5 wickets for Lyon shows the poor state of the drop in pitch. If England get pup out cheaply tomorrow I wouldn’t rule out a victory at all.
Yes, I shared a sombre Ashes Breakfast with Rachel Brookes and Alec Stewart at 7.30 this morning. Consensus seems to be that it was shit batting. Probably a bit of both though. Pitch doesn’t appear to be turning a whole lot, but batting has been problematic on this wicket from the start, with the innings scores getting progressively lower - 255, 204 & 179. Key for England is to get two of Warner, Clarke & Haddin out cheaply.
With 200 runs to play with they need to get the whole fucking lot of them out cheaply. Can’t see it. Australia to cruise home.
I have sky but haven’t the energy to turn it on. Anything happened yet?
Rogers just dropped. Bairstow should have gone for it and left it for Cook. 47-0
Botham is fuming:D
Grand thanks.
Now Cook drops a dolly off Stokes.
Cook drops another one:D
Warner gone for 25. Stokes 64-1, just as I was nodding off.
One loose shot too many from Warner.
Century for Jacques Kallis in his final test.
New Zealand v West Indies one day international result from Napier:
Match abandoned without a ball bowled.
Manuel, a quick question for you.
What do you think is the greatest ever drawn test match?
Last week’s South Africa-India match must be a contender.
I’ll throw two others into the mix off the top of my head - the third Ashes test in 2005 at Old Trafford and the time Mike Atherton batted for two days in South Africa in 1995. A heroic innings from the England captain, that one.
The last tour of South Africa by England in 2009/10 also produced a thrilling, defiant English last wicket stand to save one of the tests, if I recall.
[quote=“Sidney, post: 879302, member: 183”]Manuel, a quick question for you.
What do you think is the greatest ever drawn test match?
Last week’s South Africa-India match must be a contender.
I’ll throw two others into the mix off the top of my head - the third Ashes test in 2005 at Old Trafford and the time Mike Atherton batted for two days in South Africa in 1995. A heroic innings from the England captain, that one.
The last tour of South Africa by England in 2009/10 also produced a thrilling, defiant English last wicket stand to save one of the tests, if I recall.[/quote]
Two of the test matches during the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy Series in South Africa in 2009/10 resulted in draws with South Africa just one wicket short of victory on both occasions. In the first test at Centurion it was a 10th wicket stand between the Brigadier and Graham Onions that saved the day for England. In the third test at Newlands it was Graham Onions again with Graeme Swann providing the Rorkes Drift 10th wicket stand.
There is something heroic about a rearguard action like Mike Atherton produced at the Wanderers in 1995 or a match saving 10th wicket stand. As you said the 3rd test at Old Trafford in 2005 another instance of a match saving last wicket stand - Brett Lee & Glenn McGrath saving the day for Australia. First Ashes test at Cardiff in 2009 and West Indies v India in Antigua in 2006 two more instances that immediately spring to mind. In all of those cases though, only two results were in the balance. The really exciting ones are like last week at the Wanderers where all three results are in the balance.
If I was to choose one, I would say India v West Indies at Bombay in 2011. All four results were actually a possibility going into the very last over and its the closest there has been to a 3rd tied test. The match was ultimately drawn with the scores level (only the second time in test history along with Zimbabwe v England at Bulawayo in 1996 that a test has been drawn with both teams scoring the same amount of runs). It was one just one wicket away from being a tied test as the West Indies had 9 wickets down at stumps on Day 5.
England team for the whitewash match: Cook, Root, Bell, Pietersen, Ballance, Stokes, Bairstow, Bresnan, Broad, Anderson, Panesar
Some great potential puns there but I’ll leave them to others to identify.
Haddin is belatedly getting the credit he deserves. He has maintained a very high standard over the past 5 years through a difficult period for Australia. I rate him a better wicket keeper than Adam Gilchrist.
How would you rate him against Ian Healy?