Test Match Cricket

He can’t play the short stuff. He would get plenty in SA. I would stick with Rogers until a better option comes along. Perfect foil for Warner.

England win toss and put Aussie in.

22-1 Broad bowled Warner for 16

Bit of bounce around, Broad looks threatening. Conditions should suit Rankin you’d imagine.

Here’s Big Boyd.

Mixed opening over. Got a couple to rear up, troubled Watson a bit.

Bowled well there.

[B]Piers Morgan[/B] ‏@piersmorgan[/URL][URL=‘https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/418904333473038336’]48m
Rankin spraying it everywhere. If he bowled a good line and length he’d skittle them. #Ashes

[B]Ewan MacKenna[/B] ‏@EwanMacKenna[/URL][URL=‘https://twitter.com/EwanMacKenna/status/418904748759068672’]47m
.@piersmorgan We’d gladly take him back. It’s like stealing someone’s lawnmower and giving out after that the tank was only half full.

This might be the first mildly amusing tweet that Ewan MacKenna has ever had.

Rankin bowled alright. A few stray balls, but looked quite threatening. Piers Morgan spouting bullshit as he seems to do on every subject. Here’s Brett Lee peppering him with an over of bouncers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCgAqNSAD1U

Anderson strikes just before lunch, getting the vital wicket of Watson, who was looking quite good. Stokes got Clarke caught in slip. Good morning for England, 94/4.

326 all out. Stokes got 6. Aus were in trouble at 97-5 but then Haddin and Smith added 120, Rankin went off injured after 8 overs and no wicket.

England 8-1. Carberry out for a duck. Cook fairly sprinted off strike to leave Carberry facing Johnson.

This may not make it to a fourth day. Jaysus. Will be interesting to see how aus go in sa, though kallis is a big figure they won’t have to face. Great teams crumble slowly, then all at once. Borne out here bar the slowly bit.

Embarrassing by Big Boyd. No injury, just a little bit of cramp. What a pussy.

We’re better off without him.

Some achievement for an Irishman to make his test bow in the greatest cricket ground in the world- The SCG.

Well done Boyd Rankin.

Normal service resuming in this series with England doing well with the Aussie top order but failing badly with the lower/middle. Overall whilst I’m presonally delighted with the 5-0 whitewash I had hoped for a more competitive series.

Australia will have to bat a lot better in South Africa if they are to be even competitive. On average for the first innings in this Ashes series, over the 5 tests, they’ve been 141/5 for the first 5 wickets. They’ve put on 214 for the last 5 wickets. Dale Steyn won’t be so tardy as regards bowling out the tail.

[quote=“Special Olympiakos, post: 881451, member: 366”]Some achievement for an Irishman to make his test bow in the greatest cricket ground in the world- The SCG.

Well done Boyd Rankin.

[/quote]

Its a magnificent achievement and a source of real pride. When it comes to lending our support in the test arena, the small Irish cricket playing and club membership community almost en masse have always gravitated towards England. All the more reason to get even more firmly behind England in Sydney with Boyd in the ranks.

Hows the soup in Sydney Manuel? Whilst I’m delighted for Boyd I’d never stoop to supporting Engerland in an Ashes series.

England are our closest neighbours and there’s a magnificent bond and camaraderie between the small Irish cricket community and our counterparts across the water. My own cricket club have always had particularly close ties with the West Country region, Somerset, Worcestershire and indeed Glamorgan in Wales and have toured that marvellous part of the world on many occasions. Equally, there’s not a cricket club up and down the island of Ireland that doesn’t play host to an English club side every summer.

Your juvenile references to soccer terminology like ‘Engerland’, famine references and general anti-English sentiment in cricketing matters is just puerile.

I seem to remember you supporting Engerland in the Euros last summer and even referring to them as such?