a concern to them that Magraa and Warne are both at the end of their careers with also Gillespie a spent force with the ball. If England don't regain the Ashes this summer (and they still can), then it's surely only a matter of time, as this young side of Englands will only get better and better. To think of how good they'll be in four or even two years time is quite scary for some but exciting for others. We don't need the press to build them up anymore, it's there for everyone to see and even the most sceptical can no longer deny it.

We now must have the respect of the Aussies and it's no longer a case of them just saying the right things but not believing it. That in itself is an accolade and tells us that we have made it!

Bring it on!!

I agree that the best result for the next match would be another close draw, so that the last day of the last test can be the decider.

Just through - highly riveting cricket at 2 a.m.

Finally one of our batsmen made an impact!

Quote o' the day:
Sandman: "So what are your views on the Barmy Army?"
Hayden: "They're brilliant. I just love going out there for six hours to be abused, great stuff."

Well that's wrong, Haydens out there for more like 6 minutes! :D

I wonder what changes will be made to the teams for the next test.

I'm guessing Gillespie will be replaced by Kasprowicz for Australia, but I can't see England making any changes unless injuries force their hand. The Aussie batting line-up needs work; they can't keep relying on the tail for runs. I don't know enough about their second string to make any suggestions, though. But I definitely agree with HB that it seems as though the majority can't deal with decent bowling; they've built their reputations on hammering the lesser attacks.

Not that I'm complaining, of course... :grin:

I think Australia needs to change at least one of their batsmen as well. Hayden or Martyn, although I see that Martyn is still rated one of the top 12 batsmen in the world according to the latest PWC ratings.

I remember Martyn doing spectacularly well upon re-introduction into the test side a few years ago (his first spell was decidedly lacklustre) and scoring at an average of ~80. He looked almost invincible then, but has been very average so far this series. If Australia can find someone who's determined to hang around and anchor the innings, we could be in for a very tough time at Trent Bridge and the Oval.

Of course, Harmison hasn't really been in top form so far this series, so if he clicks, the Aussies could still struggle. It's all in the balance, as they say... Which makes for a great spectacle. Even my housemate - who has always made a point of saying how much he despises cricket and how it's not even a proper sport - has been gripped. And that can only be good, at the very least to give an alternative to the tedious wall-to-wall football coverage.

Have you seen the World XI sides to play Australia later this year? Most, most impressive. However, it's a shame that Inzamam-ul-Haq hasn't made either of the sides. Also, Boucher keeping wicket for the test side doesn't imspire confidence, I would probably have gone for Sangakkara...

World XI Test squad Graeme Smith (capt), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (vc), Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Steve Harmison, Shoaib Akhtar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori.

World XI ODI squad Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar (vc), Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Kevin Pietersen, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori.

No idea how Dan Vettori made the squad. Although he did just break the record for the fastest test century by a New Zealander, he's hardly the world's third best spinner, surely.

Almost time for the 4th test!

NZ smacked 397 from 44 overs against Zimbabwe today...

They are off!

Just checked the 5day forecast and it seems the weather will hold ok too.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. :) Even the wife is starting to warm to cricket now....

Finally Gillespi has been rested, imho he needs to rest up, get fit and train up. At least he was swaped for another South Australian (GO TAITS!). And he's got two wickets already.

And Ponting has his first wicket in six years!!!!! CAIRN PONTS!

[ August 26, 2005, 10:17: Message edited by: Stu ]

Don't you worry - I'm sure Vaughan will return the favour at some point... ph34r his off-spin sk1||z! :lol: :shake:

In a serious note, hopefully Freddy and Geraint can knock off a few before getting to the tail, to set a reasonable total. The track seems like a good batting wicket, so it's criminal no-one from the top order managed to get on to a century after getting good starts. Of course, Strauss was unlucky, and Tresco got a beauty, but Bell was being over-cautious. Hell, even Boycott was saying so! You know you've got problems then.

