Yeah, inviting the drive with an old ball would have been a pretty expensive tactic and there wasn't enough pace in the pitch for catches to carry to second or third once the ball got old. Going defensive fairly quickly was definitely the right thing to do, but when do commentators ever admit that?
Never. See all the stick Dhoni gets.
Faster but less accurate than when I last saw him.
Strayed down legside 3 times iirc, so twice as good as Johnson
Really? Damn...I hope he doesn't try and do a Bret Lee by sacrificing accuracy for speed. He shouldn't be trying to run in that hard either if he has a chronic knee problem. Heard he was getting around 93 mph, which is pretty insane.
In the last Ashes in Adelaide, Warney had figures of 1-167, he was talking about it today on broadcast, saying how hard it is in the 1st innings, to get a wicket here for a spinner,but you have to keep it tight and then try to come more into the game in the 2nd innings.
First Ashes Test adrenaline will have been kicking in.
Burgey, always the pessimist. We got 80 too many.
yeah no doubt, but I've seen him bowl before and consistently get around 140-145 k/h. Deceptively fast for someone so burly, but so are Rhino's
.
Interesting. I just watched the highlights and having seen he was high 80s/low 90s on Cricinfo I was looking forward to seeing him. On the actual footate he looked to be bowling little floaters. Strange.
There's a sadistic part of me that kind of wants England all out for 250 just in order to have a really close, low-scoring Test.
If you want to see more of him, Leeman uploaded some of his 5-fors against Pak in ODIs. Great bowling, and a high quality video.
don't agree with this at all, from where i was i think they went defensive far too quickly, and watson's dismissal showed there was still some pace to work with,
I think one over at the end shoud have everything you've got to throw at the opposition, be firely and aggressive. For me, his over lack something. Dont know what but was just lacking. Still think he's a gun.
No thanks, just get 600 and crush them by an innings please.
Was wondering the same tbh.
When all of England's attack bar Finn have gone for significantly less than 3 runs an over and bowled Australia out for less than 250 on an absolute road, I don't think the England tactics can really legitimately be criticised.
Playing defensive was the right move. Anderson got some movement but there were no worries from the conditions. So England bowled accurately (or would have if not for Finn's opening spell) and with good consistency and fielding they strangled the runs out in the afternoon session, pressuring Watson and North into rash shots. Tactically England were excellent.