The Ashes

Cook pulls a left turn early, shame cos my feeling is, and this is for no real reason, that the pitch will turn if the weather holds, biggies from Cook and Trott could easily have batted the Oz out of the game today.

Leaves it to the young'uns and KP then.

So thats whats happening, fookin rammed around london road

First ball from Agar goes for 4.

I am sure Agar has a future in test cricket but it smacks of desperation that he has come out of nowhere to get his first cap.

One early wicket down is ok and trott has steadied the ship.

If him and root stay in until lunch it'll be job done and vindication for picking root as an opener.

Once the ball has lost its shine its such a fast outfield there is a big score to be had.

Pietersen used to play for Notts so he'll probably love it.

Siddle hauled off early as his 4 overs go for 27. Pattinson back on. 78/1

Siddle comes on at the other end and gets Root immediately: 78/2

I spoke too soon!

130-4 This is the sort of situation where Bell needs to produce. He rarely does imo.

Tringreen wrote:

130-4   This is the sort of situation where Bell needs to produce. He rarely does imo.

I had a small bet on him being the top scorer in the series for England.

I thought that the Aussies were being dismissed by the press too much, and Ian Botham claiming that England will win the two ashes series 10-0 was ridiculous. I still think England will win the series but not 5-0.

Ding dong bell............... now there's a surprise.

All out 215,Aussies struggling in reply.Clarke gone as i post.22-3.Could be all over by Friday.

That's more like it. England 215 all out Australia 22-3 and their best 3 batsmen out.

This is likely to last just three days. Modern day bowling being better than it was or too much limited overs cricket?

Too much 20/20 and one day cricket. Only a couple of the wickets have been from brilliant bowling.

The run rate is quite high, they need to show some patience.

hairy j wrote:

This is likely to last just three days. Modern day bowling being better than it was or too much limited overs cricket?

Definitely not.There is not one attack in world cricket at the moment which compares favourably in terms of depth and balance with some of the great ones of the past,even the relatively recent past.You could hardly compare the current Australian bowling with that of Warne,McGrath,Lee and Gillespie-faced with that line up,England would have struggled to reach 130 today.England have made a habit of ballsing up their first innings of a series recently-out for a similar score in Brisbane 2010,then 517-1 in the second innings,similar scenarios in India and New Zealand last winter and NZ again this summer.Australia purely and simply don't have the class,Clarke excepted,in the top order.Probably cyclical-there have been some shocking Australian batting sides in the past but they always seem to recover over a period of time.One day cricket is a bit of a convenient scapegoat IMHO,plenty of players have played both with distinction and rightly so-top players should be versatile enough to cope with both.

Really piss poor batting, should never have been bowled out for 215. Australia didn't even bowl well.

It's even enough at the moment, Smith and Hughes aren't great shakes so could well be an early wicket or two tomorrow.

A hundred from any batsman could win this game on it's own.

Well, that was a hell of a first hour. Aussies 9 down just under a hundred behind, Jimmy swinging in and Swanny ripping it. They have lost their last 5 wickets for 9 runs in about 30 mins.

Last wicket partnership of 50 and still going strong! These runs are priceless for the Aussies

Agar was out stumped 40 runs ago.

I had a bet they wouldn't make 150.

Umpire Erasmus is a jerk.

Steven Finn bowling short is really feckin me off.

Amazing last wicket stand of 160+ by Australia, although Hughes has been an opening batsman before and Agar on his debut is obviously a very useful batsman and won't be number 11 in any other tests. Unlucky not to get his century, on debut, batting at number 11.

That has changed the whole complexion of the game.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

Steven Finn bowling short is really feckin me off.

Exactly
McGrath got his wickets by constantly bowling line and length

I do think the shorter forms of the game have had an influence, but as has been said, a professional cricketer should be able to adapt to the type of match being played

Be nice to take the Ashes again   especially with the next one coming around so quick

Agar should've been out stumped and Australia all out for 139, then Trott is given out by the third umpire who didn't have the right replay to look at ffs.

Two terrible decisions against England which could've cost them this test but Cook and Pietersen battled to reach stumps not out. The pitch is as flat as a witches tit so hopefully they can score heavily tomorrow and maybe have the same luck the Aussies had today.

It was never going to be as easy as the press were predicting. 2-1 will still be good enough, forget this 5-0 bullshit.

I

Absolutely fascinating Test Match, I've managed to watch most of both the days. At times it's been difficult to take my eyes off it. I think it will depend on how Pieterson and Cook go tomorrow morning I can't see the any other English player capable of scoring big in this match.

Bit of swingage throught the morning, first we took a hold then they knocked us back for B&B tojust about drag us to lunch.

Big sesh coming up.

Proper Test Match imho.