*Official* First Test at Swalec Stadium, Cardiff

[pskov]

Yeah true, although having Aus at 1 down for not many wouldn't be all that bad for England.

Any other takers on the score after the first day's play?

I think we'll only get in around 70 overs or so due the forecasted rain in the morning, so will go for Aus 273/5 or Eng 262/6 depending on who wins the toss.

 

[howardj]

Yeah true, although having Aus at 1 down for not many wouldn't be all that bad for England.

Any other takers on the score after the first day's play?

Aus 290
Eng 1/12

or

Eng 8/310

 

[pup11]

Can't help but feel this'll be a low-scoring series in general. Both sides have bowlers in some form but the batting is unsettled with a mix of guys hitting the ball well and others, not so well. Be very surprised if the team batting first breaches 400.

I think Australia have a better chance of making scores of 400+ if they bat first, don't wanna to put any mockers or anything on them, but the depth in the Australian batting line-up makes scoring that many runs slightly easier for them as comapared to England, though its also equally important that Australia bat first in most of the games, because I don't think they do that well when batting second in a test.

 

[pup11]

First day prediction.

Australia 6/322 at stumps.

or Australia 1/13 at stumps - England all out 219

First Day Prediction

Australia

330/5

England

265/7

Not expecting either side getting bowled out on Day 1....

 

[Son Of Coco]

Reckon they should go round the country and play all 5 Tests at different club grounds TBH, would make it much more interesting.

Yeah there's a cracker in Devon they could play on...the name of the club escapes me at the moment, but they were the worst team in the Premier League in 2002. We played a foreigners vs them match there and the ground slopes a hell of a lot, so much so that if you were standing at gully on the bottom side of the wicket anything more than 6 inches off the ground at the wicket would probably clear your head by the time it reached you. The pitch was in tune ith the rest of the ground, meaning in helped my off-cutters considerably. Difficult to hit the stumps though when you're aiming a foot and a half outside off and missing leg.

Another cracker is Plymouth Civil Services. Slopes from the top end of the ground to the bottom. So at one end you're bowling into the slope running up the hill and at the other you're running down hill. There's a nice little surprise at the popping crease too, as your front foot lands it then drops about 20cm so you're next stride is that much lower than where you landed. It takes some adjusting to hit a spot a foot and a half below where you let the ball go.

The pitch at Exeter St James has an elephant buried around about the second step after you let the ball go...great for the body.

 

[howardj]

5 hours to go.

Quietly weeing my pants in anticipation.

 

[duffer]

Been amped for this since the morning. Been on cricinfo, youtube all day at work. Gonna have some red eyes at work for the next few weeks.

 

[Son Of Coco]

This starts at 7pm AEST doesn't it?

Trying to work it out, I thought it was 6pm Korean time (we're an hour behind Oz). Looking forward to watching some of it tonight.

 

[duffer]

Coverage starts at 7.30 on SBS, assuming the match at 8.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Coverage starts at 7.30 on SBS, assuming the match at 8.

Awesome, that makes it 7pm my time. Not bad, can get a few hours in before bed.

 

[age_master]

Eng 8/280

or

Aust 6/320

 

[social]

You're kidding. If Aus pick Hauritz, he's going to bowl 20+ overs a day. No way would they pick him and bowl him as a part-timer.

This

 

[social]

Gotta love the Poms - many English experts are installing them as favourites

Can someone please explain to me how a team that recently lost to the dismal WI can be rated as favourites to beat a team that most recently beat SA in SA?

The only thing that I can put it down to is that they havent seen many of the Oz players and are basing their predictions on the fact that the new guys arent as good as Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist etc (no ****, Sherlock) and therefore will be easy to beat

Supporting your team is one thing, being completely delusional about it is another

 

[aussie]

OMFG. I cant believe how this poll on cricinfo...bloodcathh

Poll
What should Australia do in Lee's absence?

Results
Play four fast bowlers 29.22% - 1431 votes
Play three and Hauritz 55.03% - 2695 votes
Play three and McDonald 15.74% - 771 votes
Total votes: 4897

God bless those 1431 voters

 

[four_or_six]

Heard on the radio this morning that Ponting said he thinks as the fans will be Welsh, they will be supporting Australia instead of England. If he really does think that, he's in for a nasty shock!

 

[Craig]

Yeah there's a cracker in Devon they could play on...the name of the club escapes me at the moment, but they were the worst team in the Premier League in 2002. We played a foreigners vs them match there and the ground slopes a hell of a lot, so much so that if you were standing at gully on the bottom side of the wicket anything more than 6 inches off the ground at the wicket would probably clear your head by the time it reached you. The pitch was in tune ith the rest of the ground, meaning in helped my off-cutters considerably. Difficult to hit the stumps though when you're aiming a foot and a half outside off and missing leg.

Another cracker is Plymouth Civil Services. Slopes from the top end of the ground to the bottom. So at one end you're bowling into the slope running up the hill and at the other you're running down hill. There's a nice little surprise at the popping crease too, as your front foot lands it then drops about 20cm so you're next stride is that much lower than where you landed. It takes some adjusting to hit a spot a foot and a half below where you let the ball go.

The pitch at Exeter St James has an elephant buried around about the second step after you let the ball go...great for the body.

I love the club house there, feels like a proper cricket ground.

5 hours to go.

Quietly weeing my pants in anticipation.

You really love the sound of your own voice.

 

[Uppercut]

Good omen?

8 of England's squad got dusted 5-0 last time.

Bad omen, only 4 of Australia's team were involved.

 

[Stapel]

When will the teams be announced?

 

[Uppercut]

Gotta love the Poms - many English experts are installing them as favourites

Can someone please explain to me how a team that recently lost to the dismal WI can be rated as favourites to beat a team that most recently beat SA in SA?

The only thing that I can put it down to is that they havent seen many of the Oz players and are basing their predictions on the fact that the new guys arent as good as Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist etc (no ****, Sherlock) and therefore will be easy to beat

Supporting your team is one thing, being completely delusional about it is another

I think a lot of Aussies are guilty of underrating England too though. It's easy to look at them and say, "they got beaten in the West Indies!" but when you look at their team it's really a lot better than that implies, especially at home. Likewise, it's easy to look at someone like Broad or Anderson and see that they're averaging 35+ and assume they're pie-chuckers, when in truth they've been consistently bowling very, very well in all formats for the last three or four months.

I don't think the bare facts give you a true reflection of how close the teams are when playing in England. I expect Australia to win because i think they know how to take care of a series victory.

 

[pasag]

Longest drive home EVER.

80 mins to go.