*Official* First Test at the Gabba

[vic_orthdox]

Doherty did his job, looked reasonably positive and threatening early although got a little bit straight to Cook. He kept the pressure on well up one end during Siddle's spell after lunch where he got the double breakthrough.

He gets the ball up and down pretty quickly, and gets the ball to bite more than Haury (and O'Keefe).

 

[Spark]

Was a nasty, nasty ball. Still can't get over it.

 

[Zinzan]

Wow, exciting first days play coupled with some magnificent commentary provided throughout this thread by rival fans.

 

[pasag]

I wouldn't be too concerned if I was an English fan, the batting looked pretty solid and confident, certainly not afraid of the Australian attack. Yeah, things didn't go as planned but they will as the series goes on unless our attack fixes itself up pretty quickly. You won't have blokes bowling hat-tricks every day.

Was very impressed with Bell today. I hate his guts because he's soft as butter but I'll have to revise that if he plays many more innings like that. That said, I thought he had finally arrived in 07 in that Indian ODI series but he dropped off pretty quickly after that...

 

[Noble One]

Doherty did his job, looked reasonably positive and threatening early although got a little bit straight to Cook. He kept the pressure on well up one end during Siddle's spell after lunch where he got the double breakthrough.

He gets the ball up and down pretty quickly, and gets the ball to bite more than Haury (and O'Keefe).

The delivery that dismissed Bell dipped nicely. To the casual observer it looks a loose slog, but Doherty beat him in flight and ended a decent 9th wicket partnership.

 

[TumTum]

Does Warney commentate for both SkySports and CH9?

 

[Ruckus]

If the weather is fine and sunny, I will be really disappointed if we can't put up a total of atleast 350. The wicket looks very good for batting really, so unless overcast conditions aid the English bowlers, 350-400 is par for me.

 

[Spark]

Yep he did.

DeusEx how are you getting Sky highlights?

And AWTA to Noble One. Definitely beat Bell in flight, took the outside half of the bat.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Don't agree with that part at all.

Yeah neither do I. In fact those comments miss the mark by almost as much as Trott missed the ball when he was bowled.

 

[Ruckus]

Yep he did.

DeusEx how are you getting Sky highlights?

And AWTA to Noble One. Definitely beat Bell in flight, took the outside half of the bat.

skysports.com?

 

[Son Of Coco]

Watson is a pretty decent 5th bowler to be fair, but no test batsmen who are set (Trott) should ever get out to a straight 80MPH ball.

Wasn't straight mate. Watch it again...and again and again if necessary.

Was a good ball on a good length that did a bit. Combine that with the fact that Trott's not so hot on the off-side and was made to play a shot exactly there and you have a good ball that made a set batsman look very ordinary.

 

[Spark]

It's not working for me... one page says I need a skysports ID and the other isn't playing

 

[Ruckus]

I think Dougie should replace Hilfenhaus after this test. Was expecting Hilf to perform his best here (not wanting to get too far ahead of myself), but he has looked pretty harmless. The only problem with replacing Hilf with Doug is it makes our tail pretty long and weak: Johnson, Doherty, Siddle, bollinger.

 

[TT Boy]

Ian Bell - ""We're not a million miles away from a par score."

Bell is right, not a million miles just 150+ runs short.

 

[Ruckus]

It's not working for me... one page says I need a skysports ID and the other isn't playing

SkySports Video Player (v09)

That's the exact link I could watch it on.

 

[Top_Cat]

I think Dougie should replace Hilfenhaus after this test. Was expecting Hilf to perform his best here (not wanting to get too far ahead of myself), but he has looked pretty harmless. The only problem with replacing Hilf with Doug is it makes our tail pretty long and weak: Johnson, Doherty, Siddle, bollinger.

Not to mention other minor considerations like destabilising the bowling combination, affecting team morale, etc.

 

[vic_orthdox]

There's another whole innings to go before we have to worry about the next game and selection of our bowlers, for goodness sake.

Well, hopefully not but you get my drift.

 

[Spark]

Video unavailable

 

[Ruckus]

Not to mention other minor considerations like destabilising the bowling combination, affecting team morale, etc.

Eh? I don't think Hilf is any more important to "team morale" than anyone else. I would have actually thought Dougie was a very popular figure in the team.

 

[Ruckus]

Video unavailable

Sorry mate, it was working for me, maybe you don't have the right plugins or something? I'm not actually sure what the player is...