*Official* Third Test at the WACA

[Spark]

TBH it could be good that Watson has to start again in the morning. Will be sharp and careful, and is less likely to fall victim to a lazy shot which has been his downfall in this kind of territory too often.

 

[MW1304]

Painful to see that our old English pessimism was well founded despite looking in control.

Lets be honest, we were never going to keep up a dominant position for long enough to seal the ashes by Christmas and its (pretty much) all thanks to MJ. How the ****ety **** did he get his swing back? Brilliant bowling.

 

[GIMH]

Not at all, I'll just remember that every time a ball gets a wicket then it was a good one, because it was somewhere you could get someone out. Finn's ball to Ponting was a blinder, wouldn't say otherwise.

Don't know how many times I've said this series that England have bowled much better than us.

You're missing the point, though. Of course dross takes wickets, I wouldn't dream of saying that Finn has been the best bowler in the series.

It is hypocritical though, to say that it was bad batting that got Chimp & Clarke out yesterday and then laud the Prior wicket as a fine expodition of fast bowling. It was a piece of **** bouncer that shouldn't have got any batsman out but was a good ball because it worked to a plan; similarly yesterday morning England worked to a plan in looking at how the aforementioned two had got out. But straight away a bunch of you refused to give any credit to English bowlers or tactics and assume that the problem must be at your end. Well yeah, there are problems at your end, and so we bowled to them accordingly...just as Siddle did to Prior.

Bottom line is it's a huge double standard.

 

[Ruckus]

Shattered I missed all of today's play.

Watson is not out...

 

[MW1304]

I knew all this media ****iness would come to bite us on the arse. I don't care what anyone says about this Aussie side, it's still Australia. They simply don't just lay die down and get walloped, and especially at home too. It really irritated me when our commentators and press said we had another brilliant day when in actual fact we didn't; we had them 69/5 and let them off the hook.

All in all, this could very well be the day England lost the Ashes. I'm not saying it will be, because we can still even win this Test and we can also bounce back from defeat to win the final two. But I just had to make a point as to how arrogant it was to suggest that Australia just had nothing left in them and we'd just walk all over them. People forget we're still England.

Oh, and Mitchell Johnson you're still a ****

Agree entirely with all of this.

 

[JBH001]

Jeez, apart from the first 5 balls of his 1st over, Swann's spell was rubbish.

I still reckon he and Anderson need to start tomorrow morning for England though.

 

[Ruckus]

Finn's been copping a fair bit of criticism, but I thought his delivery to Hughes in particular was excellent.

 

[Rant0r]

I knew all this media ****iness would come to bite us on the arse. I don't care what anyone says about this Aussie side, it's still Australia. They simply don't just lay die down and get walloped, and especially at home too. It really irritated me when our commentators and press said we had another brilliant day when in actual fact we didn't; we had them 69/5 and let them off the hook.

All in all, this could very well be the day England lost the Ashes. I'm not saying it will be, because we can still even win this Test and we can also bounce back from defeat to win the final two. But I just had to make a point as to how arrogant it was to suggest that Australia just had nothing left in them and we'd just walk all over them. People forget we're still England.

Oh, and Mitchell Johnson you're still a ****

*nods*

 

[stephen]

It's like late 2005 all over again, isn't it?

It feels like it. Clarke can be a very frustrating player. He has so much talent but you constantly feel that he squanders it.

He also seems to fall out of form at the same time as Ponting, which is extremely irritating.

 

[Jarquis]

Hate cricket

 

[GIMH]

What's the highest people think England can chase?

Australia might even have enough now.

 

[DragonPunk]

Love cricket. Watto to ton up tomorrow.

 

[Spark]

It feels like it. Clarke can be a very frustrating player. He has so much talent but you constantly feel that he squanders it.

He also seems to fall out of form at the same time as Ponting, which is extremely irritating.

Bit of a fall from grace for a player described by Mickey Arthur no less as having "no major weaknesses". Well, he has one now - anything in the corridor at any old length.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Surprise, surprise. A wicket with a tad in it for the bowlers and the techniques of all these prolific batsman are suddenly exposed.

 

[Pizzorno]

Agree entirely with all of this.

It was embarrassing listening to the Sky team yesterday. The way they were talking up England you'd think we were one of the greatest sides of all time. Hopefully today will make them more bearable for the rest of the series and make them treat Australia with a bit of ****ing respect.

 

[Ruckus]

He also seems to fall out of form at the same time as Ponting, which is extremely irritating.

Bingo. Ponting is definately the person he looks up to, and I bet when Ponting goes cheaply in the back of Clarke's mind there is a feeling of not needing to take responsibity with his own wicket - it's almost like a excuse not to peform. The sooner Ponting loses the Captaincy and/or changes batting position the better imo.

 

[Jacknife]

Apparently the last 4 final innings have been scores of over 300, so there is everything to play for, one of the England bowlers or a combination, are going to have to bowl a great spell or two. Then the batsmen are going to have to hope that form they've showed comes to the party.

 

[Pizzorno]

What's the highest people think England can chase?

Australia might even have enough now.

To be honest, i'd rather see us chase a big score than a little one. I don't know what it is about being an England supporter, but i'd feel more confident chasing 400 than 120...

But as for what we could chase for this game? Not happening, the game's in the bag. Let's hope we can show our bottle and come back strong at Melbourne.

 

[Son Of Coco]

You're missing the point, though. Of course dross takes wickets, I wouldn't dream of saying that Finn has been the best bowler in the series.

It is hypocritical though, to say that it was bad batting that got Chimp & Clarke out yesterday and then laud the Prior wicket as a fine expodition of fast bowling. It was a piece of **** bouncer that shouldn't have got any batsman out but was a good ball because it worked to a plan; similarly yesterday morning England worked to a plan in looking at how the aforementioned two had got out. But straight away a bunch of you refused to give any credit to English bowlers or tactics and assume that the problem must be at your end. Well yeah, there are problems at your end, and so we bowled to them accordingly...just as Siddle did to Prior.

Bottom line is it's a huge double standard.

I think the point is whether a batsman should get out to a ball in a certain area. If Prior looks bad against the short ball then it's what you'd expect to happen. He was unlucky that particular ball ended up on the stumps, but not that he got out to a short ball.

I can understand why Prior played the shot he did to the ball he got today given how he had played the short ball. I can't understand what Clarke was thinking playing the ball the way he did yesterday in an area that shouldn't trouble anyone. If he'd have been pinned by a short ball, given the way he's played them, then I could see the logic.

I'm not quite sure what you expect, to be honest, I can see the merit in Ponting's 1st innings dismissal. Hughes too, in both innings. Clarke's was poor...everyone on here said that, it was a poor shot to a nothing ball.

 

[Jacknife]

It was embarrassing listening to the Sky team yesterday. The way they were talking up England you'd think we were one of the greatest sides of all time. Hopefully today will make them more bearable for the rest of the series and make them treat Australia with a bit of ****ing respect.

I didn't get that at all and they were saying yesterday if Oz bowled well they were still in the games. I never got the impression they thought this side was the greatest of all time and the opposite, they always like to remind us of the collapsing ability.