Still, unless something dramatic happens down the tail it seems to be advantage: Australia so far. Hopefully Harmison will get into them their innings and keep us in good touch for the 2nd. It could well be shaping up to be a close one, this...

Cough, cough. 278 must seem a long way away at the moment (30 for 3) :D :D :D

Looking forward to the weekend!

99 for 5 and I'm feeling fiiine...

Fully in control here. Although a dodgy LBW decision on Martyn again, he's been a bit unlucky this series.

New Zealand just smashed India last night as well. Go Shane Bond!

Oh yeah, the Ashes. The Ashes aren't as exciting any more because there's only one team in it. England should clean up 3-1 now. They'd have to completely butcher things or fall victim to their own weather for them to not romp away with the Ashes now. Australia did not heed my advice to drop one of their batsmen and yet again we see that they do not deserve the faith the selectors have put in them. It's ironic that Australia's status as the best team in the world is being shattered immediately before the big World XI series. It takes much of the appeal away from that series if Australia are going to be no good.

As a neutral observer, I liked it better when it was nice and close.

It's deadly to write the Aussies off or underestimate them, Gaz... Although I'd like to think we are red hot favourites now (weather permitting). And you will forgive me for saying it feels pretty good to be on top against these guys.
Are we witnessing a new cricket super-power assuming the thrown?

I really wish I was in a better state of mind to revel in this as much as I normally would (get the violins out...).

Well, definitely a test cricket superpower, given your incredible win/draw/loss ratio over the last year or so. But for some reason you don't have anything like as a one day record in recent years, although there's no reason why it shouldn't get much better. Even NZ have a better one day record than England (we were number two in the world for a few weeks earlier this year).

And I hardly think I'm underestimating the Australians. More like I've been over-estimating them given that they seem to be getting worse (or England is getting better - the result is the same).

I love this quote from Gilchrist::


“In my Test career I haven’t come across a better attack than England’s, the way they are hunting as a pack."

I wish England's underwear models would hurry up and finish this game off so I can go to bed. This is nowhere near as exciting as the last three games.

[ August 28, 2005, 16:18: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

Underwear models? lol?

Oh. My. God. :eek:

Why do they do this to us? I've just got upstairs and wiped the finger-smears off my glasses, where I was hiding my head in my hands for passages of play as wickets were falling like Manchester rain.

But thank God for Matthew Hoggard. Bless 'im, he might look like he should be driving a tractor not playing professional sport, but that was an innings of such composure under extreme pressure (and a spanking 4 through extra cover) that it belied his status batting #9, especially when you consider some of the daft shots the batsmen played. Vaughan, Bell and Jones take note!

Well, after that pseudo-rant:
2-1 in the Ashes, baby! I don't think I've seen a test series where we've led the Aussies...
:banana: :grin: :banana: :grin: :banana: :grin: :banana:

Yessss!

Get in there, well done Hoggy and Giles. Kept their heads when others lost theirs (Pieterson/Jones inparticular) just what we needed at the start it was good to see some common sense from the batsmen.

2-1, great stuff.

Great. Well done to the underwear boys for making it exciting AFTER I went to bed. I wrote the game off after Tait got out but I ended up missing the best part.

Oh well, I guess the result was never really in doubt. Not sure what Australia will do in the last game but I'm sure they need to try something different. They can't rely on Shane Warne to save the day (with bat and ball) and expect to come close to competing with England.

England fans must be especially pleased that they have managed to play so well and retain the same team for the whole series. In days gone by, England would be on to their 20th player by the time they got to the fourth test. But this team has had no injuries and no obvious weaknesses (other than the captain's dress-sense) so no team changes have been required.

3-1 series clean-up coming up.

I don't get the underwear thing, Gaz!

My, England don't half like to make me sweat, why don't we ever win the easy way? The bowling from Lee and Warne was very good though.

Australia today though I think showed why they have been such great champions for so many years. Such a great spirit.

Ponting and Kadditch didn't need to kick off like they did though. Especially Ponts, he let himself down a bit yesterday.

