***Official*** NatWest Series/Challenge

[shaka]

okay, thanks for that.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Interesting that that bet365 scrolling thing on cricinfo has Australia at 3.00, England at 1.33...

Good value for Australia I'd say.

 

[social]

For the umpteenth time in the last season, Hayden needlessly throws his wicket away, and put England back in the game.

As Ive said before, he seems to have lost the art of building an innings and should be replaced at the top of the order in ODIs next season (unfortunately, he needs the batting time in the remaining ODis before the first test).

Wicket had a lot in it and we can be thankful that Vaughan stuffed up the bowling attack.

Should be a close game if Australia bowls well and the clouds stay around.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Well, this pitch is an interesting one and makes the rest of the match hard to pick. England should definately win chasing only 197, but if the overhead conditions and the wicket stay as they were when Flintoff and Harmison were bowling fireballs earlier England will have to play well to stave off a top order collapse. If England can survive the first 10 without losing any wickets (maybe even one or two would be fine!) I'd expect them to win comfortably. Australia have only three frontline pacers and then Hogg and Symonds. Certainly McGrath and Gillespie will love this wicket, but Lee might not get too much out of it with the ball not swinging, so we'll see. Ponting will know he needs 10 wickets to win it, and the three pacers will have to get the bulk of them. In the end, I think it will come down to how well England's top three bat, and how well Lee and Gillespie bowl, since we can assume McGrath will be near unplayable on this.

Flintoff's first spell today was simply wonderful, and he was well backed up by Flintoff, and even Jones in his second spell. Hussey was of course quite brilliant, and if Australia win you can hand it directly to him.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Interesting that that bet365 scrolling thing on cricinfo has Australia at 3.00, England at 1.33...

Good value for Australia I'd say.

Yeah, certainly. England are favourites for sure, but they still need to score 197 runs!

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Well, this pitch is an interesting one and makes the rest of the match hard to pick. England should definately win chasing only 197

Flintoff's first spell today was simply wonderful, and he was well backed up by Flintoff, and even Jones in his second spell. Hussey was of course quite brilliant, and if Australia win you can hand it directly to him.

Late night in Sydney?

 

[luckyeddie]

The thing which makes this so difficult to forecast is the fact that England's dibbly dobblers did so well in taking the pace off the ball, the speedsters did brilliantly too, yet the 'fair to middling' seamers did (relatively) rubbish.

The difficulty lies in the fact that Australia's traditional strength is in 'kiss the pitch' McGrath and Gillespie - will they get much out of the surface? If they don't, then the Aussies could be in serious trouble, even if Lee bowls out of his skin.

So difficult is it to predict that I'll sit firmly on the fence

<quack> He does that - we have round-topped fence-posts.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Late night in Sydney?

Heh.

He was well backed up by Harmison, I mean.

 

[superkingdave]

Interesting that that bet365 scrolling thing on cricinfo has Australia at 3.00, England at 1.33...

Good value for Australia I'd say.

yeah Ladbrokes has 9/4 Australia, fiver on i think

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The difficulty lies in the fact that Australia's traditional strength is in 'kiss the pitch' McGrath and Gillespie - will they get much out of the surface? If they don't, then the Aussies could be in serious trouble, even if Lee bowls out of his skin.

Gillespie hits the pitch a lot harder these days, and honestly I think McGrath could get seam movement out of any wicket, he's that versatile. You make a good point though, when you consider the one bowler Australia have who would really adore a wicket like this is Kasprowicz, and he's out... with Hogg in his place. And Lee is much more of a swing bowler than a seam bowler, although he can get either if necessary he definately prefers swing, but Jones and Gough couldn't get any of that.

The first 10 overs will surely be definitive.

 

[luckyeddie]

Gillespie hits the pitch a lot harder these days, and honestly I think McGrath could get seam movement out of any wicket, he's that versatile. You make a good point though, when you consider the one bowler Australia have who would really adore a wicket like this is Kasprowicz, and he's out... with Hogg in his place. And Lee is much more of a swing bowler than a seam bowler, although he can get either if necessary he definately prefers swing, but Jones and Gough couldn't get any of that.

The first 10 overs will surely be definitive.

Did you buy your round-topped fence posts at the same place as me?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Did you buy your round-topped fence posts at the same place as me?

No, I used the DIY Neutrality-At-Home Starter Kit. They do good work.

 

[Slow Love™]

I'll give you a HOT tip (and a prediction for the game, too) - Australia's bowlers will show these try-hard, brittle panty-waists the meaning of finals pressure and we'll win this game by 34 runs.

And if we lose, you'll never see me in this thread again.

I was watching Symonds' innings earlier, and thinking how well he and Hussey had done to not lose their concentration after that long, scoreless period (many Aussie bats would have thrown their wicket in such a situation), when I was forced to switch over to World Poker Tour. Shortly after, Symonds got out. It was still a pretty good innings though I thought, even if it doesn't look that good on the scoresheet. Hussey was fantastic, even if he maybe over-gambled a little in exposing McGrath to face those last two balls of the penultimate over.

 

[aussie]

Tresco is taking Glenn on, Glenn should be encouraged by this. Come on Australia...

 

[Neil Pickup]

That's the worst ball I've ever seen in International cricket.

 

[superkingdave]

very good reactions from Tres

 

[steds]

F*CK ME!!! Lee's taking to bowling inswinging beamers

 

[Scaly piscine]

Don't mind them moving down the wicket at McGrath, but there's no need to go aerial.

 

[aussie]

That's the worst ball I've ever seen in International cricket.

the one he bowled to Papps in NZ was equal to that.

 

[Slow Love™]

How bad was the beamer? I'm still on the ****ing Poker.