*Official* Fourth Test at Headingley

[Nate]

Yeah, that's terrible.

 

[pup11]

Is that it?

Yup,and I know its terrible, but after all its the creation of the Barmy Army....

This is the link to the article I was talking about...

 

[LongHopCassidy]

The 1/32nd of an Englishman in me wants to see Ricky booed without mercy, just cause it'd be hilarious after warnings against it made it into the match program.

Kinda like saying 'do not drink' at a brewery. Farce, is what it is.

 

[pup11]

The 1/32nd of an Englishman in me wants to see Ricky booed without mecry, just cause it'd be hilarious after warnings against it made it into the match program.

What a boo-boo.

I would be really surprised if he doesn't get booed tbh, when people are told to not do a thing in particular, it just makes them more determined to do it, and that's exactly what ECB has done by asking people not to boo Ponting.

At the end of the day people think Ricky is cry-baby who gets effected by such ****, but they tend to forget that he is man who has scored over 11,000 test runs and has 38 test 100's to his name, and had stuff like this started to faze him, he won't have made it this far.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

I would be really surprised if he doesn't get booed tbh, when people are told to not do a thing in particular, it just makes them more determined to do it, and that's exactly what ECB has done by asking people not to boo Ponting.

Agreed. I'd like to see them enforce it, too.

"I was saying Boo-urns!"

 

[Burgey]

Really think he gives a ****? The man's been to the subcontinent FFS. There's a whole Ponting section at Effigies R Us.

 

[four_or_six]

Barmy army might not boo Ponting but they have prepared a pretty nice ode for him, its in the paeprs here this mroning, and this is how it goes:

Hey, Ricky, Hey Ricky, what you gonna do
Hey, Ricky, Hey Ricky, get on your kangaroo
We're taking back the Ashes, they don't belong to you
Cos we're the Barmy Army, we're England through and through

You tried to find a bowler, but it ended up in tears
You once had Warne and McGrath, now it's just that Brett Lee 'Spears'

You"ll try to get a century, but we know how you bat
So go on Down Under, or we"ll bring out Gary Pratt
Symonds has gone fishing, Gilchrist is long gone
You have got no spinners, we've got Panesar and Swann

You'll always be a whinger, when will you ever learn
You'll never get your hands on our little Ashes urn
You cook shrimps on the barbie, drink beer that's really weak

Your country isn't quite as old as some of our antiques
You didn't like our Bodyline, wish Beefy had been yours
Now we've got KP and Freddie hit sixes and fours
Come on England

I bet Ricky won't have minded them booing him, intead of having to listen to this all the time...

in all its musical glory...

 

[Burgey]

That girl has a great rack.

This'll be number one in England. After all, they gave us Steps didn't they?

 

[GIMH]

That's not the swap though, surely? Wouldn't Trott come in for Flintoff, and Harmison for Lady Boy?

Otherwise you'd have:

Bounced Catch (c)
Half-Cooked
Ravi
Sherminator
Collywobbles
Wrong Priority
Lady Boy
Ugly Duckling
Spanish
Monobrow
Harmy

It's an interesting line-up given they're 1-0 up with two to play. Kudos on running with it if they do, as it's certainly aggressive and doesn't seem as though they're sitting back, but the tail is very long.

Then again, they've batted well down the order all series.

Love the way Bopara just gets his real name!

Anyway, waiting for my lift AWS. Excited. Come on England

 

[howardj]

The weather is set fair, while the air is pregnant with anticipation.

 

[four_or_six]

According to the mirror Lee won't be playing.

In addition Ponting must work out how he is going to get Lee back on side after the bowler appeared to be told he was being left out of the side at the ground yesterday and all but burst into tears at the news.

 

[Top_Cat]

According to the mirror Lee won't be playing.

By far the bigger news in that article is that Clarke might be out.

 

[four_or_six]

By far the bigger news in that article is that Clarke might be out.

Absolutely, would be a huge blow for Australia. Not only will they lose their best batsmen, they'll have to reshuffle their batting order which isn't ideal when they've just done that in the last match and it paid off.

 

[Prince EWS]

By far the bigger news in that article is that Clarke might be out.

Yeah, thought that too. The Mirror's hardly a great source though; basically just a rumour mill a lot of the time.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah, thought that too. The Mirror's hardly a great source though; basically just a rumour mill a lot of the time.

Yeh, it's pretty sad that's what we'll be left with when Murdoch makes everyone pay for his online news. Until they decide to follow suit.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeh, it's pretty sad that's what we'll be left with when Murdoch makes everyone pay for his online news. Until they decide to follow suit.

Meh, surely there'll be someone on CricketWeb who pays for the newsfeed and fills us in. I can wait until my dad gets home from work with the day's papers for non-cricket stuff.

 

[pskov]

Yeh, it's pretty sad that's what we'll be left with when Murdoch makes everyone pay for his online news. Until they decide to follow suit.

Only if you are looking for tabloid gutter press. Plenty of proper papers without Murdoch's grubby mitts on them over here.

 

[Burgey]

Is Rudi standing in this game?

 

[four_or_six]

Is Rudi standing in this game?

Nope, Billy's back.

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)

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, same mail I'm getting. Clarke almost certain to play but if not Ronald would take his spot.

Can't believe the Lee-love. He's had 18 good months as a Test cricketer in a 10 year career - his first 6 and 12 between 2006-07. He's never won us a Test match that I can recall, and his numbers for a bloke who has played 80 Tests aren't outstanding.

He's been bowling for the last 8 days - and he's seriously being considered for a Test start? Come on. IF he had miles of bowling under the belt pre-injury then maybe - but only maybe - fair enough. But he's barely had a decent bowl since 2008. No way in the world he should play.

Won you the entire series at home to India in '07/08.

I'm not sure he should play. On one hand, I think fears over his bowling are extremely OTT. He was bowling at his best just four weeks ago, he's been declared medically fit, and by all accounts he was bowling full-pace in the nets on Wednesday (and with ten years of experience i seriously doubt he's going to find himself unable to carry that form into a match).

On the other hand, there isn't that much to gain from playing him. Johnson kinda has to play now, and it's debateable whether he'd even be as effective as Stuart Clark. Hauritz and Hilfenhaus are players we know are bowling well. If Siddle plays ahead of him it would be the wrong call IMO, but if Clark comes in then you can't really complain.

He's a real quality bowler, and in many ways it's odd that Australia can't find a place for him despite having a sub-standard attack all series.