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

[marc71178]

No it wasn't because it wasn't hitting middle stump half way up.

If it pitched in lne and was hitting, it is just as out.

Next you'll be claiming that Katich shouldn't have been given out.

 

[Nate]

Hahah, dang. You Brits have it good.

Looks like this one is down the clinker then. Well bowled to you guys, our batsmen smell, and we have Gillespie.

I`ll just have to rip it up in seniors in two hours.

 

[Blaze]

I still can't quite believe Australia's top 7. There is absolute, genuine class stamped through them to the core & really they've not once yet stood up. England have bowled v well at them, but there has never been a spell when one's thought "Hey, they'll be doing well just to survive this".

The lower order almost, almost got them out of jail in the 2nd & I still think will make the discussion about the follow on a moot point (Oz all out for 270-ish), but after 5 innings it almost beggars belief there hasn't been one centurion. None of them (Hayden excepted) looks absolutely out of touch & that just makes their continued failure seem all the more staggering.

I don't wanna sound like a triumphalist Pom (I still think Oz will retain the urn), but is there a touch of hubris that they can't quite shift? More than one dismissal would've had me slapping my head in exasperation were I a crim. Clarke today was a case in point; a wide off-spinner he could (& should) have left, yet he still was compelled to go after it.

Great Post

 

[Mister Wright]

Nah, Hodge finally gets his chance after 8 years of being denied because he's Victorian.

More like he was denied because he was so inconsistent. One season he would pile on the runs, score about 800 or 1000 runs for the season. The next season he would struggle to get 400 runs.

 

[aussie]

More like he was denied because he was so inconsistent. One season he would pile on the runs, score about 800 or 1000 runs for the season. The next season he would struggle to get 400 runs.

yea thats true its only when he started to be really consistent for the 2002/03 season onwards then the selectors started to look in his direction.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

No keep Warne.

Err, so who are you going to drop to bring in Macgill and Tait then?

 

[andyc]

If Clarke's injury is serious, who will be brought in for the next game? Hodge? Or possibly an all-rounder?

 

[Slow Love™]

How many times has this been said throughout this series?!

Yeah, we've heard "this next session of play is critical" so many times this series, and as Swervy says, it's a measure of how incredible the cricket's been.

On this occasion though, for the first time, I think I can say that the next session of play really isn't that critical. I think this test has already been lost, and the only thing that can save Australia at this point is heavy rainfall. You can stick a fork in us otherwise, 'cause they're done, and they know it, IMO.

The next test will be crucial.

I don't think the Aussie top 7 was actually as careless this innings as they have been up to this point - only Ponting's shot really struck me as incredibly dumb (Clarke's wasn't the brightest either, but like many injured players, I think he was over-focussed on boundaries). Katich's leave wasn't great, but wasn't motivated by arrogance or trying to hit his way out of trouble. England are just on top of them at the moment, and things are going their way.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

If Clarke's injury is serious, who will be brought in for the next game? Hodge? Or possibly an all-rounder?

Hodge will be. The other likely change for the next test is Kasprowicz for Gillespie.

 

[social]

I agree with that. For me there is too much negativity on this board instead of appreciation for quality cricket. I couldn't believe critscising Katch instead of praising Flintoff for a sensational spell of bowling. Flintoff was swinging the ball both ways at very high speed aswell as getting bounce on agood lengh. After drinksKatich doesn't play at the ball and gets bowled. Conversly if he plays at one of the away swingers, that pitch in the same position, before drinkschancers are he edges it gets caught and blamed for playing at a wide delivery.

Ball pitched off stump, would have hit middle bar the pad i.e. had to play at it.

Flintoff bowled very good outswingers pre break to set it up, but letting that ball go was just very poor judgement on Katich's part.

 

[social]

Yeah, we've heard "this next session of play is critical" so many times this series, and as Swervy says, it's a measure of how incredible the cricket's been.

