*Official* Fifth Test at The Oval

[Uppercut]

That's putting it very mildly imo, we have been nothing short of diabolical with the bat at times in this series.

Harsh on England, I'd say. On three separate occasions England were just too good for you with the ball. It was nothing to do with the Aussies underperforming or throwing their wickets away.

 

[Pratters]

Just saw the wickets. Quality swing bowling from Broad, it was. (y)

 

[silentstriker]

Think they have a brief to kill off any last resistance to the idea of referrals.

Haha, yup.

That's putting it very mildly imo, we have been nothing short of diabolical with the bat at times in this series.

It is possible to play well and still lose. It was mostly very good bowling.

 

[Johnners]

Gah sick of this, every time one team bowls well its all "nah nah nah the batsmen were ****, bowlers weren't special" and vice versa. Give the opposition a bit of credit ffs.

 

[Woodster]

Outstanding bowling from England, Broad has bowled as well as I've ever seen him bowl, with excellent support from Swanny. Still a long way to go in this game, there will certainly be no chickens being counted on my part!

However, all the chat about 332 being below par, the lambasting of England's middle order, who, when you look at both sides after they've batted on this pitch, did a pretty good job!

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

What a bizzare Ashes this has been.

 

[Uppercut]

Gah sick of this, every time one team bowls well its all "nah nah nah the batsmen were ****, bowlers weren't special" and vice versa. Give the opposition a bit of credit ffs.

Yeah, there's a lot of negativity about. I think a lot of Australian fans are used to being so much better than England that when England excel against them they think it's because they're playing badly.

The English fans (GIMH aside) are just ridiculously sour.

 

[Pratters]

However, all the chat about 332 being below par, the lambasting of England's middle order, who, when you look at both sides after they've batted on this pitch, did a pretty good job!

Barring Strauss, England players essentially threw away their wickets mostly.

 

[tooextracool]

I think with the exception of the first innings at Lords, the Australian batting has been pretty good. I mean you could argue that there were poor at Lords, Edgbaston and the Oval today, but I think at Lords it took a superhuman effort from Flintoff, at Edgbaston Anderson was unplayable and today Broad has bowled the best spell of his career. With the exception of possibly Clarke, I dont remember a wicket that was given away with a poor stroke or a waft at something that was unnecessary today.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Just watching the highlights, Broad's bowled some very good balls this morning. Good length and swinging.

Australia throwing down quite a challenge to England as far as who can play the worst this series goes. England probably had the worst team effort 1st innings of the last test, but we've only just scraped past.

Not sure this DVD will be worth buying to be honest.

To have the highest runscorers and highest wicket-takers and still be in this position is a remarkable effort.

Good to see someone finally worked out what happens when you put it on a length though. I have always thought it's the first place you aim on any wicket and let the rest work itself out from there. In this series it seems like anytime the bowlers have put in consistently on a length the batting has folded and the rest of the time both sides have sprayed it around.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Outstanding bowling from England, Broad has bowled as well as I've ever seen him bowl, with excellent support from Swanny. Still a long way to go in this game, there will certainly be no chickens being counted on my part!

However, all the chat about 332 being below par, the lambasting of England's middle order, who, when you look at both sides after they've batted on this pitch, did a pretty good job!

Nah England's batting was still rubbish. The difference is England picked a spinner and Broad had a special spell of bowling at an early(ish) part of the innings.

 

[Son Of Coco]

What a bizzare Ashes this has been.

Was thinking the same thing, it's been a bit like watching Zimbabwe play Bangladesh at times.

 

[pup11]

Harsh on England, I'd say. On three separate occasions England were just too good for you with the ball. It was nothing to do with the Aussies underperforming or throwing their wickets away.

At Lord's and now here we have just been diabolical, at Edgbaston we were done in by some excellent swing bowling, so won't blame the batsmen much for that, but today after lunch we just went into a shell as if we were playing on a minefield and led to this situation, I'm not taking any credit away from Broad, I think he bowled very smartly, but there is no way in hell we should be losing 8 wickets is one session, there simply no excuse for that.

 

[Burgey]

I think with the exception of the first innings at Lords, the Australian batting has been pretty good. I mean you could argue that there were poor at Lords, Edgbaston and the Oval today, but I think at Lords it took a superhuman effort from Flintoff, at Edgbaston Anderson was unplayable and today Broad has bowled the best spell of his career. With the exception of possibly Clarke, I dont remember a wicket that was given away with a poor stroke or a waft at something that was unnecessary today.

AWTA.

1st innings Lord's was terrible, iirc 4 or 5 blokes got out hooking ffs. Edgbaston was decent bowling and this has been good too.

 

[Uppercut]

Was thinking the same thing, it's been a bit like watching Zimbabwe play Bangladesh at times.

Haha, come off it. You wouldn't get bowling of the quality Broad produced today.

For me it's been the story of one team with sub-standard bowlers and one team with sub-standard batsmen.

 

[Matt79]

That's putting it very mildly imo, we have been nothing short of diabolical with the bat at times in this series.

Harsh on England, I'd say. On three separate occasions England were just too good for you with the ball. It was nothing to do with the Aussies underperforming or throwing their wickets away.

With Uppercut on this. We could have batted better, and its when the opposition is playing well that players can make their reputation by withstanding it, but in the two sessions with the bat I'm referring to, England bowled very well, and we weren't good enough to withstand it. The third session was the last at Cardiff when Jimmy and Monty held us out - again, they played well, but we should have been able to get those wickets.

 

[NUFAN]

Wow, the last couple of hours have been some of the worst few hours of Cricket I have watched as an Australian supporter in my life.

Broad was absolutely brilliant, amazing to think that he's already got as many 5-fors as Freddy has in his entire career.

I still have some extremely optimistic hope that Australia will win this.

 

[Jamee999]

Awoohhoooo!

 

[King Pietersen]

Clark gone. Swann gets his 4th. Missed it by a mile though tbf.

 

[sledger]

Gone, should be all out before 5.30.