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

[Slow Love™]

The weather will more than likely be the winner of this test won't it?

It sounds really bad - if we lose most of tomorrow (tonight, whatever, depending on your timezone) it's going to be very difficult.

And whoever said England's on the rack - LOL. We've got off to a decent start, and in quite a few of these matches we've managed to get to a hundred or so with one or two down (although not without loss). There's just such a long way to go, and we've had a tendency to collapse between 100 and 200. Yes, Jones isn't playing, but let's not count our chickens.

And it's not just the weather we're fighting here - England haven't turned to crap overnight.

 

[Blaze]

Rain should hit at 12 according to metcheck.com

 

[marc71178]

yea but its only in this series that he has looked hopeless, to me if their wasn't any hint of reverse swing at all for the English bowlers Matty could have well & scored a hundred because he has got through the new ball practically every innings its the reverse swing that has found him out.

That's irrelevant, that long without a century means he's not been dominant.

 

[luckyeddie]

Latest weather - it started raining in Dublin some time on Thursday evening (not sure when, I was in the pub) and when I finally got away Friday night at 9.30 pm (after a 3 hour delay) it was still pouring.

I got back to Derby at 11.00 last night and it had just started raining - and at the moment it still is belting down.

So it seems that at the moment, wherever I go it rains.

I'm now officially accepting bribes - all those English supporters who would like me to get down to London, send your green folding moolah now. Similarly, all you Aussies who would like me to stay the hell away, send your spare tinnies, surfboards, loaves of bread, dead wombats or whatever it is you use as tokens of exchange and I'll see what I can do.

 

[marc71178]

LE, surely sending you tinnies of what they laughingly call beer isn't going to bribe you to stay at home though?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

BBC predicting a clear morning session and scattered showers for the rest of the day.

 

[luckyeddie]

LE, surely sending you tinnies of what they laughingly call beer isn't going to bribe you to stay at home though?

I need some ballast for my new rockery

 

[luckyeddie]

BBC predicting a clear morning session and scattered showers for the rest of the day.

That's because you have an Australian IP address.

Ah, those wacky BBC weather guys and their 'string an antipodean along with the bogus optimistic forecast' sense of humour.

 

[Slow Love™]

LE, surely sending you tinnies of what they laughingly call beer isn't going to bribe you to stay at home though?

Didn't some Aussie home brew put him out of action for about three weeks a short time ago?

Funny, it was pi$$ing down and thundering over here all last night and this morning too. We were gonna take bubba to the Melbourne Aquarium - maybe tomorrow.

 

[luckyeddie]

Didn't some Aussie home brew put him out of action for about three weeks a short time ago?

I'm allergic to water - hence the expression 'having to dry out'.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

That's because you have an Australian IP address.

Ah, those wacky BBC weather guys and their 'string an antipodean along with the bogus optimistic forecast' sense of humour.

Well, scattered showers could mean they're on and off, the batsmen can't get set and very little play is possible anyway, and Australia finish the day at 6/230

 

[marc71178]

Yes please!

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, scattered showers could mean they're on and off, the batsmen can't get set and very little play is possible anyway, and Australia finish the day at 6/230

Strange you should say that, because isn't that pretty well what happened to England on day 1 in the (thinks back) third test? On and off for the weather after a blistering start, then a cascade of wickets?

Edit:

Oh, no. That's what normally happens when we bat.

 

[greg]

Not sure about that. I just meant that instead of practising new whacky signals, he can actually practice getting decisions right. I am umpiring in a school tourny (the host school is my alma mater and they have asked me to do this for them) and I have been practicing by trying to call decisions in this Oval test and in the Videocon cup before this. I wonder whether Billy does any practicing or anything.

Hmm. Seems like one of the more worthless exercises I've heard of.

FWIW I think Billy gets influenced by decisions that haven't been made earlier in the series. He knew from television that Warne had had a lot of close ones turned down and decided to take a different approach to benefit of the doubt in this game. The Giles dismissal seems like a classic "trigger" - He knew that Giles should have already been out (the nick), was keen to keep Warne happy (his mentality was predisposed towards giving him LBWs) and it was unlikely to be crucial to the match (the "tailender decision").
He was somewhat unfortunate that TV showed it to be quite such a bad decision (just as he was lucky that the Bell decision was just hitting). I don't think either had much to do with knowing where the ball was actually going. (The umpire really CAN'T know with any Certainty - which is why they have, arguably correctly, been turning so many down earlier in the series). IMO from what i can recall the only really BAD negative decision was the Trescothick one last ball before lunch on the third day at Lords. (Dar thought he'd hit it).

 

[Slow Love™]

I'm allergic to water - hence the expression 'having to dry out'.

Well, that's your problem - don't you have to add a couple of gallons of boiled water before you start fermenting? If you skip that process, I would assume it would have terrible consequences.

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, that's your problem - don't you have to add a couple of gallons of boiled water before you start fermenting? If you skip that process, I would assume it would have terrible consequences.

No, English water is good.

Look at The Oval.

 

[andyc]

Was just watching the highlights of Day 2 on SBS, did anyone else love Richie's joke after Simon Hughes did his analysis?

Hughes: "Maybe it gave Justin Langer just a nano-second more to get back into his crease"
Richie: "I remember my nana, she loved cricket."

 

[cameeel]

It's interesting how cautious Langer & Hayden have been, particularly hayden. The usual scoring rate for the pair is around the 4 + mark, but they're barely scoring at more than 3 an over, maybe being overly cautious given England are missing their most damaging bowler on a batsman's wicket.

Langer 75 from 105 balls. SR of 71.43
Hayden 32 from 96 balls. SR of 33.33

 

[Slow Love™]

There was an interesting article from Spanky Roebuck overnight regarding the possible elevation of Warne to the vice-captaincy over Gilchrist.

I know that a lot of people here rate Gilly very highly in terms of captaincy material (I don't really, although he's my second favorite player in the side), but I wonder how much truth there is in Roebuck's observations as to Ponting not being that interested in his input on the field?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/warne-in-need-of-promotion/2005/09/09/1125772694745.html

 

[cameeel]

Well many people think he only missed the 1 day captaincy a couple of years ago because of his off-field behavior , though there's no doubt that he certainly possesses the tactical mind required to captain the side, personally i agree with the article, but unless he cleans up his off field behaviour, i don't think the elevation will happen.