Test Match Cricket

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321

Farcical that you can only fit 60 overs into a day’s play in a test match before bad light brings it to a close. The play we did have was utterly enthralling. South Africa were lucky they got the light as there was every chance England could have skittled them out for 210-220.

Kallis was the big wicket but Biff will be disappointed to have been run out like that.

Dreadful stuff in Melbourne. Pakistan are awful. Mind you Australia should be kicking on. Hauritz is just arsing around. Had my reservations when he was first selected at Edgbaston but it has to be said that Shane Watson has turned into a really good opening batsman.

322

Good effort from England to get to 103/1 at stumps. They’ll need to bat carefully though. Its not an easy batting wicket. 343 still seems a long way off. Quite a knock from Dale Steyn.

323

E&W holding up well so far today, century from Cook…295 for 3

324

Watched a bit of the cricket today and it’s been a super day for England and Wales. A result could still be possible if the weather holds up over the final two days but they should really look to attack South Africa for the remainder of their first innings. Positive for the team that Cook and Bell have reacted after their poor recent form with telling contributions.

These are the type of situations where Prior often delivers - he can play with a bit of freedom and really bat them into a strong position tomorrow now. That said, Morkel and Steyn will be fresh first thing in the morning and Shaun Pollock and Michael Vaughan were strongly advocating an upping of the tempo earlier on. Nasser Hussain was more cautious saying Morkel was bowling so well that Collingwood didn’t want to expose new batsmen to him this evening and couldn’t be blamed for playing relatively conservatively.

Collingwood’s gone now just shy of his century so Bell and Prior will be charged with seeing out these final few overs. They should have a 50-60 run lead and be well set to push on in the morning.

325

Terrific stuff from England today. They’ve given themselves every chance of winning the match but its still going to be difficult to force a result here. Real indominitable bulldog spirit from Cook. He was playing for his test place today and he delivered in spades. Great knock from Colly too. Pity he didn’t bring up his century.

South African attack was a disappointment, particularly Dale Steyn.

326

[quote=“Manuel Zelaya”]Terrific stuff from England today. They’ve given themselves every chance of winning the match but its still going to be difficult to force a result here. Real indominitable bulldog spirit from Cook. He was playing for his test place today and he delivered in spades. Great knock from Colly too. Pity he didn’t bring up his century.

South African attack was a disappointment, particularly Dale Steyn.[/quote]

Yes, need to score quickly tomorrow. Draw more likely option. De Wet must be pissed off watching this after the spell he had in the last test. Hard to drop Ntini of course. Wonder is Steyn fully fit?

327

The SA attack looks rubbish at the moment. Ntini is past it. He looked it in the series against Aus earlier in the year too, in fact as far back as the series in England in 2008 he hasn’t looked the same. A great career that now needs to be put out of its misery. Some hints that he is keeping his place in the team for political reasons. If so, it is as unfair on him as it is on de Wet, who clearly should have kept his place in the team after his performance in the first Test.

Neither Steyn nor Kallis look fully fit to bowl. That leaves Morkel as the only pace man that is performing, he certainly is performing. However, in keeping with the strange captaincy Strauss displayed on day 1, Smith seriously underbowled his main man in the last session today. Baffling stuff.

Unbelievable declaration from Ponting the other night. Tough to know whether it is arrogance, disdain for Pakistan, a lack of faith in his own attack or a combination of the three. They’ll win easily though. Pakistan are showing signs of encouragement for a young team (mainly Umar Akmal and Mohammed Aamer) but at the moment they would be below West Indies in the pecking order, which I guess puts them seventh.

328

[quote=“braz83”]The SA attack looks rubbish at the moment. Ntini is past it. He looked it in the series against Aus earlier in the year too, in fact as far back as the series in England in 2008 he hasn’t looked the same. A great career that now needs to be put out of its misery. Some hints that he is keeping his place in the team for political reasons. If so, it is as unfair on him as it is on de Wet, who clearly should have kept his place in the team after his performance in the first Test.

Neither Steyn nor Kallis look fully fit to bowl. That leaves Morkel as the only pace man that is performing, he certainly is performing. However, in keeping with the strange captaincy Strauss displayed on day 1, Smith seriously underbowled his main man in the last session today. Baffling stuff.

Unbelievable declaration from Ponting the other night. Tough to know whether it is arrogance, disdain for Pakistan, a lack of faith in his own attack or a combination of the three. They’ll win easily though. Pakistan are showing signs of encouragement for a young team (mainly Umar Akmal and Mohammed Aamer) but at the moment they would be below West Indies in the pecking order, which I guess puts them seventh.[/quote]

De Wet must be fair p*ssed off with what’s going on here after his performance at Centurion. Ntini’s selection ahead of him smacks of quotas. Ntini was well worth his place for over a decade but he’s well past it now.

