I just saw that Katich got a diamond duck. Ouch.
I just saw that Katich got a diamond duck. Ouch.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I was wondering what a 0-ball duck was called. Thanks CIAS!
And England add another 300-odd for the loss of two wickets - Strauss straight away with an unwise and unnecessary leave, and then Trott 47 overs later, and after that nothing, with Cook and Pietersen in ominous form. Australia are likely to be facing a long uphill slog in their second innings, hopefully with more and more in the wicket for Swann as the hours go by.
Australia's team of old crocks is falling apart under the pressure. Katich limps off....
Shame about the rain, or England would have been near 700 by the close. They could still do it, but if I were Strauss I'd like another hour tomorrow morning to put on some quick runs and then rip into the Australian batting for half a session before lunch and then carry on with the bowlers refreshed. Weather may be a nuisance again though.
Originally posted by Sir Richard ffoulkes
http://www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/adelaide.shtmlForecast for Monday
Cloudy with a shower or two and the chance of a thunderstorm. Light to moderate
northeast winds and a light northwest to southwest afternoon sea breeze.
Tuesday Showers. Afternoon thunderstorm. Min 20 Max 29
Wednesday Showers clearing. Min 16 Max 25
Still plenty of time for England. The rain might clear early.
Well, the big talking point is going to be should Strauss have declared at the start of play or was he right to let them add a few more runs.
I will be honest in thinking that he should have declared but adding a quickfire 69 runs in ten overs is probably a good idea leaving the Aussies 5 1/2 sessions (barring rain) to bat out.
At the end of the day, the Aussies have shown much more application in their batting but with Pietersen taking a wicket with the last ball of the day, the new ball available first thing tomorrow morning and Swann beginning to get some turn, I think England should win this one.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Yes, I see Strauss took my advice. You would still fancy England to win this barring either a batting miracle or a lot of playing time lost to rain, but either of those or some combination of the two is perfectly possible, so no chickens counted here. And 620 looks a much more daunting total than 551, especially since there was still plenty of batting left at the declaration.
It was good advice. Always make the other team walk out and field for a while before declaring.
In a way, Australia need this. They've been too cocky for too long, and a bit of humility will do them good.
Ah, what do you all think about the referral system? There's been talk that maybe the 3rd umpire should intervene off his own bat, instead of leaving it up to the players. The idea was to reverse truly horrible decisions, and the players are not using the system the way it was intended. It's being used for calls that could really go either way, so I'm starting to think it would be better to leave it to the umpires descretion. What say you?
You'll get no argument from me.
The Aussies have been using the absence of Lee, Warne, McGrath & Co. as an excuse to suck. The Poms countered this by saying they'd lost Flintoff, Trescothick, Harmison, et al. but didn't ist around sucking their thumb. They just figured out why they sucked and rectified it. \o/
Poor Ryan Harris gets the unwanted distinction of being only the second Australian to register a king pair, Australia lose their last six in twenty overs, and the margin is just about an innings and what England added on the fourth day. Only downside for us is the loss of Broad for the series, so the performance of our second-string attack against Australia A is a large comfort. Shahzad or Bresnan, I wonder?
Good play by England, they got it right pretty much through the entire test match.
Nice to see Swann get 5 and being 1-0 up is a big boost as Australia have to win two of them to get the Ashes back and at this moment in time, you just can't see it happening.
Then again, it's cricket, you never know.
Injuries for both sides to deal with, Broad with a sidestrain and Katich with his achilles. The three backup bowlers will be playing in the 'A' match next week, so consider it a bowl off. I would guess Katich will be replaced by Hughes, but if he hasn't sorted out his short ball problems, it will not be a great swap.
Thinking about it, Australia really need to sort the batting more than the bowling, because Hussey and Haddin aside, they have never given their bowlers enough of a score to be comfortable.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I haven't seen anything from Shahzad, but Bresnan looks the goods, for sure. But really, they could get random Brits off the street to bowl, and still win the Ashes.
It's quite wierd actually having three backup bowlers, each of whom could fit right in to the first XI without too much problem. It used to be England who had about 8 good players, some not bad players and no backup for when things went wrong.
Also, the amusing story doing the rounds is that Warne could be offered a place, but he has said he will only come back if he gets to be captain. I think Ponting might have a few words to say about that.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Yeah, the Warne thing is all airy-fairy nonsense, I think. There's also talk of nagging Brett Lee out of retirement, and of selecting Brad Hodge. There's already enough talent in the Aussie side - they just need to stop playing like a bunch of girls.
