Ashes - 1st test

[LCFCmonkey]

If he carries on this well, Swann could well be on his way to 100.

 

[LCFCmonkey]

Anderson Down...

423-9

 

[LCFCmonkey]

Monty to be gone around 450, I reckon.

 

[homer]

Monty to be gone around 4.50, I reckon.

More like 12.05.......

 

[enderby fox]

More like 12.05.......

monty to see the over out and swann to go on the smack then.

 

[Singth]

monty to see the over out and swann to go on the smack then.

If we can squeeze another dozen runs out of them I'll be happy with that :icon_bigg

 

[glyn]

Great stuff this morning.How many times did they do this to us in the past?

 

[LCFCmonkey]

435. Very respectable total.

 

[CM]

Another 100 this morning, great stuff.

It was turning square at times too! Very encouraging for us with two spinners.

The game is now in our favour but theres still a long way to go. Australia will have to bat well in this first innings though.

 

[Biff]

Freddie strikes..............60-1

 

[Willlow]

101-1

England were 93-3 so Aussies are doing slightly better

 

[Willlow]

196 - 1 we arent even creating any chances

 

[glyn]

196 - 1 we arent even creating any chances

This game really drifting....I'm going tomorrow and am worrying I will just be watching the Aussies accumulate 550+ :icon_roll

 

[BOB HAZELL]

I find it worrying why their spinner managed to get some good life off the pitch this morning, yet when it came to our turn, we couldn't get anything to happen.

 

[Brauny Blue]

Oh dear oh dear.

I expected much better from our bowlers, and rather worringly towards the end they looked a disconsolate bunch that didnt know where the next wkt was coming from.

The test is only 2 days old, and yet i fear that we will need a near washout on Saturday to save the game.

Come on you bowlers, pick your game up.

 

[MKFox]

I'm going tomorrow and am worrying I will just be watching the Aussies accumulate 550+

before they lose their next wicket?

 

[CM]

That was such a boring final two sessions, I must admit I found it hard to keep interested. I flicked through the channels and kept coming back to find that I hadn't missed a thing.

First of all, credit to Ponting and Katich. They accumilated their runs smartly and assuredly. They were never troubled. There was never any doubt of them giving their wicket away. They're the type of batsmen we are crying out for really, you feel that English batsmen will always give the opposition a chance with airy fairy shots every now and then. Katich and Ponting have the mentality that bowlers have to get them out.

Our bowlers just weren't up to that today. I have some sympathy in that there was no swing, compared to what Hilfenhaus was doing the previous day. I thought we wasted the new ball though bowling too short and wide to Hughes and its like we had turned all our attention to him, and just forgotten about trying to get Katich out.

Flintoff bowled well but will be used sparingly throughout the series so we can't expect too much. Then the spinners although bowled good lines, dissappontingly got nowhere near the amount of turn that Hauritz got in the morning?! If Hauritz can rip it that much in the second innings, then well, he could be a surprise match winner!

I wasn't that surprised that Broad and Anderson went around the park a bit. In all seriousness, what have they achieved in their test careers? A few months ago we couldn't bowl anyone out, then we got a few cheap wins against the WI and our bowling attack became world beaters? Hopefully its a lesson learnt, we need to put more pressure on them and stop leaking so many runs.

Finally, the good news is that we're still 186 runs ahead and we get to start again tomorrow. Nip one our quickly and then we get the new ball, and well it could be a different game tomorrow.

I still think we're in a strong position in terms of not losing the test. If Australia bat well then they might be 150 runs ahead tomorrow evening. Then there will be two further days to bowl us out and knock over any lead we might have. It would be tight, especially with bad weather predicted over the weekend.

 

[Redditch Fox]

The view is getting clearer as the two teams move towards completing their first test innings.

Just on the subject of England's pace bowlers - the averages of Broad and to a lesser extent Anderson, don't suggest that that they will be necessarily match winners at this level although Anderson seems to have improved considerably over the last year or so.

Irrespective of whether this match becomes rain affected, I would have thought that there may well be changes in that department (plus one of the spinners will be left out) for the Lords Test - I've always thought that Harmison would come into play at some point and Ryan Sidebottam too, if proven fit, he does offer left arm variation and his Test bowling average is excellent.

 

[Willlow]

I dont know a couple of bad sessions and people can wait to start pointing fingers and acting as if we have already lost.

Its a batting pitch and the only reason the Aussies bowled us out is because we gave half our wickets away.

The game isnt over yet!!!

 

[Redditch Fox]

I dont know a couple of bad sessions and people can wait to start pointing fingers and acting as if we have already lost.

Its a batting pitch and the only reason the Aussies bowled us out is because we gave half our wickets away.

The game isnt over yet!!!

I don't think that is the issue.

It's more about the hype and OTT claims that are made on both sides before Ashes series and the clearer perspective that starts to emerge once the play actually starts.

My takes are that this is far from a vintage Aussie touring squad, but on the otherhand England have just emerged with slightly inflated expectations from a winning series against a sad and unmotivated W Indies side.

I think one of the main beneficiaries from Cardiff will be Harmison who was in the event fortunate not to be picked to play on a slow unrewarding wicket. My guess is that the wicket will get easier as the match goes on and this together with some rain stoppages will result in a draw.

At which point, the selectors will have to decide whether Broad (who Ithink is fairly easy runs against the top batters) is worth a place as effectively a bowling all rounder and Harmison should come in for Panesar. I think both answers will be 'yes' at this stage in the series.

But cricket is a funny game and Monty or Broad or both may suddenly skittle them - but I doubt it.