Would have been interesting if Pakistan had picked up a few more wickets in Melbourne. They were well among them at 40/3 and Ponting would have looked very foolish with his declaration if a few more had fallen.

Pakistan like the WIndies really need to be playing more test cricket, but obviously the domestic situation doesn’t help. Some good raw young talent there and Umar Akmal in particular looks exciting.

Shane Watson still going strong on 64 not out. That’s his seventh half century in twelve innings at an average of just under 60 since being selected as an opener at Edgbaston. That’s good going and he’s done a very good job filling what’s been a problematic position for Australia since the retirements of Langer & Hayden.

329

Mohammed Aamer. :thumbsup: Great spell.

Watson on 98 at lunch. Much as I’d love to stick around to see if he gives it away again, bed is calling me.

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[quote=“braz83”]Mohammed Aamer. :thumbsup: Great spell.

Watson on 98 at lunch. Much as I’d love to stick around to see if he gives it away again, bed is calling me.[/quote]

Made 120 no for a finish. E&W lead 180 odd at lunch. lost momentum after Prior’s rapid 6o. And Belly made a ton!

331

The old cunt was dropped in gully on 99. Ran off the drop to make his 100. Another crazy declaration from Ponting. I’d laugh hard if Pakistan chased it down, though I can’t see it happening. If these two could make it to lunch though, they’d have a great chance. Tossing the ball to Hauritz on day 5 isn’t quite the same as tossing it to Warney.

Two early wickets for Swann. If he can start doing it regularly in second innings, he’ll be one of the most valuable spinners in Test cricket. Fascinating final session to come. Smith and Kallis at the crease. It will probably be shortened by light. If England can remove one of them, they’ll fancy their chances tomorrow.

332

Only saw the half hour before tea so far today. As you say Braz, breaking the Smith-Kallis partnership will be crucial for England and Wales’ chances. I expected Prior to play well, as he tends to do when under limited pressure and batting freely to set up a declaration. I’d like to see him bat better under pressure - he went very cheaply in the second innings at Centurion, for example. Great response by Bell too and they’re in a really strong position. Apparently they scored very slowly at one stage this morning, which was odd given the match circumstances.

333

Great stuff from Swanny.

South Africa in real trouble now with Kallis gone. 40/3

334

What a crazy leave by Kallis! Swann’s getting a huge amount of turn here. SA will do well to get to stumps with only three down here.

335

De Villiers gone now, also shouldering arms. 44-4 and England and Wales can smell victory.

336

[quote=“braz83”]The old cunt was dropped in gully on 99. Ran off the drop to make his 100. Another crazy declaration from Ponting. I’d laugh hard if Pakistan chased it down, though I can’t see it happening. If these two could make it to lunch though, they’d have a great chance. Tossing the ball to Hauritz on day 5 isn’t quite the same as tossing it to Warney.

Two early wickets for Swann. If he can start doing it regularly in second innings, he’ll be one of the most valuable spinners in Test cricket. Fascinating final session to come. Smith and Kallis at the crease. It will probably be shortened by light. If England can remove one of them, they’ll fancy their chances tomorrow.[/quote]

I don’t know why you’re saying it was a crazy declaration Braz, Pakistan have a 422 target, highly unlikely even thoguht they’re going well. I can see this going to a draw given Australia’s problems with taking teams out on day 5. Fair play to Watson, he finally got that monkey off his back, but as Evo says, he’s improbably turning into a very good opener, he’s done very very well this year. But he seriously needs to sit down and have a long talk with Simon Katich. The two of them have absolutely no understanding whatsoever, they look like two separate parts of an opening partnership. They need to look at what Langer / Hayden did.
Katich bowling today, which goes to show how desperate Aus are for spinners. There’s all this talk here about Steven Smith being selected for Sydney, which I just find incredible, for a 20 year old who has played 9 first class matches and is really a good batsman whi happens to bowl off spin.

Mohammed Aamer became the youngest player in test history to take a 5 for, and it was great to watch him, real excitement and exuberance from him.

There’s signs that this Pakistani side potentially have the goods. Their fielding points to a team unused to playing with each other, which is understandable in a way.

There is also talk that Younis Khan may be back for the Sydney test, which would make things very interesting.

Fair play to EW, they look like they have the measure of SA.

Are we seeing a seismic shift in test cricket here? Australia look distinctly dodgy (they won’t do well abroad), SA are looking like an old team, India won’t play a home test for 2 years and don’t travel well, there are signs of hope for the Windies, Pakistan and especially EW, Sri Lanka are going to lose Murali, but don’t look worried. Could we see a totally new ranking by years end?

337

44/5! Broad on a hat-trick.

338

Biff gone 50/6. Swanny strikes again.

339

Incredible scenes. Boucher the only batsman left, and he can’t play his normal attacking game now. Swann is some player, the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year.

340

As Naz was saying earlier. He should only bowl in one or two over spells. Uncanny knack of making an immediate impact when he comes into the attack.