The only explanation that I can come up with for the ridiculous outfits worn by the likes of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen is that they have become sponsors for a new range of skin tight underwear. Why else would they show off their long sleeved lycra bodysuits under a short sleeved shirt? Why not go all the way and wear their Speedos outside their trousers and pretend to be Superman?

They're the all new muscle-warmer things! Also stop the guys from ripping their elbows to bits when they are diving for stops and catches. Everyone'll be catching on soon ad they'll become the norm. Where we go, others follow.

Vaughany swears by 'em!

... but yeah, they look like pricks.

Why don't they just wear long sleeved shirts like Geraint Jones does? He has to dive all over the place but you don't see him dressed up like some sort of gymnastics instructor.

And clearly, they do NOTHING to help with your catching skills, as Kevin Pietersen has aptly demonstrated.

Oh well, here's hoping for a close finish to Game 5 (maybe England having to bat all day to salvage a draw, 9 down with 5 overs to go or something, with Warne and McGrath bowling)

England's got one hand on the Ashes, and I sincerely doubt that Australia will stop them. Knowing that you only need a draw always brings out the worst in teams; hopefully England proves me wrong here (and tells Botham to jam his anti-competitive advice somewhere appropriate, the git).

The thing that strikes me the most about this series is that, although Australia has performed appallingly and are being outplayed by England, the two matches England has won have hardly been drubbings (2 runs and 3 wickets, respectively). The one Test they did dominate was rain-affected and was drawn, while the first Test was one-way traffic for Australia.

This last Test will be interesting. Irrespective of the result, it's been the most engaging Ashes series in twenty years, and it's dealt a fatal blow to the myth of Australian invincibility. About time, I suppose. We've had some shonky umpiring trip us up, but if we were really that good/that much better than England, it wouldn't matter. Generational change is due for the Aussies, and while it'll be sad to see players of McGrath and Warne's calibre going, they can't hold the team together forever.

I'm with HB on the wish list, although frankly, I'd prefer to see Australia decimate England in the last Test. But hey, I never said I was impartial...

I'd like to talk a bit about respect.

Im pretty sure the Aussies thought that Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard would have been the weak link in the bowling attack, maybe NonSequitur could clarify this?

Anywho I've always had alot of respect for Warne in a talent an spoting sense, many people don't like him, but he's earned alot more respect for just that one moment, when he congratulated Freddie in the 2nd test.

Brett Lee has proved a brilliant sportsman and along with Warne has been a total credit to Australia, I hope he doesn't do something to ruin what he has built up over the tour.

However, Ponting has gone way down in my estimation, sure alot can be said in the heat of the moment, but he has gone too far on a few occasions.

The fact that we are going into the 5th test an in a situation where we can not lose the series; that's earne the team more respect. Now we just have to travel to India and Pakistan to prove we are the worlds best.

I have to say it's pleasing to have shut Magraa up. It's gone from a 0-5 whitewash to moaning about subs an trying to salvage a draw. Yum yum.

It's been the most engaging test series from any teams for years. And much more credit is due to England this time than the last time they won the Ashes because that Australian team from the mid 1980s was pretty useless compared to this one (Andrew Hilditch, Dirk Wellham, Dave Gilbert, Tim Zoehrer - not really in the same league as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, and Adam Gilchrist)

My main regret is that Australia's decline really takes the gloss off the upcoming Super Series because now we know that the Rest of the World test team won't be taking on the best test team in the world so should clean up easily. Anything could happen in the one day series though.

Ashes averages with one test to play...

