*Official* Second Test at Lords

[Pigeon]

Inconsistent umpiring indeed. That Hughes catch should have been referred. England indeed fortunate to be on top here.

Meanwhile Fred Flintoff is kicking it up. It is so heartening to see him making the ball jump all the way to the top of the keeper's head. Looks like Lords feels like Perth.

 

[chalky]

BTW Warney is different class in the com box hope he gets a permanent gig somewhere

 

[Richard]

Yeah how dare they change the result by checking it!

Eh?

 

[Manee]

This series reeks of 2005 in so many ways, I really think England will walk this series as they did in 2005.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

And Bopara was out not long after - big deal.

Some consistency would be nice.

Yous have had the better of the umpires throughout the series and that's fine, but when umpires are blantantly not going to be fair with technology with the exact same situation then it's just pathetic.

 

[Athlai]

It's exactly the point I was making. Ponting's drop didn't matter much; nor did Flintoff's.

That's it.

But a wrong decision does not detract from the batsman having a chance at scoring some runs. He may be out next ball, he may score 300 the only thing that can be said is that he shouldn't have been out that ball.

 

[zaremba]

Loving the Aussie whinges here. You guys are going to have to adapt to losing a little bit more than you've been used to in the last couple of decades.

 

[TT Boy]

Somebody needs to stand up to these bloody whinging pom s.

Good one.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Internet hardman, no.

big muscles, let's blue, etc

 

[Matt79]

Interesting point I raised on MSN talking to .matt.

Jake says (9:03 PM):
*I wonder how much the ECB are giving the umpires for this?

Deadset, Hughes and Ponting both not out but given out in the first innings, but given out, then Hauritz catches (but may have dropped) Bopara and it's not out, now Strauss clearly drops Hughes and it's out. Katich was out from a no ball. What next?

Typical Englishmen, talk it up when you're winning but don't show up and support your team when the chips are down. Bandwagoners.

And to think I was feeling bad about saying the recently arrived Aussie contingent from Planet Cricket were by and large morons.

 

[Pigeon]

Meanwhile I stand convinced about Hughes being a good prospect but unfortunately not yet there. What the **** was he doing against that ball? Moving laterally in the crease like a tailender?? He reminds me of Saurav Ganguly a lot. An extremely good player on the off side but scratchy against the short stuff.

 

[JBH001]

Yep, Onions it is. Good call, Strauss. Hope he keeps Freddie on from the other end, though.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yeah, having expected Freddie to take his word for a claimed catch at Cardiff (which Freddie did). Hughes began to walk until Ricky sent him back. Although tbf to Ponting I suppose he had a decent view of the Strauss catch.

Just curious, but how do you know Ponting "expected" Flintoff to take his word for the claimed catch? My reading of what happened is that Flintoff asked him if he caught it and Ponting said yes. I'm not really sure what else you'd expect him to do.

 

[Athlai]

Eh?

Informed decision > Split second one

 

[Neil Pickup]

Yeah how dare they change the result by checking it!

I appreciate that line even if no-one else does.

 

[Richard]

This series reeks of 2005 in so many ways, I really think England will walk this series as they did in 2005.

Australians hallucinating ****loads of injustices when in reality there have been a mere handful? Yeah, it does.

 

[pasag]

Loving the Aussie whinges here. You guys are going to have to adapt to losing a little bit more than you've been used to in the last couple of decades.

We've learnt from the best.

 

[Athlai]

I appreciate that line even if no-one else does.

Bless you sir.

 

[Manee]

And to think I was feeling bad about saying the recently arrived Aussie contingent from Planet Cricket were by and large morons.

They are not representative of our wider membership

 

[Andre]

Let's not forget one thing, though; sure the two dismissals have been doubtful but England are creating plenty of chances here and none of the Aussies have looked at ease. No-one can really say they wouldn't have had another non-dodgy one come along so these probably can't be used as justification for the Aussie performances right now and (probable) loss.

Yep, spot on.

They are all over us at the moment and deserve to be in this position, regardless of how they got there.