*Official* First Test at Swalec Stadium, Cardiff

[tooextracool]

If Cook didnt get out to a dumb shot then a dumb shot doesnt really exist. Absolutely nothing shot that was never going to get any runs, wasnt threatening the stumps, wasnt a particularly good ball and especially when you consider his history of getting out the same ridiculous way of poking at deliveries for no reason.

 

[Nate]

Still not heaps impressed by Hilfenhaus. Just because you swung the ball doesn't mean you bowled well. As has been said, he swings it from the hand and generally bowls too short. Which means he'll get some play and misses, but not really look like taking a wicket.

Farcical that he and Hauritz were chosen over Clark.

 

[Woodster]

Mate, there has been stuff all in this wicket from about lunch - it's a dead slow track with minimum spin and seam

The question is how much it deteriorates because runs on the board will then be crucial

Anyway, tomorrow should be the best day for batting as it should quicken slightly as it dries

Talk is of how dry the pitch is, don't think there is any drying out to be done in the pitch so unlikely it'll quicken up any if that's the case.

I think there is enough in these conditions to encourage England's attack. There's spin there, even from three average spinners, and if Siddle's getting big swing with his induckers, then Jimmy will be in business. The thing with the spin is admittedly it is slow and therefore able to play comfortably off the pitch. A number of the England batters were happy to sit on the back foot and play the spin off the pitch such was the slowness of the turn.

Hilfenhaus shaped the ball all day and was impressive with his pace and control. Pick of the attack for me, and tbf Siddle probably deserved a couple towards the end as his figures didn't really do him much justice.

Thoroughly enjoyed the attacking counter from Freddie and Prior, both looked in real good nick, such a shame we lost them both towards the end. Good partnership though.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Well, that's me done for the night. See you all in about 3.5 hours from work. ****ing great.

Ha, solid effort. Hope you're not in trial.

 

[Oasisbob]

Entertaining days cricket. Looks to be a fairly even contest thus far. Mistakes were made with regards to dismissals but that's just as much a part of test cricket as bowlers getting batsmen out.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I fancy Jimmy to take some wickets if it's swinging.

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah there isnt much in the pitch for the pace bowlers but there is turn and there most certainly is swing in the air so its definetly not a batsman's paradise. However, England should have got 450 odd against the bowling they faced and they will be disappointed to get anything below 400. Luckily for them they have the advantage of winning the toss which might play into their hands.

 

[Manee]

Still not heaps impressed by Hilfenhaus. Just because you swung the ball doesn't mean you bowled well. As has been said, he swings it from the hand and generally bowls too short. Which means he'll get some play and misses, but not really look like taking a wicket.

It is a tough one, I only watched the last hour, or so, of the day, because of a long journey home from school, but thought he did bowl some good balls. It is true that he gets swing from the hand, but when he gets it in the right place and the swing is fractionally later than usual, he can pose problems. Just because it looks highly similar when he bowls well and when he bowls poorly, does not mean that he is unanimously overrated, imo - the two wickets and best economy rate of the day must be worth something.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Still not heaps impressed by Hilfenhaus. Just because you swung the ball doesn't mean you bowled well. As has been said, he swings it from the hand and generally bowls too short. Which means he'll get some play and misses, but not really look like taking a wicket.

Farcical that he and Hauritz were chosen over Clark.

Didn't see Hilfenhaus bowl to Pietersen? Set him up beautifully with a favoured offside field and keep on bowling outswingers before bowling an inswinger that took Pietersen (who had his eye-in, well and truly by that point) totally by surprise and should've had him given plumb LBW.

 

[Scaly piscine]

For those who think England shouldn't have got 500...

They had no batsmen sawn off by the umpire
They had one maybe two reprieves when batsmen were incorrectly given not out
Australia had 3 bowlers, the best of which bowled badly
They had a slow pitch to bat on with not a great deal in it
All of the batsmen got in


If you can't get 500 with all those things in your favour then that's pretty poor.

 

[zaremba]

I have to admit I was disappointed with the Aussie attack. Hilfenhaus the pick for me but none of them fit to wash Glenn McGrath's jockstrap. Admittedly they were blunted by a dead pitch but their lack of threat was pretty evident all day.

England's batsmen all got themselves out, almost all of them throwing away good starts and most of them looking completely untroubled (Bopara being the exception) until they got themselves out.

And so England completely failed to capitalise on the benign conditions and a toothless attack.

Overall honours pretty even I think, but neither side covered itself in glory. I've no idea if it will take spin later on; if it does, England may have their noses in front. If it doesn't, then Australia may have the edge.


Edit: I've just read Scaly's post and agree with every word.

