*Official* Second Test at Lords

[Richard]

That he is. Disappointed my "you're a fully qualified solicitor" post earlier this thread didn't give it away TBH.

 

[Richard]

Thunder and lightning (very very frightening) here in London atm. Forecast for the rest of the game ain't great either - looks rainy tomorrow. Could be difficult for the batsmen going off and on tomorrow, but if the outfield's wet the ball might not swing. We shall see...

I guess they'll be thinking just got to get out, just got to get right out of here by the end of tomorrow.

 

[pskov]

Ah. Was over there running a case in 03. Didn't get to that part of town.

To say it's a sizeable city is something of an understatement. Kills me to say it, but I really loved it.

A lot of English people though .

More Aussies than English in Clapham to be honest.

 

[Burgey]

Running a case? You're not of the legal persuasion are you?

Aye - solicitor 93-96, at the Bar 96-06, now back soliciting.

Was an English fellow out here hit by a car, then he went home. Case ran for 20 minutes at Gray's Inn before we settled it - gave us a nice 10 days in the UK, but I didn't see enough of it really, as we were there 3 days before it started finalising prep etc.

Had a few good lunches and nights out though. Got up to Ireland to play a bit of golf as well. All in all a fine trip.

 

[Burgey]

Ah, I was stuck at work so didn't see enough to form a judgment. The reports suggest that he bowled a bit better, and from the highlights he was still getting hit but there were fewer clips of rank wide long hops. And it was amazing that each new batsman was greeted to the crease with something full and tempting on or outside leg stump.

So, is he falling victim to the "you've gotta swing it to be successful" syndrome instead of bowling as he usually does? Obviously he's rank out of rhythm, but I wonder if that might be doing his head in a bit as well.

Happened to McGrath early in his career too.

 

[zaremba]

Aye - solicitor 93-96, at the Bar 96-06, now back soliciting.

Was an English fellow out here hit by a car, then he went home. Case ran for 20 minutes at Gray's Inn before we settled it - gave us a nice 10 days in the UK, but I didn't see enough of it really, as we were there 3 days before it started finalising prep etc.

Had a few good lunches and nights out though. Got up to Ireland to play a bit of golf as well. All in all a fine trip.

London is hard to knock as a place to visit. If you don't mind the weather, the dirt and the ubiquitous antipodeans that is...

Mrs Z and I are in Chambers together in the Temple. Speaking of which I have a hearing in the Queen's Bench Division tomorrow and it's past my bedtime. So am off to bed.

 

[zaremba]

So, is he falling victim to the "you've gotta swing it to be successful" syndrome instead of bowling as he usually does? Obviously he's rank out of rhythm, but I wonder if that might be doing his head in a bit as well.

I couldn't tell what was wrong with him. But his rhythm is definitely shot, and his confidence is visibly low as well. He didn't even smile when he got Cook out.

 

[Burgey]

London is hard to knock as a place to visit. If you don't mind the weather, the dirt and the ubiquitous antipodeans that is...

Mrs Z and I are in Chambers together in the Temple. Speaking of which I have a hearing in the Queen's Bench Division tomorrow and it's past my bedtime. So am off to bed.

Good luck with it mate.

Don't forget to charge a conference for posting about it on here.

 

[Richard]

So, is he falling victim to the "you've gotta swing it to be successful" syndrome instead of bowling as he usually does? Obviously he's rank out of rhythm, but I wonder if that might be doing his head in a bit as well.

Happened to McGrath early in his career too.

I don't think he is, because he's looked so much better on the occasions he's swung it than those which he hasn't. When not swinging it he's been often innocuous (and expensive), and sometimes decent. When swinging it he's looked constantly deadly.

Nonetheless, when bowling mostly innocuously he's still managed to conjure-up enough rippers and dupe batsmen into enough indiscretions to average mid-30s, which isn't bad for someone at his worst.

Whether he can produce his best with greater regularity obviously remains to be seen.

 

[Top_Cat]

He doesn't though.

He's bowled in 38 innings and taken wickets in 10 of them. So that's 26% - not 50, and that doesn't even take into account innings in which he's bowled more than one spell. If you take out the ridiculous 6/9 he's taken 13 Test wickets @ 55 and 23 First Class wickets @ 60. North's taken 93 First Class wickets @ 43 and has actually been improving his bowling - he averaged 35 in the Shield last season.

Your avatar suggests I'm talking to somewhat of a fanboy so I won't bother for too much younger (and yes TC, I recognise the irony ) but Clarke's ability to bowl in Tests is hugely over-rated. One day cricket's another story of course.

Takes one to know one. haha

Well this was a bit of a surprise. Still see little wrong with the pitch so fully expect Broad and Strauss to push the total well beyond 400. England might be a bit disappointed but was some good post-tea bowling too. Not that it would have taken much effort to bowl better than the pre-lunch effort....

Good to see Hilf continue his good form. Bowling beautifully.

 

[Prince EWS]

Takes one to know one. haha

Precisely.

 

[NUFAN]

Can't believe people are calling it a road.

