*Official* First Test at the Gabba

[Woodster]

If Australia win the first session tomorrow, England are in for a long, hard grind in this Test match.

Well it depends on how much they win the session by. We know both these sides have a tendency to lose wickets in clusters so even if we don't rip a few out in the opening session, it is important we keep it tight and not let them get away at any stage. A 100-0 session will leave us with plenty to do, but there is a very long way to go.

 

[social]

If Australia win the first session tomorrow, England are in for a long, hard grind in this Test match.

IF Oz win tomorrow and the next day "big" (say 3/4 for 300+ at stumps plus another 150 from the rest), I'm prepared to say that we'll win the Ashes easily

Eng looked completely demoralized when they came out to bowl, performed accordingly and will have no way back given that they have no great player

Having said that, I've got my doubts that this Australian batting order will succeed to that level and reckon we're in for a great test match and series

 

[social]

Re: the hattrick conversation earlier. Looking at a list of all of them, a number of the more recent ones do seem to have been proper batsmen:

Siddle getting Cook, Prior and Broad.
Sidebottom getting Fleming, Sinclair and Oram.
Pathan getting Butt, Younis and Yousuf.
Hoggard getting Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Ryan Hinds.
Harbhajan getting Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne.
McGrath getting Campbell, Lara and Adams.

There's something on the net about McGrath's plans for each batsman and how he delivered the absolutely perfect ball for each

Amazing skill and planning

 

[Woodster]

IF Oz win tomorrow and the next day "big" (say 3/4 for 300+ at stumps plus another 150 from the rest), I'm prepared to say that we'll win the Ashes easily

Eng looked completely demoralized when they came out to bowl, performed accordingly and will have no way back given that they have no great player

Having said that, I've got my doubts that this Australian batting order will succeed to that level and reckon we're in for a great test match and series

If your ideal scenario was to happen, I still don't believe that would spell the end of the Ashes as a competitive contest by any strecth of the imagination.

Had this England side got a lot of mental scars from past heavy defeats and Australia still had Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Hayden and Langer, then maybe I could see where you were coming from. As neither of these are true, then even despite a bad couple of days England would certainly have the capabilities to hit back.

 

[social]

If your ideal scenario was to happen, I still don't believe that would spell the end of the Ashes as a competitive contest by any strecth of the imagination.

Had this England side got a lot of mental scars from past heavy defeats and Australia still had Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Hayden and Langer, then maybe I could see where you were coming from. As neither of these are true, then even despite a bad couple of days England would certainly have the capabilities to hit back.

You could tell by their body language in the field that they were in shock

Tomorrow will reveal a lot about this series IMO

 

[Woodster]

You could tell by their body language in the field that they were in shock

Tomorrow will reveal a lot about this series IMO

Naturally they will have been a little disappointed, by there is great spirit in the English camp, and that won't disappear with a below-par, not awful, batting performance, don't worry about that.

 

[social]

Naturally they will have been a little disappointed, by there is great spirit in the English camp, and that won't disappear with a below-par, not awful, batting performance, don't worry about that.

Batting performance certainly wasnt awful

They were simply bowled out by one guy on a wicket that isnt as good (IMO) as some on here would have us believe

I hope Eng dont disappear without a trace and, having watched OZ for the past couple of years, am fully aware of their "ability" to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory BUT witnessing Jimmeh revert to type away from home and seeing Swann simply concede a belting in his only over doesnt bode well

I hoped for better

 

[Woodster]

Batting performance certainly wasnt awful

They were simply bowled out by one guy on a wicket that isnt as good (IMO) as some on here would have us believe

I hope Eng dont disappear without a trace and, having watched OZ for the past couple of years, am fully aware of their "ability" to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory BUT witnessing Jimmeh revert to type away from home and seeing Swann simply concede a belting in his only over doesnt bode well

I hoped for better

Ha ha, four overs between them and that's it, Jimmy cannot bowl in Australia as his figures 3-1-5-0 will testify, and Swann's one over, in which he surprisingly didn't take a wicket, will have no luck here in Brisbane. A fairly rash prediction one would think so early into an innings.

 

[Jarquis]

Reckon stumps came at a good time for England, if we'd had a 15-20 over burst at Aus and they made it through to 50/0 then I reckon it'd be a stiff ask. As it is, we've had a chance to regroup overnight and will no doubt come out all guns blazing (I hope).
To be perfectly honest with you, I'd take a Cardiff 2009 result in this Test.

 

[social]

Ha ha, four overs between them and that's it, Jimmy cannot bowl in Australia as his figures 3-1-5-0 will testify, and Swann's one over, in which he surprisingly didn't take a wicket, will have no luck here in Brisbane. A fairly rash prediction one would think so early into an innings.

