*Official* Second Test at Lords

[Burgey]

If you can't admit that it wasn't a pretty convincing 36 then you don't know cricket.

Mate, you're starting to sound like an incredibly artless version of Neville Cardus, who kept imploring Bradman to play the beautiful, but short and sharp knock on the 34 tour. Wonderful to behold but just not a threat to the opposition.
Spare us mate. he didn't look convincing at all, and I'm a fan of his. He's got some issues to work out,and I suspect he will. He's a good kid, but it's tough to learn on the job as a test player at 20. They should have had a third opener there, or a reserve batsman, just in case.

Good post, Burgey. You're quite right to draw attention to Ponting's post-match words, he spoke really well and fair play to him for that. The crowd rightly responded graciously too.

(Good to see he's learnt to avoid having a swipe when asked a question by a journalist on this occasion )

Seriously, another really great Test match. I honestly thought that Australia were going to do it when Clarke and Haddin made it through to stumps yesterday. And that in the teeth of a target of 522; well, it was spectacular. Clarke's innings was a great piece of work. My only real hope for victory today was an inspirational spell of fast bowling and that could only come from one man, who duly delivered an incredible performance today. Pleased also for Strauss, under pressure as captain, whose 161 obviously set up England for a reasonably competitive 1st innings score.

Did you charge for that conference when we spoke about your case on here t'other day?

Now, if People Skills Pietersen is out for the third test, who will the soap dodgers bring in?

Presumably if Flintoff is out they'll bring a bowler in (Harmison most likely), or now they lead 1-0 will they play an extra batsman?

 

[Matt79]

I haven't read through the thread yet, but I'll defy everyone to find any fault with what Ponting said in the post-match today. No sign of "enraged chimpdom" as one of our more socially challenged members has been dwelling upon. The guy never gets any credit for the good things he does off-field and I for one am proud of him as Australian captain.

 

[zaremba]

Ah, well. 'Twas always only a fool's chance this morning.

Well played England. Very well deserved win. Losing is always hard to take, but its much easier when its off the back of a performance like that from a champ like Fred, not to mention some excellent bowling from Swann. England stepped up so very well on all the key moments in this test - Strauss and Cook on the morning of day 1 after electing to bat, Flintoff and Anderson with the new ball in the Aussies' first innings, and Flintoff this morning.

Flintoff is such a champ - on one hand I'm so sick of seeing him stand there like a pillar, arms raised, looking like a god/doofus, having just crushed us, on the other, you have to love the bloke's talent, sense of occasion, and sheer guts. Along with Warne and Gilchrist, he's one of the most special cricketers for an occasion I've ever seen, and Test cricket is immeasurably richer for having had him, and poorer for now losing him.

Will say here that while the bad umpiring yesterday certainly didn't help us, in a situation where we already needed everything to go right for us, they weren't the reason we lost. The reason we lost was mainly our woeful display in our first innings - unacceptable by most of our batsmen. Our bowling was below par - Johnson bowled badly, and Siddle was too inconsistent. That left too much for Hauritz and Hilfenhaus to do, and ultimately it cost us. It's hard to be too critical of our batting in the second innings: too much was left to the lower order, but in this specific circumstance, that's not entirely their fault, although Hughes did nick that ball towards slip in the first place, and Hussey was beaten by that ball.

As I've said elsewhere, not sure what we can do to improve this team much - Clark might need to coe in for Siddle, although that's quite harsh on Sid. Ponting needs at least two quicks who he can count on to get it right. I'm hoping against hope that Johnson will take enough out of his innings today - especially the way he was all at sea early on, but was able to settle, then impose himself, that it will carry over to his bowling and he extracts his head from his ass and bowls like we know he can. If that happens, we'll make up this loss and more in the remaining three matches.

I tipped Australia 2-1 at the start - this was the "1". Bring on Edgbaston!

Great post.

 

[Matt79]

Hughes needs to do something soon, or else I'd think at the end of this series, he's better off going back to FC for another season and working out his obvious issues that at the moment at preventing him gain the benefit of his equally obvious strengths. By "do something" I mean demonstrate he can work out those problems in the cauldron of test cricket. Not writing him off, but plenty of young tyros have been dropped and come back in a year or two much more complete players.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

I suppose you're a big Ian Bell fan.

His better then Bopara, yeah.

 

[.matt]

Flintoff bowled really well today, and he was always going to get a wicket or two but what annoys me is that we seemed to come into today with the sense we could win. We needed to tell ourselves we were joking and just batted without a worry. Ah well, fair play to England. Well bowled this morning.

 

[morgieb]

Game finish, but no dimero.