England:

Batting:

Marcus Trescothick 355runs@ ave 44.37
Kevin Pieterson 301@ 43.00
Freddie Flintoff 322 @ 40.25
Michael Vaughan 270 @ 33.75
Simon Jones 66 @ 33.00
Andrew Strauss 263 @ 32.87
Gerraint Jones 203 @ 29.00
Ian Bell 171 @ 21.37
Ashley Giles 64 @ 10.66
Steve Harmison 40 @ 8.00
Matthew Hoggard 39 @ 6.50

Bowling:

Simon Jones 18 wickets @ 21.00 runs a wicket
Steve Harmison 16 @ 28.87
Freddie Flintoff 19 @ 30.36
Matthew Hoggard 12 @ 31.23
Ashley Giles 10 @ 50.20

Austalia

Batting:

Ricky Ponting 324 @ 40.50
Michael Clarke 310 @ 38.75
Justin Langer 289 @ 36.12
Shane Warne 249 @ 31.12
Simon Katich 247 @ 30.87
Brett Lee 152 @ 30.40
Adam Gilchrist 158 @ 22.57
Matthew Hayden 180 @ 22.50
Damien Martyn 168 @ 21.00
Michael Kasprowicz 44 @ 11.00
Jason Gillespie 47 @ 7.83
Shaun Tait 7 @ 7
Glenn McGrath 36 @ ----- *Not been out so doesn't have an average yet*

Bowling:

Ricky Ponting 1 @ 9.00
Shane Warne 28 @ 19.67
Glenn McGrath 14 @ 20.21
Brett Lee 19 @ 33.68
Simon Katich 1 @ 36.00
Shaun Tait 3 @ 44.33
Michael Kasprowicz 4 @ 62.50
Jason Gillespie 3 @ 100.00

Make of this what you will.

----

This made me laugh as well... http://www.1889internet.co.uk/blog/mov01718.mpg
Well funny!

[ August 30, 2005, 22:19: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

"Make of this what you will."

It's time we dropped Bell.

Nah, don't worry about Belly. He's one of the best fielders we have and his batting is improving. He's been a little unlucky, but he's working on softening his hands up. That's been his problem, he's being going at the ball with hard hands and getting edges. He'll be alright. He's our very own Jonty Rhodes! Great fielder at silly point, especially.

Bring back Gladstone Small!

It looks like Simon Jones might not be fit for the 5th test. This is a massive blow as he's probably been our best bowler of the series.
Because of this, there's a lot of speculation here about how will replace him. Chris Tremlett? The most promising youbng bowler on the county scene? Paul Collingwood? An extra competant batsman and a decentish bowler? Or, The Dazzler!! Darren Gough in one last final hoohah so end his career!
Give the Dazzler the nod I say. We have a great chance of winning the Ashes this year and if there's ever been one England player who deserved it but never got it, it's the Dazzler. Also, the Brucies are going to come at us like madmen, and he's one player that everyone knows will battle and not buckle.

I'd love to see him win the Ashes. But I'd love even more to see Simon Jones fit and playing! :lol:

PS - Jesus, how do you remember Gladstone Small? What a loser he was.

[ August 31, 2005, 23:53: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

NZ beat Zimbabwe again last night but if I was Zimbabwe, I'd be a bit unhappy with that silly substitutes rule. They got ripped off because they chose a bowler as a sub, then lost the toss and had to bowl first. So their sub was wasted. It wasn't down to strategy but just bad luck on their part which gives an unfair advantage to the team that wins the toss. The sooner they get rid of that rule, the better.

I moaned about that as soon as it got brought in. It'd be a decent idea IF the captain could choose the sub after the toss has been made, instead of before.

Jee. I cna't say that retaining the ashes on a draw sounds particually pleasing, if there is a draw that is.

I must say that it is a bit worrying that our fourth best batsman is a bowler and our most economic bowler is a batsman.

Two of your best batsmen have been bowlers. Warne and Lee have saved the day with the bat more than once in this series.

Barmy, what happened to Ricky Clarke? Wasn't he going to be the next Ian Botham / Dermot Reeve? Why isn't he in the team?

Harbs, I believe it was discussed in great length with the selectors and it was decided that he was far too ugly to represent to England cricket side.

Seriously though, I think you'll see Rikki Clarke in the England side in a few years time. Don't forget he's still only a kid. He was given his chance perhaps a little too early I think, as he failed to impress in his ODI's for England when he was called up for winning the Wisdens young cricketer award (averaged somewhere around 10 with the bat with like, 20 games and only took 10 wickets...). If someone doesn't pull their weight in the England side these days, they get cut loose.

