Ashes Thread

[Fluffy]

little wonder that someone with an ass on his side and get sidways movement

 

[SilentBob]

Panesar out, Onions in, Flintoff playing, Harmison left out, England batting first.

 

[The Gronk]

Geez our attack is looking thin with Johnson not firing. 

 

[Fluffy]

Saw most of the first session and it looked poor, pitch looked a belter though so im tipping another draw.

Looks like there is a bit of reverse whent he ball is older but nothing extreme.

Very similar spot after day 1 as in the first test

 

[Fluffy]

Terrific start this morning by the Aussies.

Hilfy gets Strauss with the second ball of the morning and Piddle gets Swan in the next over.

Hilfy is bowling well over there just as i suspected the conditions there really suit him and a good call by the selectors to put him in.

He now has his 4th

 

[Chip and Chase]

Johnson had been diabolically bad. It's like he has forgotten how to bowl. Hilfy has been good. Pity the ball wasn't swinging in Cardiff because he could have cleaned up the tail where the others struggled.

We need to bat for the next 2 days and put this test to sleep. Ponting got a raw call, but that's cricket. I wonder if the Huss will finally strike some form, we could do with him reeling off a ton.

 

[Fluffy]

we looked gone for all money at the start of yesterdays play but clarke and haddin have left us with a sniff with one day to go

5 wickets left and 209 needed, the first session tonight will be very interesting

 

[willstyles]

It is the faintest of sniffs, but it is a sniff.

You can't expect the bottom three to contribute much more than 30 runs combined, which leaves 180 more between Clarke/Haddin/Johnson.

Which means....Clarkie and Haddin basically have to do what they did yesterday all over again.

Which is a huge ask.

A faint sniff, but after being 5 down for not much... I'll take a sniff.

 

[Chip and Chase]

The only thing in our favour is that the umpires will be on our side after those 3 howlers yesterday. Haddin gone already to a pretty meek dismissal. Makes it a monumental task from here, we'd need Johnson to repeat his South African batting heroics and knock up a ton. Not likely I'd say, but will keep my fingers crossed.

 

[willstyles]

All gone.

Haddin gone in the second over of the day, then a minor fightback from Pup and Johnson was every so slowly rebuilding some minor form of confidence.

Then Clarke got bowled by a full toss from Swann (a very weak dismissal to end a wonderful knock). And then Hauritz got rolled by Flintoff.

A brave effort towards the end, but we were thoroughly outplayed throughout this Test.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Flintoff bowling like a demon today

I will admit to disliking Johnson is a very big way, have never been able to stand the bloke, so I took a bit of pleasure seeing the **** he bowled this match. The thing I also found hard to believe was that Ponting persisted with him for so long

 

[Chip and Chase]

I can't believe Clark got out to that ball. It did drift a bit but it was a very poor shot, should have been spanked for four. You can only wonder what a difference those 3 dodgy umpiring decisions would have made had they got them right.

Oh well, the Poms will be intolerable for a few days. Does Flintoff pi$$ everyone else off with his post wicket antics of just standing there with his arms raised like he is some kind of Messiah. FFS he averages 30+ with the ball, it's not like he is that good.

 

[SilentBob]

Very poor effort from Australia, poor effort from the umps, some inexcusable decisions. Flintoff bowled some great spells in the match. Great toss to win with the way the pitch played and the weather unfolded.

Tour match starts on Friday I think, hopefully Lee and Clark play and show some form, I really hope Johnson gets smacked around, if he takes a bag of wickets it will just give the selectors an excuse not to make a tough decision.

 

[SilentBob]

Pietersen ruled out for the rest of series after having surgery on his achilles tendon. Ian Bell probably coming in.

 

[The Gronk]

I think we need to look at playing haddin at six and taking in five bowlers

 

[Fro]

we can't go a batsman short, that is asking for trouble.

6 Batsmen, 4 Bowlers and a keeper is the standard way of doing things for Recent Australian teams (last 20 years).

The Problem is we just dont have the bowlers we used to, we can't run through teams in a day as in the past and it is taking its toll.

The Problem with playing 5 batsmen and Haddin is 2 fold. Who do you drop for a start?

The other issue is that the 5 above him is hardly one of the most inspiring top/middle orders ever.

We have one Great Bat:- Ponting who is not at his peak although still the best we have.

We have one Potentially Great Bat:- Clarke who is improving steadily and is looking better and better as he matures.

We Have one Solid Journeyman:- Katich who will let nobody down and is the top order rock at the moment.

We Have 2 Rookies:- North who appears solid, but may or may not do the business, and Hughes, who is realising that test cricket is not as easy as he thought.

The 6th Bat is a sadly out of form Hussey, Till he starts playing straight back down the wicket with a full face, and not opening the blade all the time and looking to go through extra cover round to Gully, he will struggle. its a very productive technique when it works, but has a very small margin for error. the good thing is he is good enough to get through it, hopefully he will.

And the saddest part of the whole equation is they all know they are going to play, because our "spare" bat is Mr Breaky, Shane Watson.

At least England is **** as well 🙂

 

[SilentBob]

Hughes
Katich
Hussey
North
Watson
McDonald
Manou
Johnson
Hauritz
Siddle
Clark
Hilfenhaus

12 man side named for the tour match. Ponting, Clarke, Haddin resting.

 

[Fro]

you scared me Bob, I thought that was your suggested lineup for the 3rd test 🙂

I was about to jump in and say why Axe Ponting and Haddin, then I read the last line 🙂

Been a long day...

BTW Hughes and Katich both out before lunch.

Interesting a couple of the opposition players against us, the older posters among us will remember Kepler Wessels and Peter Willey.

They both have sons in the Northants team.

 

[SilentBob]

Manou really does deserve a call up haha

Watson 84 from 96
Hussey 75*
North 32*

Rain effected day, only 60 overs bowled.

 

[SilentBob]

Manou golden duck on debut.
Clark the stand out bowler, 2/45 off 14.
Siddle 3 wickets but went at 5.5.
Johnson crap again going at 6 an over, no wickets.
Hughes and McDonald opened 2nd inns, both 60 odd not out.
Watson having a good game, runs and wickets.