 

[howardj]

As horrible as the umpiring was, I have no doubt the better team won. This Test should really drive home to the Australian batsmen, that one bad innings can cost a Test match - especially now that our bowling is not as bankable as it once was. WIth our attack struggling, the batsmen must ensure that once they get in, or once they're presented with a feather-bed as they were in the 1st innings, they fill their ****ing boots.

 

[JF.]

Series Leading Wickettakers:
Hauritz 9 @ 29.3

 

[Johnners]

Not getting the Flintoff hype, bowled well (could've finished the match earlier had he bowled more than about 5 balls on good length yesterday though imo), but fmd if Strauss didn't win the game for England with his first innings dig. Thought the umpiring left a little to be desired (obviousl), mainly because of the way the "catches" were handled more than anything though. Can sort of understand the Hussey and Katich dismissals despite the fact that umpires really should be getting those decisions. That being said though, it's kinda saddening knowing that I've come to accept the decisions more because I knew with Doctrove/Rudi umpiring they were bound to make some shockers.

 

[zaremba]

Hopefully that's the last we'll see of Billy Doctrove in this series. Can anyone confirm?

 

[pietersenrocks]

His better then Bopara, yeah.

He, sure is. Bell has a sound technique and great strokes. IMO, he has the ability to become a real good batsman.

I've heard Prior being criticised for his bad record against some particular teams, prior to this series. What's Bopara's average after excluding his runs against the West Indies?<20?

 

[Ausage]

Really hope we don't jerk our knees violently and drop Mitch. For a confidence bowler like Johnson to get dropped after one, admittedly dire innings would be harsh, and set him back in a big way. In his mind he'd know he was always a bad day away from being dropped and I can't see that helping someone like Mitch perform. We all know what he can do when he's on song, and considering the amount of lives we've given to proven performers in the past I think Mitch deserves AT LEAST another test or 2.

Not to mention there's no one exactly belting the door down.

 

[Pigeon]

Can't believe people are saying that Hughes is struggling. He murdered England in his first innings, was unlucky in the 2nd innings and wasn't even out in the 3rd.

he got out in all the innings he played.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hopefully that's the last we'll see of Billy Doctrove in this series. Can anyone confirm?

quite

8-12 July England v Australia (Test), Cardiff Billy Doctrove and Aleem Dar, Jeff Crowe (referee)
16-20 July England v Australia (Test), Lord's Billy Doctrove and Rudi Koertzen, Jeff Crowe (referee)
30 July-3 August England v Australia (Test), Birmingham Rudi Koertzen and Aleem Dar, Jeff Crowe (referee)
7-11 August England v Australia (Test), Leeds Billy Bowden and Asad Rauf, Ranjan Madugalle (referee)
20-24 August England v Australia (Test), The Oval Billy Bowden and Asad Rauf, Ranjan Madugalle (referee)

 

[pietersenrocks]

Can't believe people are saying that Hughes is struggling. He murdered England in his first innings, was unlucky in the 2nd innings and wasn't even out in the 3rd.

Murdered?

You really think 'what he did to England was the same Freddie did to Australia'?

 

[Daryl Harper]

What's Bopara's average after excluding his runs against the West Indies?<20?

Good question, must be very low. Bell's far better.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Bowden and Rauf? Uh ohhhh.

 

[zaremba]

Really hope we don't jerk our knees violently and drop Mitch. For a confidence bowler like Johnson to get dropped after one, admittedly dire innings would be harsh, and set him back in a big way. In his mind he'd know he was always a bad day away from being dropped and I can't see that helping someone like Mitch perform. We all know what he can do when he's on song, and considering the amount of lives we've given to proven performers in the past I think Mitch deserves AT LEAST another test or 2.

Not to mention there's no one exactly belting the door down.

His runs will secure his place in the team. The selectors will take the view that those runs will have given him a confidence boost, and that his bowling can only benefit from that (it could hardly deteriorate tbf). Injury aside, the only thing that will keep him out of the team for Birmingham will be if he gets an absolute pasting in the next tour game, which I don't expect he will. But he's got a lot of improving to do to represent anything more than a spasmodic threat to England with the ball.

I liked his batting in this innings - looks to have a good technique, gives the ball a biff, and once he got past the inevitable early play-and-misses he looked as though he wouldn't get out. (Until he got out, obviously - but that was largely due to him batting with no.11 and feeling he needed runs off the last ball of the over).

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Murdered?

You really think 'what he did to England was the same Freddie did to Australia'?

You mean hit boundaries that weren't even boundaries? I'm pretty sure that he didn't do that opposed to Flintoff who would've only ended up with 3fer if it wasn't for some abysmal/inconsistent umpiring. Although he did bowl well.