He's in good company in the Surrey side though, so fingers crossed he can come good in a few years. There's just no spots for him right now.

I'll tell you who to keep an eye out for though; Alastair Cook. The kid is fantastic. He's only 19 and already averages 42+ with the bat. Remember the name and remember who told you! :D

Alistair Cook? Wasn't he the old guy in the jacket and pipe?

Also, what happened to that Indian kid who was supposed to be the next great England batsman a few years ago? Never heard anything more about him and I've forgotten his name.

Don't know who you mean on the Indian kid.

Alastair Cook averaged 55.27 last season in first class cricket and has a career average of 42 and he's just touching 20! Big future ahead of him.

It wasn't Aftab Habib, but someone younger than him. He was scoring big 100s as a teenager.

You aren't talking about Azhar Mahmood are you... ?

No, he was an English resident so was all primed up to play for England. I remember him being big enough to make the sports news in New Zealand but then nothing ever seemed to come of him.

Also, what happened to that Indian kid who was supposed to be the next great England batsman a few years ago? Perhaps it's Owais Shah your thinking of HB? But He is of Pakistani descent though ...

Alastair Cook scored 214 from 238 balls against Australia yesterday :) . What a talent

Or alternatively he might be a flat-track bully like Graeme Hick, and, um, Matthew Hayden......

Well, I don't know mate. Any 20 year old who can slap the likes of Lee, Kasprovicz, Tait, MacGill and (dare I say it at the moment...) Gillespie is someone worth keeping an out out for, I reckon.

He averaged 55 in last years county season so I don't think he just relies on flat-tracks. A lot of the grounds in England are anything but flat.

Keep an eye out for him, anyway :) .

Back to the Ashes - Heres to hoping Jonah is fit! :beer:
I can't believe that the selectors have chosen Jimmy bloody Anderson again. They may as well have gone for one of the old guard like Andy Caddick or Dazzler Gough!
I'm a better bowler than Jimmy Anderson! :lol:

Jonah? He's out for the rest of the season. Typical that as soon as he signed for North Harbour he got injured. I hope we're making the most out of him for publicity purposes.

But he'll never play for the All Blacks again so don't expect to see him on the Grand Slam tour or anything.

Meanwhile, James Anderson qualifies for the England team on the basis of his appalling fashion / hair sense. He'll fit right in.

Also, after the success of Kevin Pietersen, New Zealand have recruited some promising young South African all-rounder who has decided to come live here and will be eligible for the Black Caps next year. Yay, maybe he'll be the next Jacques Kallis.

Jonah... Simon Jones's nickname ;) .

What a crappy nickname. No worse than "Freddie" Flintoff, I suppose.

Freddie Flintstone :D .

I don't think the English team are so hot when handing out nicknames. It's a job good we do the biz on the cricket pitch, eh? ;)

http://www.fredsociety.com/fat.html

I knew the Flintstone link, but for some reason this is the one that always comes to mind instead.

I got tickets for the Oval on Friday!!!!

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

I just hope the rain holds off... :mommy:

Of course, if it buckets down for the other 4 days we're laughing!

Man, I'm so totally pumped...

You jammy bar steward, Magpie!
Me and my mates tried to get tickets months ago and were told that they were sold out for all 5 tests...!

When did you order them, out of interest?

New Zealand beat India again in the final of the tri-series in Zimbabwe with a brilliant chase of a challenging 277 run target. Shane Bond was man of the series (so glad that we have a good pace bowler again!). That puts NZ back into 3rd place on the world one day rankings. Go NZ.

No we're not laughing if it rains the other 4 days I have tickets for Monday bought in March!!

Jammy is the word, BA... A friend's mum won them in a newspaper competition, and isn't able to go on account of being on holiday. As said friend is also on holiday, and she felt guilty about selling them on on ebay (apparently, the only people bidding were touts :rolleyes: ) she kindly passed them on to us. Me and my flatmate are debating the best way to say "thank you"... personally, I see flowers as the best option, but it may depend on how the day goes for England! :grin:

Nice friend's you've got there mate! I wish I had friends who'd give me free Ashes tickets :lol: .

