***Official*** NatWest Series/Challenge

[Blaze]

Kaspa needs a wicket

 

[Blaze]

Kaspa needs a wicket

How good am I, the very next ball.

Strauss also fails to make Aussie pay after getting a second chance

 

[Scaly piscine]

And that rounds off yet another short, pathetic display from the top 3.

 

[auscricket]

He's gone for a bit, that wicket was needed.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Freddie and KP need to hang around for another 10-15 at the very least.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Uh oh...

 

[tassietiger]

Well KP at least...Freds gone.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Freddie and KP need to hang around for another 10-15 at the very least.

So much for that idea.

Yet again it falls to Paul Collingwood to extricate England from problems caused by the top order.

 

[aussie]

oh yes 74/4 Australia in front

 

[shaka]

Gillespie has bowled much better in this game, but his speed in the series is low compared to his normal 85+ mph.

 

[tassietiger]

oh yes 74/4 Australia in front

but collingwood's in, believe it or not he has been the most troubling batsman this tour so far.

 

[Jono]

Botham believes in the first Test at Lord's, England don't need a spinner and thus Pietersen should come in for Giles.

 

[wpdavid]

And that rounds off yet another short, pathetic display from the top 3.

Yup. If anyone tells your your're overreacting, they're wrong mate. I struggling to remember many occasions in the last 12 months when our top 3 provided any sort of platform in these games, and you just wonder why they can't work it out. They're not kids, when all said and done.

I suppose that's the only consolation is one sense - our oneday batting was equally crap in SA and in last year's NW games, but they performed well enough in the tests. They'd better, anyway. Otherwise, I think we're going to usually fall below 150 and more than once below 100 in the tests if they don't sort themselves out.

 

[aussie]

Botham believes in the first Test at Lord's, England don't need a spinner and thus Pietersen should come in for Giles.

yeah i heard, Beefy is having one of his moments again

 

[Pedro Delgado]

And that rounds off yet another short, pathetic display from the top 3.

<positive mode>And that rounds off yet another short, very good opening bowling display from Australia</positive mode>

 

[wpdavid]

Botham believes in the first Test at Lord's, England don't need a spinner and thus Pietersen should come in for Giles.

Beefy seems to have forgotten a couple of points. Firstly, this Lord's test is being played in the last week of July, not May or early June. Secondly, someone's going to have to bowl a lot of tidy overs to allow the quicks to operate in short bursts.

I'd have gone with that option if Giles was still injured, but not otherwise.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Yup. If anyone tells your your're overreacting, they're wrong mate. I struggling to remember many occasions in the last 12 months when our top 3 provided any sort of platform in these games, and you just wonder why they can't work it out. They're not kids, when all said and done.

I suppose that's the only consolation is one sense - our oneday batting was equally crap in SA and in last year's NW games, but they performed well enough in the tests. They'd bater, anyway. Otherwise, I think we're going to usually fall below 150 and more than once below 100 in the tests if they don't sort themselves out.

Yeah we're a pretty ordinary ODI side, I take a crumb of comfort that we're competing a little better here than we did in SA though.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Collingwood gone, Gillespie finally gets his wicket. Bloody hell this is poor stuff. Come on Geraint.

 

[aussie]

look at the elelation on Dizzy's face, yes that wicket could be the turning point for the big South Australian.

 

[wpdavid]

Yeah we're a pretty ordinary ODI side, I take a crumb of comfort that we're competing a little better here than we did in SA though.

When you look at the performances of our batsmen and opening bowlers, is quite extraordianary that we've not been stuffed out of sight in every game.