On this occasion though, for the first time, I think I can say that the next session of play really isn't that critical. I think this test has already been lost, and the only thing that can save Australia at this point is heavy rainfall. You can stick a fork in us otherwise, 'cause they're done, and they know it, IMO.

The next test will be crucial.

I don't think the Aussie top 7 was actually as careless this innings as they have been up to this point - only Ponting's shot really struck me as incredibly dumb (Clarke's wasn't the brightest either, but like many injured players, I think he was over-focussed on boundaries). Katich's leave wasn't great, but wasn't motivated by arrogance or trying to hit his way out of trouble. England are just on top of them at the moment, and things are going their way.

Best bowling performance of the summer by England for mine.

Aside from Katich and Ponting, all the Aussies were got out rather than being the main contributors to their own dismissals.

BTW, I dont blame Clarke - obviously unfit and only batted because of the circumstances.

England have a night's rest, 5 bowlers and should enforce the follow on.

Aus need to take a stroll down the hall of mirrors.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Call me Boycott, if you wish, but straight away I thought that it hit Hayden outside of the line. Can understand why you'd give it out, but when you can see leg stump (and maybe middle) then there's got to be doubt. He was fired out quick, though, eh?

Australia - goneskis. I think Kat has come in for a bit too much criticism, that was a peach from Flintoff. Ponting looked even keener than normal to rock onto the front foot yesterday. And Hayden still doesn't want to seem to move back at all when playing the pull shot - or any back foot shot for that matter - and the ball gets big on him, making him jump when he plays off the back shoe.

Giles bowled excellently, his length is really worrying the Austrlians. A number of times they've been caught back when they really should be forward. Kudos!

 

[social]

Hodge will be. The other likely change for the next test is Kasprowicz for Gillespie.

I still maintain that the best balanced team Aus have had for some time was in the last test vs Pakistan - 4 bowlers, an all-rounder, and 6 bats including Gilchrist.

At the moment, we have Warne and Lee bowling very well, half-fit McGrath, Dizzy, and no back-up. That meant 2.5 bowlers for all bar McGrath's opening spell.

McGrath (assuming fit), Lee, Warne, Tait/MacGill must be the attack for the next test and Watson should be drafted in immediately. He is almost a test class batsman and will improve as a bowler if he stays fit. For mine, he is the single most important cricketer for Aus' medium term future and my personal choice as future captain.

At least one of the batsmen must go to accommodate this. Rather than drop Katich as usual, Id open with him and punt Hayden, who seems to invent new ways of getting out every innings. Id like to see them play Hussey but drafting 2 from outside the squad is unlikely to happen.

 

[social]

Amazing how England are on top despite them all being poor when they bat and not being as quick as Lee when they bowl

And when did I make that post? After lacklustre spells from Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff to start the Aus innings.

Congragulations, a billion posts of whining, moaning and snide comments.

 

[honestbharani]

At first glance, it looked out because Hayden was back and the ball was going to hit the stumps.

On replay, not that close.

Unfortunately, Billy's had a horror couple of tests.

Wasn't hayden out plumb LBW to Simon Jones the over before that?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Wasn't hayden out plumb LBW to Simon Jones the over before that?

If it was the pull-shot, then no.

Hoggard earlier in the innings, then not "plumb" as such, but could have been given out without too many arguments.

 

[honestbharani]

rotf.......Wasn't that the kid on one of the episodes of "Full House"?

 

[social]

Wasn't hayden out plumb LBW to Simon Jones the over before that?

Possibly, the umpiring has been so bad Ive lost count of the number of mistakes that they've made.

 

[vic_orthdox]

rotf.......Wasn't that the kid on one of the episodes of "Full House"?

Steve Urkel, from Family Matters I believe. Certainly not Full House - unless they did a cross promotional thing.

 

[honestbharani]

yep 101.7mph, but its not the first time that the speedometer has screwed up and clocked a ball faster than what was actually bowled in this series.

really.....So Freddie has the fastest ball bowled ever to his credit?