And nice one DarkStrider - I reckon I'm the only one not going :lol: .

Hope we can close this series out :thumb: .

HB- I saw that, that's a good result for NZ, even though Tendulkar is out (I think?) India still have a team brimming with quality. How did Vettori do?

Vettori was the one who stopped India in their tracks when they were 150-1 after 26 overs and heading for 300+. He ended up with 2-35. The Indian batting line up still had Sehwag, Ganguly, Dravid, Kaif, and Yuvraj so was no bunch of mugs.

It had better not bloody rain for this last Ashes test! I want to see a close game!

But I see that England have already booked Trafalgar Square for their victory parade so they must have seen that rain might ruin the climax to this fantastic series.

Barmy, I really think you should revise your opinion of Bell. He's crap - that Duck brings his average down to 19.

According to the BBC weather website, It's supposed to pee it down in London tomorrow with Storms on Saturday. Err.. only not in Kennington.

He's struggling a little bit lately, I'll admit.
But let's not forget the 'greats' Damien Martyn, Matty Hayden and Adam Wingnuts only have averages of around the 20 mark. His catching is brilliant though (unlike Big Kev who's dropped all his catches this series). I still think he has all the shots to make a top class batsman who'll average 40+ given time. I say persevere(sp?) with him a bit more and if he still struggles for runs in the next series we play, make his position available. Maybe Collingwood would be good? Although his 7 today didn't exactly send great messages and he'll never be a no.4. No, stick with Bell for a bit, he'll come good. Have faith ;) .

Not a brilliant day for England today, but it could have been much worse. We've got to expect Aus to come at us like crazy. They need to win. It'll be interesting to see how we bowl on this wicket without Simon Jones, who has been our best bowler so far this series. I'm a little worried. Bring on the rain.

I reckon England have done enough today to secure the Ashes at last. Australia really need to roll England for 200 and start batting to have any chance, given the impending rain and the fact that the Aussie batting has been rubbish so far this series.

How useless would Australia have been without Shane Warne? He has been their one and only consistent performer in this series, with Ponting, Lee, and McGrath being only good in patches.

Get rid of Bell, I say. You must be able to find another batsman, surely.

Also, good to see that the England boys don’t wear their underwear suits while batting.

Not sure what anyone else did to deserve a mention really. It was the Warnie show from start to finish. He showed yet again what a class act he is, but i'm sure the Aussie management, and indeed Warne himself, will be wondering when someone else is going to step up. I thought the rest of the bowling was average today, and Ponting's field positions were overly negative. Warne was playing us on his own, and luckily for the rest of the team, he did a very good job of it again.

He's said he is determined to never lose an Ashes series but I suspect even his efforts will not be enough this time.

The following was just published in my local paper this morning concerning the first four tests:


Australia has made 2439 runs England has made 2254 runs Australia has lost 79 wickets at an average of 30.87 runs England has lost 73 wickets at an average of 30.87 runs England has scored at 3.96 runs per over Australia has scored at 3.72 runs per over
Anyway although the the Aussie batting line is not up to its regular standard, it is far than hopeless and have scored more runs this series than england this series so far - just not in the right places.

Also in my paper today it reported that Warne trigged the security alarm when exiting an up-market English store. It turned out that a rouge anti-theft device was floating around in the bag in which his purchases were in.

Anyway, how nice was Pietersons dissmissal! - it must have drifted two feet before spinning back in line to his mid stump.

It was a good ball, but hopefully that'll teach Kev for playing across his line. He's TOO aggressive sometimes.
I was disappointed with his, Vaughan's abd Bells dismissals.

I hope we can reach 350 today, then I hope to God that the ball moves about for Freddie, Hoggy and Harmy, otherwise we are in for a looong day...

Worried!

I'm confused. Knowing they need to win this match, why have the Australians taken the light and stopped play? Can't complain tho