The Ashes 2010

[hucks]

i reckon England will bat until lunchish time... i hope they send Broad in for a slog, always helps his bowling if he gets a few... i quite fancy Collingwood to pick up a couple on this pitch..

Agree re colly but the weather forecast looks shocking. I think England should bat like ten overs, add fifty or so and declare.

 

[don_quixote]

i'd declare overnight

 

[crackerjack]

Agree re colly but the weather forecast looks shocking. I think England should bat like ten overs, add fifty or so and declare.

The next 3 batsmen are Prior, Broad & Swann - all hitters. Reckon they could add 150+ by lunch, ruling out any possibility of having to bat again. The pitch won't be so docile now - North was getting plenty of turn on the right-hander's offside. Now is Swanny time.

Not surprised the forecast is shocking since Botham was saying this morning that it wouldn't rain until Tues.

 

[luka]

i warned you about la nina. this is due to be sydneys wettest summer on record and presumably it wont just be sydney getting rain.

 

[luka]

i didn't get to see pieterson bowl out clarke. the 6 o clock news took precedence but i was relieved to learn of it. clarke and hussey are better than any england batsman apart from kp himself, quite a bit better in my opinion and they were worrying me. i would hate to see clarke regain form. on paper the aussies have the better batsmen, although they have a longer and more vulnerable tail. the weather means it will probably be a draw which is a great shame. i wonder how it must feel to do all that hard work and have it count for nothing. all those runs for nothing. all those wickets for nothing.

 

[routes]

the aussies don't have a clue how to bowl at Bell right now, which is amusing.. he flipped a few goodlength offstump balls through cover point this morning like it was the easiest thing in the world.. looks in scarily good order...

seems to me that the aussies just can't execute their bowling plans, they are totally relying on England playing dumb shots or losing patience... whereas some of the English plans are coming off eg they totally nailed Ponting! ... gave him 2 consecutive hooks for boundaries, got his blood pumping a bit... then put the second man back for the hook and then bowled exactly the same ball and he was caught behind trying to avoid hooking... haha

 

[luka]

england are in much better shape. its a funny situation but they are totally dominating. they are going to win the ashes. i dont think its in doubt. i still worry a lot though. on paper theres nothing between them. it is a fight for the 4th place test ranking as people keep saying. in reality they look miles apart.

 

[baboon2004]

"As England retired to the dressing room earlier today, they knew that ultimately, the fate of the second Test match lay in the weather."

I just don't understand cricket.

 

[luka]

i like all the uncontrollable variables in cricket. its part of its charm. you could smash a side, kill them dead and spit on the corpse and then draw the game cos it rained a bit hahahahahhah,i like it.

 

[routes]

easy to say now i suppose, but it looks really bad that they couldn't help Johnson out and had to resort to dropping him... i can totally see why Ponting would be so pissed off with that... also, why haven't they got Smith in there instead of Doherty...?! Smith looked really talented in the 2020s i saw him in, useful lower-order runs, well-controlled leggies, excellent fielder...

 

[luka]

you know the answer to that dont you? they thought doherty would give pieterson the heebeejeebees/
also he outperformed hauritz in the last club game beofre the ashes. all their spinners are shit so im not sure it wold have made a huge amount of difference, although yes, smith can bat a bit.

 

[luka]

here is a photo series entitlled pontings pain from the sydney morning herald, i think you will enjoy it.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/sport/cricket/pontings-pain/20101206-18lou.html

 

[routes]

that is excellent, thanks.

this is also good.

also yeah KP hates left arm twirlers lol.. like he really hates them...slower and more dobbly they are, the more he hates them. like literally can't stand them.

 

[hucks]

Nobody said it would be easy. But that was really easy. On tms they said england were fantastic, and I can well believe that. But Jesus australia were poor. Shockin from hussey, really. All they had to do was last the session and an hour after.

 

[benjybars]

yeah fuck sake australia at least try and make it a bit exciting.. that was some proper england-style capitulation this morning..

but.. hahahaha.. we BATTERED them!

 

[crackerjack]

It was only the tail that really capitulated - no shcok there given what poor batsmen their bowlers are.

Blocking the world's best spinner on a turning pitch for anywhere up to a day is no fun. Aussie strategy to score runs where possible was basically sound (see England in last test); Hussey just got tucked up by a ball that was short and straight, with the result his shot looked much worse than it was. He may also have grown weary of carrying the batting.

Still, they are clueless in the field, fragile at batting. Proper pish. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[routes]

it was almost too easy

i agree Crackerjack, i thought Hussey's dismissal was good bowling. Finn's effort ball is pretty sharp, i think Hussey got rushed and cramped a bit...

gotta say i feel sorry for Broad... he should've had a scarier haircut tbh

 

[crackerjack]

Reckon we'd have won this one too if it had run its course.

Admire the way the Mail tries to politicise even a carpark brawl between "patriot" and "republican".

 

[routes]

it's really bad tho, it's holding him back.

swann is like the rob brydon of english cricket or something. unfathomably-overachieving dentally-challenged one-trick pony.

 

[luka]

routes did you see my comment about hair and sunnies? i cant see it, its vanished, dissensus has gone werid and its scaring me.