I think a few of the sheilas might get offended by that last statement. If they were playing like a bunch of aussie girls, they might not be 1-0 down
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
By 'girls', I meant, say, 5 year old girls. Playing elite sport against grown men. Nuthin' against the ladies.I think a few of the sheilas might get offended by that last statement. If they were playing like a bunch of aussie girls, they might not be 1-0 down
Looks like the changes have been done. North has gone south with Doherty and Bollinger axed as well. Doherty because he was out of his depth and Bollinger because he kept making marks for Swann to bowl in.
Hughes is in for Katich, Hilfenhaus and Johnson are back in, Steve Smith is in and local boy Michael Beer is included for the first time. That's local as in he has played there for the last few months.
Chances are Haddin will move to six, and the Aussies get four fast bowlers and an allrounder for Perth.
Then again they backup England had a hard day in the field as Victoria is giveing them a good run for their money.
I wonder if the Aussies are hoping that Anderson doesn't make it back in time for the Third test.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
So with the waiting game being played until the third test starts, the wierdest news out is not Michael Beer being in the squad, it's the getting together of Shane Warne and Liz Hurley as an item.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Oh, Liz. I used to have such a crush on you.
So, only a few hours to go until the Thrid test starts and there are still some unanswered questions.
Will the pitch be as bouncy as it used to be
Will Australia start with four quicks or include Beer at the expense of one of them
Who will replace Stuart Broad for England, it's expected to be Tremlett, but some seem to think that Bresnan will be the one.
And if England win this one, will Ponting retire?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
So third test underway with Tremlett being the new bowler and he gets to make a fairly immediate impact.
I think Strauss will be happy with how it went, it's a brave decision to bowl first seeing as most sides should make 350-400 on this pitch. But with Australia 268a.o. on Day 1, with most of the runs coming from the lower order, it's another excellent bowling performance from England. The top four all failed again today and when Mitchell Johnson is your top scorer you know you have a batting problem.
However, it seems the pitch has flattened out and should become another batting strip for a couple of days.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Hmm, 29-0 at close of play. Could be a long couple of days for the Aussies based off the last couple of tests.
Some excellent catches in the field though from Collingwood and Swann. It could well be the difference between winning and losing this match.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
The Australian side is dead to me.
Well, that's put some life into the next test.
Well that Perth match was a real wake up call for the English. 2 capitulations and Mitchell Johnson getting his mojo back.
Congrats to the Aussies and someone really needs to work out how to dismiss Hussey cheaply. In some ways it's a good thing, although I would love to see the Aussies lose all of them and be ground into the dust, it will make for a better test series to watch.
I do wish there were more 5 match series, but it seems that the ICC wants to limit them in favour of ODI and 20-20 matches. Most of them are now 3 tests long instead. I can understand having it as a three test series between mismatched teams India vs Bangladesh would be a good example, but I think the current series in South Africa between the top two teams would benefit from begin five tests long.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Agreed - the ebb and flow of a 5-test series gives cricket something unique - a genuinely epic struggle, with room for all players to shine - and fail. Not that I'm not gutted that we're not in to dead-rubbers already, but the fact that is going to be live possibly until the last day in Sydney gives it a drama that's hard to match.
Still a bit disappointing to see that Englishbattingcollapse remains one word. It's not the conditions, it's the mentality.
amrussell on SDMB
And so on to Melbourne and the MCG. Looks like the pitch is not going to be as bouncy as Perth and probably a bit flat, so a good batting track for all. Possibly a bit of green on the first morning for the bowlers but beyond that a good batting track.
Looks like Bresnan is coming in for Finn, who despite being the top wicket taker for England, gives away just too many runs for England's attack to function well. Collingwood will still be at five, with Bell at six, but here's hoping we don't have another collapse.
Australia look unchanged with Ponting looking to have recovered from a broken finger and will be going for four seamers again. Apparently Johnson will not get the same kind of swing as he did at Perth, so he may not be as effective, but he is still a top class bowler.
Should be a terrific match.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Thank you, Santa. Australia all out 98, England 157-0 by the close. Ideally we'll bat for two more days less an hour and leave Australia wanting five hundred to make England bat again.
