*Official* Second Test at Lords

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Effects of listening to Bumble Lloyd all day long....

Redeemed yourself here.

 

[Craig]

Would go on a massive spray, but have been trying to become less emotionally attached to cricket. My court ordered therapist (went on a rampage after the India tour) says I shouldn't even be watching.

You serious or just taking the piss out of everyone?

 

[TT Boy]

England have to bat.

As last year could just repeat itself.

 

[TT Boy]

Hmmm...$3.50 for a draw isn't too bad considering it's forecast to rain for the next two days.

Worst of the weather is apparently gone. Today should be good, Sunday a little dodgy but Monday nice.

 

[DaRick]

Australia - the new Pakistan. From inspired to insipid, you never know what they're going to do next. They'll rack up 600+ or collapse for 200. They'll dismiss the opposition for 200 or under or conceed 600+. What will happen? Find out in our next adventure!

Seriously though, this performance, on a fairly flat pitch, is pathetic, to say the least. ****heads.

 

[andyc]

Does anyone else expect Australia to go well tomorrow with the ball then have a gettable chase that we will chase down?

Mate, we won't be bowling tomororw.

Really tipping Hughes to come good tomorrow, he's long overdue and he's played a fair bit at Lord's recently so should be used to the slope. Anywho, at least there's still three tests yet I suppose.

 

[Redbacks]

What a disaster of a day!!! If England can't win the match from here then they really do have a curse against us at Lords. Reminds me of the 1st test in RSA recently but we are on the other side of the coin

 

[Craig]

Is play starting early?

 

[howardj]

England really should enforce the follow on if they're in a position to do so. My reasons are three-fold. Firstly, it obviates the need for a declaration which, because it's early in the series, will likely be very conservative and therefore possibly give Australia a real chance of drawing the match. Secondly, the inclement weather will make the timing of a declaration somewhat of a lottery. Finally, it allows you to boss the game should a thrilling denouement be at hand. That is, as you're batting last, you get to decline any offers of bad light. By contrast, if Australia bat last, England are hostage to any offers of light.

 

[Burgey]

Think he was replying to wdfu_ben, Burgey.

Well, can't really blame him for that then

 

[Son Of Coco]

You're not suggesting Anderson's spell yesterday was anything better than just good, solid spell are you? Because if that's the sort of thing that's considered outstanding (or indeed Hilf's in England's 1st innings) then cricket really is dying.

They both bowled well, but hardly made the ball talk. Each side's batsmen have gifted multiple wickets to t'other, though England bowled better as unit by a fair margin than Australia.

Yeah I'm only going on reports as I didn't see it, but it read as if his first two wickets were possibly a bit lucky. Not taking anything away from him though as he still has 4 and can't have bowled too badly.

Saw a bit of Flintoff and he was impressive again.

Did we bat really poorly to help things along?

 

[Furball]

Only caught the morning session, absolutely loved Jimmy's knock. Shame he got out in a poor manner, but a great wee knock nonetheless - solid in defence and even unfurled a few shots.

 

[pasag]

You serious or just taking the piss out of everyone?

First half is. Trying to just enjoy the cricket for what it is and not have my mood so dependant on the outcome of a match. If I start getting too worked up I just turn the TV off. Don't think it was particularly healthy for a while there.

 

[zaremba]

Dont think the last comment all that funny tbh, taken too much crap like that myself (especially as a boy) to find it amusing.

Yep cheap and unfunny shot by me, and I'm sorry. Genuinely meant that he's done well overcoming it, and I regret adding the last sentence after that. Apologies.

Edit: on re-Reading a few of my posts from last night I'm reminded once again that beer does not make you funny. I also have a bit of a hangover for my troubles...

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Hope Siddle was taking notes during yesterday's play then.

Anyway, wasn't it you who all but suggested that Anderson bowled the best spell in the history of cricket in the first innings at Cardiff, but that Hughes somehow managed to not only survive but score off him? You can't turn around and start ripping into Anderson now after using him like that to prop up 'the new Hayden'.

He bowled pretty decently in that spell, yeah. That spell of bowling would've got the majority of Opening Batsman out, but Hughes not only survived but scored frequently off him, which set the tone for the rest of the innings. Had Hughes not been so ruthless on Anderson in the first Test then England probably wouldn't of been on the backfoot for the rest of the Test Match. Hughes protected Katich from Anderson (Anderson ended up getting Katich out with the 2nd new ball, massive inswinger) as Katich probably only faced a handful of delieveries before he was removed from the attack.

But to be fair, apart from Ponting's dismissal (which is debatable whether the umpire had've given him out LBW), Anderson's wickets were more from poor batting rather then good bowling. Hughes and North played horrific shots and Clarke's dismissal was painfully soft. Needless to say, Hughes needs to stop playing at the delieveries down the legside which aren't targetted at his body. It's not the first time this has happened. Twice in South Africa where he wasn't given out and a number of times in domestic cricket. If he just leaves the ball, then it'll be extremely difficult to remove him.

 

[Howsie]

He bowled pretty decently in that spell, yeah. That spell of bowling would've got the majority of Opening Batsman out, but Hughes not only survived but scored frequently off him, which set the tone for the rest of the innings. Had Hughes not been so ruthless on Anderson in the first Test then England probably wouldn't of been on the backfoot for the rest of the Test Match. Hughes protected Katich from Anderson (Anderson ended up getting Katich out with the 2nd new ball, massive inswinger) as Katich probably only faced a handful of delieveries before he was removed from the attack.

But to be fair, apart from Ponting's dismissal (which is debatable whether the umpire had've given him out LBW), Anderson's wickets were more from poor batting rather then good bowling. Hughes and North played horrific shots and Clarke's dismissal was painfully soft. Needless to say, Hughes needs to stop playing at the delieveries down the legside which aren't targetted at his body. It's not the first time this has happened. Twice in South Africa where he wasn't given out and a number of times in domestic cricket. If he just leaves the ball, then it'll be extremely difficult to remove him.

Biggest load of rubbish I have read here.

 

[four_or_six]

Having had a think about it, and having seen the beautiful blue sky this morning, and being reminded about last year, I think we are most likely to bat again. And I'd be okay with that.

Hopefully can get them out for a 200 lead, and the best scenario has us going at ~100 per session until just before lunch tomorrow would give them over 500 with 5 sessions plus a few overs before lunch, under the pressure of being the first Aussie side to lose here in 75 years. I like the sound of that, if they can survive that kudos to them, they deserve the draw.

 

[Pigeon]

Having had a think about it, and having seen the beautiful blue sky this morning, and being reminded about last year, I think we are most likely to bat again. And I'd be okay with that.

Hopefully can get them out for a 200 lead, and the best scenario has us going at ~100 per session until just before lunch tomorrow would give them over 500 with 5 sessions plus a few overs before lunch, under the pressure of being the first Aussie side to lose here in 75 years. I like the sound of that, if they can survive that kudos to them, they deserve the draw.

I think if it is a draw then rain would have had a big say in the coming days.

 

[Dissector]

England are quite lucky that they get a chance to bowl for a bit in the morning before deciding whether to enforce the follow-on especially if it turns out that weather conditions are very different today. It would have been a tough call to make at the end of yesterday.

As Ian Chappell suggested they were even a bit lucky that they threw a few wickets on Day 1 because it meant that they got great bowling conditions to bowl at Australia. I wonder how this match would have turned out if England had batted two days and then Australia batted in great conditions on day 3.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Biggest load of rubbish I have read here.

Go watch the spell of the bowling again and see how much Anderson was swinging the ball when he pitched it up.