***Official*** Australia in England (The Ashes)

[King_Ponting]

I was amazed by clarkes trasnformation today, I was at lords on thursday and he looked so nervous and too be honest out of his death. what a difference a day and some time at the crease makes a very good inings

And some luck. Jeez peitersen must be cut after he made 70 more.

 

[kendall]

They do have a chance.I really dont see trescothick geting any runs but then i thought the same about clarke. Anything over 300 is a massive ask but except for maybe the rain they have loads of time and it is not as if they are batting on a 5th day pitch. It is possibe even if unlikely

 

[kendall]

And some luck. Jeez peitersen must be cut after he made 70 more.

I have been very suprised at pietersons catching because he is usualy such a good fielder

 

[King_Ponting]

Same here i thought he was one of englands better catchers

 

[Anil]

314 ahead with 3 wickets left....if the lead goes past 350, england will find it extremely difficult to come up with the goods.....

 

[Scaly piscine]

One of the commentators (I think it was Nicholas) said that England have only ever chased down 300+ 3 times in the 4th innings of tests. That's a lot of history to buck.

A lot of that history was of pitches that predictably deteriorated from day 1, modern pitches hold up a lot better and aren't so predictable in the way the behaviour of the pitch changes. I dunno if drop-in pitches are still allowed but if they continue eventually I think we'll see something like 450-500 being chased down, and that stat will be thrown around when someone chases that sort of score on a more typical pitch - it's comparing apples and pears really.

 

[BoyBrumby]

A lot of that history was of pitches that predictably deteriorated from day 1, modern pitches hold up a lot better and aren't so predictable in the way the behaviour of the pitch changes. I dunno if drop-in pitches are still allowed but if they continue eventually I think we'll see something like 450-500 being chased down, and that stat will be thrown around when someone chases that sort of score on a more typical pitch - it's comparing apples and pears really.

I'm sure that's true. I can't be ar$ed to look it up, but I seem to recall a lot of big scores being chased down in the 4th innings in the last decade or so. I just don't think this will be one of them. I hope I'm wrong, but we really need a big ton from Strauss, Vaughan or Bell that the others can play around & I can't quite see that.

 

[marc71178]

is it the australian season or what Richie & Greig on together...

Greig the England player from South Africa?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Greig the England player from South Africa?

Obviously though, he's associated with commentating for Channel 9 in Australia for a couple of decades...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Obviously though, he's associated with commentating for Channel 9 in Australia for a couple of decades...

You're more than welcome to him! At least 4 haven't inflicted Bill Lawry on us too. Sky unfortunately torture us with his nasal whine when they show Channel 9 coverage.

 

[marc71178]

Just realised how low that kept (Martyn LBW) - doesn't bode well for England batting.

Simon Hughes showed that it came from about the same spot that the 3 that McGrath bowled the middle order out with did.

Just need to hope he's forgotten where that spot is!

 

[marc71178]

Is it just me or does flintoff look to be exceeding 15 degrees? Im sure its just his exagerated wrist movement but i dunno.......

Matthew Hoggard said that Australia were bullies, scared and “getting on a bit”

That's been twisted by the media to him calling them over the hill.

 

[marc71178]

well at least that clears up the "harmo can only bowl against WI and b'desh" rubbish

Don't bank on it.

Even if he takes a 5fer in every innings this series, there'll be excuses...

 

[marc71178]

No it isn't, the ball didn't grub at all in Australia's first innings - it wasn't a case of it did grub occasionally but it missed the stumps.

England didn't bowl very well.

They didn't tend to put it in that spot.

That's why it didn't grub.

 

[King_Ponting]

Mcgrath, no doubt, will be honing in on that spot.

 

[wpdavid]

I'm sure that's true. I can't be ar$ed to look it up, but I seem to recall a lot of big scores being chased down in the 4th innings in the last decade or so. I just don't think this will be one of them. I hope I'm wrong, but we really need a big ton from Strauss, Vaughan or Bell that the others can play around & I can't quite see that.

I suppose the only good news is we should do most of the batting on a 3rd day wicket, as opposed to a 5th day one. The bad news, of course, is the form of our top 3.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I suppose the only good news is we should do most of the batting on a 3rd day wicket, as opposed to a 5th day one. The bad news, of course, is the form of our top 3.

I'm hoping from a captain's knock from Vaughan! It is a hope tho, certainly not an expectation!

I just hope Katich & the tail don't take it away from us first thing. I'd have Fred & Harmy on from the start to welcome the lower order to the day's play.

 

[marc71178]

I suppose the only good news is we should do most of the batting on a 3rd day wicket, as opposed to a 5th day one. The bad news, of course, is the form of our top 3.

The other bad news is that this Day 3 wickets is what the groundsman was looking for on Day 5!

 

[SpeedKing]

If we had Thorpie, i would have been a bit more confident as he has seen England to alot of daunting targets in the past year, and he is the best English player of spin so woukd have sort of nullified the warne factor if he hogged the strike against him. We have got Pietersen though.

And Brett Lee is in decent form so is going to take some keeping quiet.

Not that worried about Mcgrath, I think England will have figured out that they have to come well forward when facing the Pavillion end. If England realise that they have all but 3 days to chase whatever total the Aussies set and totally knuckle down and play the sort of innings Damien martyn played today or even do a Katich and grind it out, they can win.

However i think that 70\30 Australia is about right.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Not that worried about Mcgrath, I think England will have figured out that they have to come well forward when facing the Pavillion end.

Somehow I think McGrath has some other ways to get people out...