ThisThank you, Santa. Australia all out 98, England 157-0 by the close. Ideally we'll bat for two more days less an hour and leave Australia wanting five hundred to make England bat again.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
On schedule. An early wobble with both openers gone in the first half-hour, but then the ship steadied and by the close England not quite 350 ahead with Trott and Prior in fine fettle and Swann still to come. Bresnan's got a Test 90 to his credit too as well as three first-class hundreds. Meanwhile Ponting loses his cool, his match fee (probably), the series, the captaincy and possibly his place in roughly that order.
Last edited by Sir Richard ffoulkes; 27 Dec 2010 at 03:39 AM.
First time in a long time the top four all got passed 50. You can see Ponting losing his grip slowly and given how long he has been in the game it is a sad sight. If he doesn't regain the Ashes, I can't see him lasting beyond the last game. It's strange to see how poor the Aussies are playing though, they seem hooked up in 20-20 or ODI mode and cannot construct an innings over time.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Australia six down second dig, still 240-odd behind, and Harris unlikely to bat. Safe to say the Ashes are coming home.
Well, I would be very surprised if we did not win the match. It should be all over by lunchtime, but lets count chickens after they are all out. Shame about Harris getting a stress fracture, I wonder who will replace him at Sydney.
I wonder if we will get a demo of "The Sprinkler" at the end of the match if we win it.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
On another note, Trott's average is looking rather good. Second only to the Don, which is quite an achievement
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
♪ GOD SAVE OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN... ♪
Last edited by Trojan Man; 29 Dec 2010 at 01:11 AM.
Another innings defeat for the Aussies in their own backyard at the MCG. Well played England and we got the sprinkler dance as well.
On to Sydney for the last test , which England will be looking to win to make it official. Retaining the Ashes is one thing, winning the series outright is the next goal.
Australia really have two options. Keep the same kind of players and start rebuilding after the Series or throw some youngsters in now to get them started. I'm sure Ponting will want one last chance to get his 100th Test Win as a captain, though.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
A spirited thrash by Haddin and Siddle, but it was never going to save Australia. Going down by an innings twice in a home series is unheard of. And yes, let's see the job finished properly - no reason to settle for retaining the Ashes in a drawn series when a good hiding is there for the handing out.
Ponting and Smith need to be dropped ASAP, and Johnson needs to be removed until he fixes his action properly. The rest of the team need a rocket up 'em. Very, very disappointing. England played very well throughout the series, and kudos to them, but the Aussie string-pullers need to stop selecting by politics and just pick the best players.
I can think of only three players in the Aussie side who really deserve to be there, Hussey, Haddin and Siddle. The problem with getting rid of Ponting though, is who becomes captain, because on form you could not give it to Clarke. I would give it to Haddin in the interim.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Sounds sensible, Catsuitman. It'll be interesting to see how Khawaja goes. I also hope the Poms gives Panesar and the other left-out one a go. Might as well...
I think we may have seen the ending of Ponting's Test Career. He will miss the Sydney test with that broken finger, with Khawaja the replacement. Clarke has been made captain with Haddin as vc.
Considering that the Aussies are not playing another test for several months, that could be the end of a great player and probably not in the way he wanted to go.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Yeah, a sad way to go out, for such a great player. I reckon Clarke will rise in his new role as Captain.
Interesting first day, but I think England edged it. Khawaja still looked better than the other three walking wickets and tomorrow will begin once again with Hussey batting to recover the start. A couple of early wickets and England could be batting by lunchtime.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Well, once again England let the Aussie tail wag in adding far too many runs for 280 a.o. I hope that doesn't come back to bite them like it did in Perth. At least this time, they made a more solid start to end on 167/3, but I would call it evens given that Pietersen got out with only a few overs to go.
Tomorrow morning should be crucial. If Australia get stuck in, they can turn over England for 200 or so *cough*Englandbattingcollapse*cough*and try to set a competitive total to win. If they make it through to lunch for only one or two wickets, they could run up a good total.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
That should be the day that claims the Ashes pending something truly remarkable. A lead of 200 with a couple of wickets left. If England can bat until Lunch on Day 4 and extend to 250 it could even be another innings defeat. Australia have to get England out quickly and then score at least 350 to stand a chance of taking the match.
Two interesting controversies with Referral system came to light. Hughes taking a catch on the half-volley from Cook and claiming it, followed by the snick that was given out, that wasn't when reviewed by Hotspot, that actually was when reviewed by Snicko but which isn't included. I think Aleem Dar got this one wrong and should not have overturned his original verdict as there was lack of proof either way in the same way as LBWs are referred.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
I see Cook got another 150. They should chop off one of his arms, to make it fair.
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