***Official*** 1st Test at The Gabba

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Plan for 2009 Ashes: pick 11 convicts. They make decent cricketers. says:
if Australia don't enforce the follow on, they could possibly win by 1000+ runs

Bennett at his best.

Lee, what a star.

 

[tooextracool]

good bowling and even better captaincy there. Flintoff was expecting the short ball, and as a result his feet got nowhere near the ball. This is really going to be a thumping win for Australia now.
On a positive note, Bell seems to be batting like Rahul Dravid at the other end.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Right, balls to this, I'm off to bed. I reckon it'll all be over by the time I wake up.

& if I wake up needing a slash at 3 I'll still stick to that.

 

[grecian]

Yeah. I feel sorry for Bell, the man looks like hes maturing into a top-class cricketer, but the way things are going he'll end 30 not out.

 

[Matt79]

God, England having terrible luck there - Pieterson looked out at full speed on first viewing but the reply looks like he was unlucky, and now Flintoff given out off what should have been a no-ball! Disaster and heart-breaking stuff. I want the Aussies to smash them, but I don't think we need this kind of help to do it!

 

[tooextracool]

the pietersen one was a horrible one to be honest. Gotta love David Lloyd talking about how it looked like it was hitting middle stump on real time. Anyone who isnt blind would have enough doubts about that decision, in real time i was saying to myself thats clearly not out. It didnt even hit the seam, it was just a straight ball outside the off stump

 

[Turbinator]

Bell and Jones are looking really good at the crease they'll both make centuries!


*goes back to the tv set to check if the jinx worked*

 

[GotSpin]

Odds for them to get a 500 run partnership?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

It looked out to me in real time as well, actually. And the benefit of the doubt always goes against the batsman when they don't play a shot. Having said that, it was obviously the incorrect decision on the replay, but an understandable one.

Anyway, great bowling this morning. McGrath is loving this surface and moving it a mile both ways off the cracks, and he's going to be a consistent handful. Australia may be batting again by tea at this rate, or have England in their second innings.

 

[tooextracool]

Pontings captaincy has been spot on this morning. He didnt bring Warne on while Pietersen was batting and now that Bell is still in, hes brought on Warne

 

[tooextracool]

Geraint Jones is such a *****. Why on earth is he still playing that sweep shot?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The pitch was dead flat on day one, was dead flat on day 2 and presumably will be dead flat on day 3 as well. Day 4 and day 5 is another story because as you've mentioned there are enough cracks for Warne and the rest to cause problems. However anyone could see that none of the England or Australian bowlers got anything out of the wicket, even with the new ball there was marginal movement. Brett Lees first over had every single ball being gun barrell straight. Mcgrath was by and large innocuous except for the odd ball(the one that got Cook). The one that got Strauss should really have been smashed to the boundary on the off side. If you think this has been a good cricketing wicket for the last 2 days, then one has to say that you've been really spoilt by the number of disgracefully flat wickets that have been produced in Australia over the last 5 years.

I didn't say it has been a good cricket wicket, though I certainly don't think it was too bad, but it wasn't dead flat by any stretch of the imagination. No wicket with that much pace and bounce can be described as "flat", it was merely a good batting wicket that offered a little bit to the seamers if they bowled well enough, and quite a lot to spinners even on the first day. The fact that Giles and Pietersen were turning it plenty says a lot in that regard, and that was before the cracks or rough became a factor.

There obviously hasn't been any swing, which is why Lee and Hoggard haven't got the new ball to do anything in the air, but that's largely because of the hot, dry weather and has nothing to do with the surface. And really, I don't know how you could possibly describe the wicket yesterday evening as anything like flat. McGrath got plenty of seam movement on a few occasions, even almost getting Bell LBW with one that pitched miles wide of off stump, and this morning he's moved it a foot on a couple of occasions. Obviously the cracks are much wider today, but they were there yesterday as well, which is why Flintoff got a few delieveries to take off on a length and so on.

 

[tooextracool]

The advantage of toss is just starting to kick in.the cracks really are starting to play their part now, and its only going to go downhill from here for England.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Pontings captaincy has been spot on this morning. He didnt bring Warne on while Pietersen was batting and now that Bell is still in, hes brought on Warne

Agreed, he was good yesterday too. It's interesting the turnaround from last year, when Vaughan had top class plans to all batsmen and looked very assured while Ponting looked inept on quite a few occasions. Ponting's field to Strauss last night was very good, as Bill Lawry of all people managed to notice, and the plan to get him hooking was a good one. Flintoff on the other hand was terribly reactive in the field and generally struggled, albeit under tougher circumstances.

 

[tooextracool]

There obviously hasn't been any swing, which is why Lee and Hoggard haven't got the new ball to do anything in the air, but that's largely because of the hot, dry weather and has nothing to do with the surface. And really, I don't know how you could possibly describe the wicket yesterday evening as anything like flat. McGrath got plenty of seam movement on a few occasions, even almost getting Bell LBW with one that pitched miles wide of off stump, and this morning he's moved it a foot on a couple of occasions. Obviously the cracks are much wider today, but they were there yesterday as well, which is why Flintoff got a few delieveries to take off on a length and so on.

Mcgrath didnt get a single ball to move off the seam until the one that got Cook. Mcgrath and Clark got a few to seam a bit after that, but thats really something that can be expected from the new ball. Like i said, towards the end of the day, both Pietersen and Bell look completely untroubled. Obviously today the cracks have opened up a lot more than i thought they would have and the pitch is offering a bit more.

 

[tooextracool]

Agreed, he was good yesterday too. It's interesting the turnaround from last year, when Vaughan had top class plans to all batsmen and looked very assured while Ponting looked inept on quite a few occasions. Ponting's field to Strauss last night was very good, as Bill Lawry of all people managed to notice, and the plan to get him hooking was a good one. Flintoff on the other hand was terribly reactive in the field and generally struggled, albeit under tougher circumstances.

Pontings captaincy in the last Ashes wasnt as poor as it is made out to be. Barring the decision at the toss at Edgbaston and his occasional reluctance to bowl Warne, he did a decent job. It looked a lot worse because Vaughan was in a class of his own, and thats hardly something that Ponting can do anything about.

 

[Nate]

Pietersen looked very much out in real-time, whch is when the umpire makes his decision. Upon the replay though, it`s not out. But understandable.

For all the talk of English bowlers being unlucky, we`ve had at least the same amount.

Lee has bowled so, so well today. On the money.

 

[tooextracool]

On Bell today, he seems uncertain about whether to get on the front foot or stay on the back foot against Warne and ends up not doing either.Ive always felt that the best way to play leg spin is to get on the front foot as far as possible, if he does that he'll be alright.

 

[grecian]

.

For all the talk of English bowlers being unlucky, we`ve had at least the same amount.

Your joking surely. I mean Freddie bowling alone had about 30 play and misses, and one atrocious decision aginst england in batting,,,,,,

 

[Nate]

Your joking surely. I mean Freddie bowling alone had about 30 play and misses, and one atrocious decision aginst england in batting,,,,,,

Hardly. Pretty much all of them were against the tail, and England were bowling too short to make it count. Australia have had a dropped catch, plenty short of fielders, and an LBW shout. Perhaps England have been more unlucky, but Australia has had a share as well.