Whilst I dont expect either to consistently live up to their pre-match hype (bowling styles simply dont suit conditions I'm afraid), reckon we've had a taste of what is to come

 

[Jarquis]

If Jimmy can go at 1.67 an over, I think he'll do alright. A SR of 90 gives him an average of 25

 

[wpdavid]

Interesting to see the last few posts. Having thought about it for a few hours, I'm sticking with my immediate view that if we can't make a proper score on a reasonable pitch against an attack with only one bowler on song the we're in deep **** for the next few weeks. Too many of the dismissals was simply too loose, and tbh we've seen this for most of the last 12 months. Our batsmen just don't have the hard-nosed professionalism to make bloody sure they go on with it if they get a start. Given that our attack is not obviously suited to conditions in Aus, we need scores of 450+ every time, and our batsmen just aren't equipped to get us there, even against a relatively moderate Aus attack. Unless they get their brains in gear ASAP, this series will be gone by the end of the 3rd test.

All that being said, you have to be pleased for Siddle. Listening to him after the game, he came over as a thoroughly likeable guy and we already knew that he obviously gives his all every time he sets foot on the field. Good luck to him.

 

[James]

I really hope England can turn it around, but this reminds me so much of the English Football Team at the recent World Cup in South Africa. The media and fans talk them up so much that the expectation is just too high. This is and was always going to be a close Ashes series. You wouldn't have thought that judging by all the media reports over the past few weeks.

 

[91Jmay]

I really hope England can turn it around, but this reminds me so much of the English Football Team at the recent World Cup in South Africa. The media and fans talk them up so much that the expectation is just too high. This is and was always going to be a close Ashes series. You wouldn't have thought that judging by all the media reports over the past few weeks.

Except the Cricket team are actually fairly good and the football team we're always massively overrated/terrible.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I hate C9 but listening to the contrasts in commentary, I'm glad I saw it on our feed. I think I dozed off during Gowers call.

 

[Ausage]

Interesting to see the last few posts. Having thought about it for a few hours, I'm sticking with my immediate view that if we can't make a proper score on a reasonable pitch against an attack with only one bowler on song the we're in deep **** for the next few weeks. Too many of the dismissals was simply too loose, and tbh we've seen this for most of the last 12 months. Our batsmen just don't have the hard-nosed professionalism to make bloody sure they go on with it if they get a start. Given that our attack is not obviously suited to conditions in Aus, we need scores of 450+ every time, and our batsmen just aren't equipped to get us there, even against a relatively moderate Aus attack. Unless they get their brains in gear ASAP, this series will be gone by the end of the 3rd test.

We haven't lost a test at this ground in over 20 years because facing top tier fast bowlers raised in these conditions isn't something you can quickly get used to. Struggling for a day is a long way from a death sentence. That wasn't just a decent spell from Sids either, it was phenomenal. In spite of all this, England got to respectable, if well below par, score.

I think if your boys can get themselves back mentally we've got a great series ahead.

 

[Howe_zat]

England are by no means out of this. They've lost the day but it's not like they've been bowled out for 100. A good spell or two from the bowlers, a better batting effort in the second innings and maybe a bit of luck and we could still head to Adelaide at 0-0.

Of course, Australia have the advantage and will look to push it, but England can take some comfort from the fact that the first two sessions were dead even. This still has the makings of a very tight series.

 

[irottev]

Australia should look for a 80-100 run lead here. The pitch should bat the best today of any day. I don't rate England's bowling that much in Australian conditions. There's not much variation at all. Swann's the key - but i'm picking him to be average. I think he's been hyped up a lot and he's coming off a good year. Australia woulda done their homework. He won't get conditions that suit him much. I think if they score over 320 they've done a good job.

 

[Ausage]

Australia should look for a 80-100 run lead here. The pitch should bat the best today of any day. I don't rate England's bowling that much in Australian conditions. There's not much variation at all. Swann's the key - but i'm picking him to be average. I think he's been hyped up a lot and he's coming off a good year. Australia woulda done their homework. He won't get conditions that suit him much. I think if they score over 320 they've done a good job.

Reckon 320 would be par. 400+ would be a good job IMO.

 

[TumTum]

A lead of just 100 is not enough. If we are going to win this, we need to do it by an innings (or at least close to it). Otherwise who knows we might collapse spectacularly in the 2nd innings.

This pitch isn't flat by any means, England would have to bowl really bad for us to get close to 500. I won't be surprised if we get bowled out for 300 tbh.