Sure the pitch wasn't seaming sideways but it looked a decent pitch to bowl on IMO.

The bowling was just terrible, the batsman hit the gaps and played positively, the lack of a third man (yes Rich I was surprised :P) leaked runs.

Only thing making this game seem even is the lack of confidence in the England bowlers to perform at 100% against the Aussie batsman.

 

[Top_Cat]

Can't believe people are calling it a road.

Sure the pitch wasn't seaming sideways but it looked a decent pitch to bowl on IMO.

Think it's a consequence of how flat other pitches have been for years that this one seems to have a little bit in it. You expect a little spice on day 1 but it's going to flatten out even more, I reckon. The only sideways movement I saw was when the ball ran down the slope. Seems pretty road-ish to me. Cardiff was just mollasses slow, this one comes onto the bat nicely so we're seeing more shots. Lightning outfield too.

 

[Burgey]

I don't think he is, because he's looked so much better on the occasions he's swung it than those which he hasn't. When not swinging it he's been often innocuous (and expensive), and sometimes decent. When swinging it he's looked constantly deadly.

Nonetheless, when bowling mostly innocuously he's still managed to conjure-up enough rippers and dupe batsmen into enough indiscretions to average mid-30s, which isn't bad for someone at his worst.

Whether he can produce his best with greater regularity obviously remains to be seen.

Yeah. I guess what I'm wondering is whether he's worrying about it too much and is pre-occupied with it.

The management of him pre-tests was itstl. He's been a bowler who gets better and better with more work, yet given the fragillity of the fast bowling stocks, they kept him in cotton wool. Be interesting to see how he gets on as the series progresses.

 

[Top_Cat]

Incidentally, annoys the piss out of me how often the commentators have commented here and in Cardiff about how Johnson arrived there with 'a big reputation', like he's the first bowler to go on tour and struggle. Waqar Younis lobbed here in '96 with a huge rep and struggled (and he, at least, had the benefit of a previous tour here) but it didn't make people start questioning whether he was any good. Grinds my gears.

He's clearly out-of-sorts and, as I've said earlier, he's still taking wickets whilst bowling a lot of tosh and England better hope he doesn't get it right.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah. I guess what I'm wondering is whether he's worrying about it too much and is pre-occupied with it.

The management of him pre-tests was itstl. He's been a bowler who gets better and better with more work, yet given the fragillity of the fast bowling stocks, they kept him in cotton wool. Be interesting to see how he gets on as the series progresses.

I reckon that was an over-reaction to the fact they'd absolutely flogged him for the last year. Should have played in both warm-up games in hindsight, especially since he didn't play any IPL..

 

[Noble One]

Yeah. I guess what I'm wondering is whether he's worrying about it too much and is pre-occupied with it.

The management of him pre-tests was itstl. He's been a bowler who gets better and better with more work, yet given the fragillity of the fast bowling stocks, they kept him in cotton wool. Be interesting to see how he gets on as the series progresses.

Agree entirely. Johnson is such a rhythm bowler, he simply needs over’s behind him to be effective. You can see he is struggling with his bowling action, trying to correct himself whilst walking back to his marker after each delivery. The best cricket Johnson has played in South Africa came after 6 months straight of constant international cricket.

It is very fortunate that he is still managing the odd crucial wicket taking delivery. The vast majority of his deliveries so far this series have been wayward and lacking any consistency. Best news, I can't see him getting much worse, imagine he will start to get things together soon.

 

[Top_Cat]

Ouch.

 

[tooextracool]

Agree entirely. Johnson is such a rhythm bowler, he simply needs over’s behind him to be effective. You can see he is struggling with his bowling action, trying to correct himself whilst walking back to his marker after each delivery. The best cricket Johnson has played in South Africa came after 6 months straight of constant international cricket.

It is very fortunate that he is still managing the odd crucial wicket taking delivery. The vast majority of his deliveries so far this series have been wayward and lacking any consistency. Best news, I can't see him getting much worse, imagine he will start to get things together soon.

Surely hes played after such a long break before though? Dont ever recall seeing him bowl this poorly. Think it might have something to do with the Duke balls. His spell this morning has to rank up there with Harmison's spell in the Ashes down under at Brisbane as one of the worst spells I've ever seen.

If I were Australia, I'd give the new ball to Siddle until Johnson starts to recover some form and consistency in his bowling.

 

[tooextracool]

Can't believe people are calling it a road.

Sure the pitch wasn't seaming sideways but it looked a decent pitch to bowl on IMO.

The bowling was just terrible, the batsman hit the gaps and played positively, the lack of a third man (yes Rich I was surprised :P) leaked runs.

Only thing making this game seem even is the lack of confidence in the England bowlers to perform at 100% against the Aussie batsman.

Think the pitch is a road, but as we saw during the last Ashes series that is completely irrelevant if you can get the ball to swing. Not sure what happened during the day today, but it barely swung for almost 2 sessions and then suddenly the ball started to swing even considerably at times. If Anderson and Onions get the ball to swing, and England have 450+ on the board we might have a game on our hands.