*Official* Fifth Test at The Oval

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Slow overate I heard, classic Cook bull****, would love for him to get banned at some point because of overate, England have been hopeless thus far (although day 1 was good)

I love Cook - he's an Essex player you see - but slowing down the over rate is one of the scourges of the modern game. Captains have been banned for such behaviour in the past and I certainly wouldn't be ruling it out here.

 

[Days of Grace]

Not sure if mentioned anywhere but Jackson Bird is flying home with a back injury

Wonder if it will take him that much longer with a crook back?

 

[Burgey]

Interesting article on Phil Hughes

Blogs: Jon Hotten: Losing Phil Hughes | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Furball]

Hughes' initial dropping was absolutely ridiculous and was the worst bit of selection the Australian panel has made in the last 5 years.

 

[dermo]

Its so frustrating, i really would consider binning Flower off after the next Ashes series, all this negativity originates from him, its gradually getting worse and worse and it horrible to watch, the England side are better than that, its a struggle to understand why it has gone this way.

This match has been 4th gear so far!

much more deep seeded than this imo, originates from being english, its in the chemical make up of the british specimen, supposedly due to the shocking climate and horrendously low standards of female lifeforms.

 

[Dan]

Look, both sides better cut this 'third gear' rubbish out. It clearly isn't serious discussion any more, simply an attempt to wind other posters up.

Everyone to have posted a 'third gear' joke (or some variant) after this post has been given a general warning. It will be 8 points if I see them again.

 

[dermo]

Everyone to have posted a 'third gear' joke (or some variant) after this post has been given a general warning. It will be 8 points if I see them again.

Dan stepping things up a couple of......

 

[social]

Its so frustrating, i really would consider binning Flower off after the next Ashes series, all this negativity originates from him, its gradually getting worse and worse and it horrible to watch, the England side are better than that, its a struggle to understand why it has gone this way.

This match has been 4th gear so far!

Cook is the captain and if he didn't agree with it, he could simply put a stop to it on the field

Fact is that he hasn't so must shoulder all the blame

IMO, England's attitude is a reflection of their captain as whilst an excellent player, he is terribly defensive and has done everything he can to minimize the risks in his own game

As such, it is hardly surprising to me that this attitude has carried over into his captaincy and has manifested itself in defensive field settings and slowing of over rates when the opposition evenly remotely looks like getting a roll on.

Furthermore, this attitude has also infected some of his batting partners (e.g. Root and Compton) who appear to be inhibiting themselves as the thought of failure is almost too much to bear

 

[Riggins]

sooo good.

 

[Ruckus]

I just think we're sometimes in danger of over-rating lame bloomers by comparing their averages to those of players who had long careers. If you want to judge players primarily on how good they were at their peak then that's absolutely fine, but anyone who says Harris was better than Lee when their careers are said and done is comparing Harris's peak to Lee's entire career, which isn't really fair at all. Lee certainly had a peak the length of what Harris's whole Test career will be that was every bit as good as what Harris is doing right now IMO and if Harris played as many Tests as Lee did at the same ages etc he'd probably have a Test career average of about 45.

Don't think it's really fair to use the word 'peak'. I haven't seen anything to suggest in Harris' short career that he hasn't just flat-lined at a very high level since his resurgence as a bowler (both in tests and domestically). I think there is a difference between a peak, which to me connotes a temporary period of good form, and a more permanent change in a bowlers ability. Harris is similar to someone like Anderson for me - he's just a much better bowler now than he used to be. Don't know if you could say the same for Lee... I mean if you take away his first year (where he only bowled 37 overs), he didn't average under 30 for two consecutive years ever in his 10 year career.

 

[Maximas]

Cook epitomizes negativity, he is just as bad if not worse than Dhoni, but he is also a product of the English production lines of captaincy, I'm just glad we have Clarkeh

 

[Son Of Coco]

Everyone to have posted a 'third gear' joke (or some variant) after this post has been given a general warning. It will be 8 points if I see them again.

If this clears the way for the phrase "3rd Gear" never to be mentioned again with regards to The Ashes I'm all for it.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The umpires didn't even have a word. The ball drying was somewhat taking the piss.

And here I was thinking the English players just ducked off for a massage.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Its so frustrating, i really would consider binning Flower off after the next Ashes series, all this negativity originates from him, its gradually getting worse and worse and it horrible to watch, the England side are better than that, its a struggle to understand why it has gone this way.

This match has been 4th gear so far!

Does it really come from Flower though? It hasn't been unusual for English teams over the years to retreat into their shell very quickly when they're not on top.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Not sure if mentioned anywhere but Jackson Bird is flying home with a back injury

Well played!

 

[Ruckus]

amazing how misleading stats on face value can be. The series score is 3-0 to Eng, yet when you look at the series stats for both teams, 4 of the 5 top run scorers are Aus (and that probably won't change when Eng bat) with 4 of the Aus top order averaging over 40, whilst only 1 for Eng. And the Aus quicks averaging considerably less than their Eng counterparts.

Goes to show how important it is to play well in the right moments, something Eng have been dominating us in or some time now. That, and, Ian Bell has been an annoying **** this series.

 

[91Jmay]

Slow overate I heard, classic Cook bull****, would love for him to get banned at some point because of overate, England have been hopeless thus far (although day 1 was good)

That isn't one word.

 

[Maximas]

That isn't one word.

oh, well, that changes everything then doesn't it?

 

[91Jmay]

The pedant in me is now placated, so yes.

Yeah Cook should be fined/put on his last warning after today. Was a joke, especially after people waited around for 3 and a half hours for play.

 

[Son Of Coco]

That isn't one word.

Some people get a bit out of control with there spelling.