 

[GIMH]

Not too disappointed with the way the day wound up, though when I got home from work things looked so much better. I left work just as KP got out, and was kinda crapping myself on the train, thinking that we might even be bowling by the time I got home. But Freddie & Prior were a joy to watch, obviously Freddie has got quite a few scores like that in recent times, but I haven't seen him looking like he's enjoying himself that much with the blade, in an England shirt, for ages. I agree with Nasser Hussain, "who cares if he edges one to slip, he has to play like this." As I said, batting at 7 really allows him to play that way and I think we may see bigger scores from him in this series.

Prior looked quality, really should have saw the day out though.

KP's dismissal, oh dear, even I'm not defending that

Hilfenhaus looked good when I got home, never saw his bowling earlier on though.

Overall, pretty much a see-saw day. No team ever really got on top, except maybe ye crims at lunch, but that was settled down pretty quickly. A close day, and to be honest I expect more of the same tomorrow.

Reckon we'll add about 60 more, and have Oz 7 down at COP tomorrow.

Oh, and the nightwatchman was a stupid idea, will bet good money that Broad/Swann will be stranded at the end of the innings when Panesar gets run out or something...

Time to watch the highlights now

 

[Scaly piscine]

God the interviews at the end of the highlights always annoy me.

I hope in the dressing room they don't talk that sort of bollocks. They never accept responsibility or that they've made an error. KP was just "I'm happy with 69" "we'll take 336-7" etc. He made 69, being plumb lbw once and not given and was dropped. Then he played a shot that wasn't on and executed it terribly. England had it in their power to put Australia right behind the 8-ball today, almost put defeat out of the equation and they stuffed up.

 

[GIMH]

Watching the Sky highlights now. Bopara copped a lot of flak for how he looked early on but I say he deserves a bit of credit for hanging in there. Obviously after surviving a barrage early on you then want to go on to a different score, though. 35 isn't a fail, but obviously he'd have hoped for more.

Talk of us looking for a new 3 by the end of the series is a total kneejerk though, and premature to say the least. Ravi will score runs in this series.

 

[Pothas]

Not a million miles away from what I expected, just pleased we avoided an awful start really. Think that we will finnish on about a par score and would suprised if the Australians made much less or all that much more. With rain expected over the weekend I think a draw is the most likely resutl but shows us that this will probably be a pretty close series, Australia still very much favourites though.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Watching the Sky highlights now. Bopara copped a lot of flak for how he looked early on but I say he deserves a bit of credit for hanging in there. Obviously after surviving a barrage early on you then want to go on to a different score, though. 35 isn't a fail, but obviously he'd have hoped for more.

Talk of us looking for a new 3 by the end of the series is a total kneejerk though, and premature to say the least. Ravi will score runs in this series.

Looked all at sea for me but, in the credit column, he scored 35 looking as awful as he did. If he finds proper form he should make some serious runs.

 

[GIMH]

Looked all at sea for me but, in the credit column, he scored 35 looking as awful as he did. If he finds proper form he should make some serious runs.

Oh yeah, I'm not denying that he looked all at sea. But the key is, he stayed in through that, and as you say, 35 when you look like a rabbit - well most batsmen would take it I reckon. Someone like Shah or Bell would have got out for single figures in similar circumstances.

 

[Uppercut]

Still not heaps impressed by Hilfenhaus. Just because you swung the ball doesn't mean you bowled well. As has been said, he swings it from the hand and generally bowls too short. Which means he'll get some play and misses, but not really look like taking a wicket.

Farcical that he and Hauritz were chosen over Clark.

Nah mate, Hilfy was absolutely awesome. He was the best bowler on show- his pace is up past 90mph lately, and his two wickets both massively changed the way the game was going. Should have had KP too with a fantastic inswinging yorker.

I'm not his biggest fan by any means, but he was very, very impressive today.

 

[zaremba]

Today's wickets:

1. Cook. Dreadful hang-the-bat gifting of his wicket. What was he trying to achieve with that shot? Unnecessary histrionics from "Mr Cricket" (tosser of a nickname) in taking the catch.

2. Strauss. Decent bouncer, no more than that, and he played it with all the composure and skill of Christopher Reeve.

3. Bopara. It's not as though he hadn't been specifically warned about Johnson's slower ball given that he had already hamfistedly chipped one just over mid-off. A dreadful shot. Regardless of what speed he thought it was coming at, he never needed to play at it.

4. Collingwood. No need to play it, let alone with a pointless prod with a bat 20 degrees from vertical. Deserved exactly what it got.

5. Penisen. Ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous shot. Disappointing to hear him in post-match interviews trying to justify it.

6. Flintoff. A bit unlucky. But not a great shot. Died by the sword.

7. Prior. Uniquely among the wicket-taking deliveries today, this was a really good ball. Would be disappointed that he didn't keep it out when playing so well though.

 

[GIMH]

Thought Johnson's ball to dismiss Strauss was bloody good tbh

 

[Pothas]

That is the way the majority of wickets fall though really isn't it? to mistakes. Think today was a pretty decent reflection of Englands overall batting standard, did not play badly, maybe should have done better but just about satisfactory.