I see what you did there rocko, no more living off the 1967 European Cup eh
Swann finally gone.
They can do all they like with cricket but you can’t beat the greatest format of the game and we’re seeing it today again. Test match cricket is a bit special - England and Wales need Collingwood to take as much of the strike as possible here.
Was just about to post how happy I was that they brought Siddle in.
And he gets Collingwood straight away.
To be fair to Collingwood that was some innings again from him. Pure resolute.
Bring on Monty now.
Fucking gripping stuff here…Come on monty, only 9 more overs!
England in front now.
2 boundaries in a row…get in…
I wonder is Strauss considering an aggressive declaration here.
Cheating fuckers bringing on the physio.
Ricky Ponting is Seething…
England hung on well there. Australia really lacked bowling options at the end there - thought they should have gone for Hilfenhaus or Siddle near the end just to have someone who could threaten the stumps.
Ah, that was utterly compelling. Fucking fantastic sport and gutsy stuff from Collingwood and the English and Welsh tail. Reminiscent of the Manchester test in 2005 when Australia clung on for the draw. The hosts have a lot of thinking to ahead of Lord’s though.
After Old Trafford 2005 and Antigua back in April when England on both occasions were agonisingly one wicket short of victory, they were due the rub of the green today.
Ponting’s captaincy will be under the microscope again. Its undeniable that he’s one of the all time batting greats, but he’s a poor captain. Haruitz was left on far too long and Hilefenhaus was badly underused. I felt watching it yesterday that he should have declared around the 600 mark. With rain imminent there was ever likelihood Australia would be under pressure timewise.
Fair play to Collingwood. Shane Warne might have questioned the merits of giving him an MBE in 2005 when he only featured in the Oval Test but he deserved an MBE for his heroics today. He was England’s best and most dangerous bowler as well and he only bowled 9 overs, which says it all.
What this test highlighted is both attacks are average and particularly in view of the fact there’s a good bit of rain forecasted for the next month, 20 wickets will be a challenge.
Disciplined batting will be key and Australia certainly gave England a lesson in that.
Lords next where England haven’t beaten Australia in an Ashes test since 1934. Changes will probably be minimal enough although Harmsion is a cert to be recalled.
[quote=“Rocko”]England definitely in trouble now on 64-4.
Strauss caught behind off Hauritz. Poor shot.
Didn’t see Pietersen but by all accounts it was a shocker. Just left a straight ball from Hilfenhaus that took his off stump clean away.
Who could come into the England batting lineup if they wanted changes. They’ve had some very poor batting displays and Cook, KP and Strauss have all lost their wickets very cheaply this innings. So they’ve Onions and Harmison ready to bowl presumably - who are their batting alternatives?[/QUOTE]
Was meaning to follow up on this earlier. Cook actually made his name by scoring 200 for Essex against Australia when they were touring in 2005.
He then got into the English and Welsh side what with Trescothick’s illness and Vaughan’s injury troubles but the Australians seemed to find him out quickly down under in the 2006/07 series.
Bopara got a bad decision in the second innings but was pretty streaky and nervous for his 30 odd in the first innings so he’ll be feeling the pressure ahead of Lord’s too.
There doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of options. Bell was the batting reserve in the first test squad but he only scored 20 in two innings against the Australians for England Lions a couple of weeks ago.
The batting line up in that game consisted of Joe Denly, Stephen Moore, Ian Bell, Vikram Solanki and Ireland’s Eoin Morgan.
[quote=“Manuel Zelaya”]After Old Trafford 2005 and Antigua back in April when England on both occasions were agonisingly one wicket short of victory, they were due the rub of the green today.
Ponting’s captaincy will be under the microscope again. Its undeniable that he’s one of the all time batting greats, but he’s a poor captain. Haruitz was left on far too long and Hilefenhaus was badly underused. I felt watching it yesterday that he should have declared around the 600 mark. With rain imminent there was ever likelihood Australia would be under pressure timewise.
Fair play to Collingwood. Shane Warne might have questioned the merits of giving him an MBE in 2005 when he only featured in the Oval Test but he deserved an MBE for his heroics today. He was England’s best and most dangerous bowler as well and he only bowled 9 overs, which says it all.
What this test highlighted is both attacks are average and particularly in view of the fact there’s a good bit of rain forecasted for the next month, 20 wickets will be a challenge.
Disciplined batting will be key and Australia certainly gave England a lesson in that.
Lords next where England haven’t beaten Australia in an Ashes test since 1934. Changes will probably be minimal enough although Harmsion is a cert to be recalled.[/QUOTE]
Bit harsh on Ponting - his captaincy looked an awful lot more inspired than Strauss’ did and in fairness most of his decisions paid off. He doesn’t have the greatest attack in the world and they did ok, certainly in comparison to the England attack which was thought to be stronger. 19 wickets versus 6 or whatever it was.
Don’t think an earlier declaration would have made much difference to be honest. It was always going to be two battles - time and runs and England won them both today. Earlier declaration and they’d just have won one of them by a bit more.
Bowling was extremely average from both teams which is a bit disappointing at the start of the series. Doesn’t look like we’ll have much bowling fireworks which is a real pity.
:rolleyes:
What the fcuk was Marcus North doing bowling at the death?:rolleyes: I blame Ponting plain and simple. A series a few years ago at home to New Zealand the Aussies dominated every test only for the weather to mean they were draws, New Zealand then very nearly won the last test for a series win despite being outplayed.
My point is you have to be winning these fcuking games when you get presented with the opportunities they got yesterday.
Did England win the first test? I can’t understand some of the mumbo jumbo above.
It was a draw of epic proportions.