Cricket

I was under the impression it was Vaughan who was off the pitch having a conflab with Fletcher, though having checked I am wrong. Fuck him, the Aussie twat.

The subject of sub fielders was brought up by the Aussies, it's not a big deal, everybody does it.
It was funny later on when England rubbed it in even more by having the 38 year old ( from Zimbabwe) fielding coach Trevor Penny coming on for S. Jones.

also balki you wet lip, should've come instead of trancing around springvale. still WTF!?!?

Yeah, i know... turned into a nice day.

When I pulled the pin, it was pissing down. Last thing I felt like was sitting in arctic conditions watching us getting our pants pulled down for 8 hours.

Springvale was ace. Ate Pho and spring rolls.

:)

Yeah, i know... turned into a nice day.

for the barmy army....

I see they have appropriated the chant from the wrestling in the 70s "easeh easeh!" which was associated with corpulent wife beater Shirley Crabtree AKA "Big Daddy"

for the barmy army....

Until they went to sleep, woke up and realised they were still English.

why would they sleep when they could watch the batsmen make hay and ponting suffer?

i'm hoping this test has a similar result as last weeks south africa v india

Declare after Trott's 200 maybe, and bowl them out midday tomorrow.

OR

fall like Cook, Strauss, Bell and Collingwood did yeterday for nothing, leaks runs till Australia are 300 for 2 and suddenly realise they've got the initiative.

so much fun this series
seeing aus struggle and burn and ponting lose it makes up for years of humiliation.

Only problem is my Australian mates don't want to talk about cricket anymore...

The ashes should be retained by lunch tomorrow with any luck so we can all get some night sleep for a change

England lower order collapse... Australia dominant early in the innings. Well on top today :/

good start by australia. The sun's out, prob a lot left in the pitch, if they can get to 200 without much loss there's all to play for.

They'll still lose tho, maybe

hughes run out, how silly

Lots of optimism but at 139/5 can you really see them making 550-600 and bowling England out for next to nothing?

They are being beaten by a better side - we should wrap it up tonight maybe early morning and enjoy.
I can see a complete dismantling of this Aussie squad - siddle johnson haddin hussey and maybe clarke watson and smith to stay the rest its ta ta to. Every thing we have changed has worked their changes have made things worse.

So Aus need the last 4 (probs 3) wickets to stand for 2 days.

....or maybe make 445 more runs and then the bowlers bowl England out in, or restrict them to, less than 200.

Neither of these two things look massively likely, if I'm honest.

I decided to call it a night at tea, hoping we could take maybe one or two more wickets, so another nice scorecard to wake up to.

Tonight I shall stay up until all the wickets are down so I hope there isn't a rearguard action from Aus! Haddin and Johnson can bat, want to see them go early please.

We've certainly worked it up em!!

Watson and hughes took 50 off the first 10 overs and for a moment it seemed they could halve the deficit without loss, in which case playing for a draw was all the more possible.

The stupid run out and the pressure from Tremlett killed that dead.

I'm reading a lot of criticism from the Aus fans for their team, not much acceptance or appreciation of England's work.

From what I've seen of this series, comparing it to the 2005 one I watched again recently, England have become a ruthless, disciplined and efficient unit. Very much a team. The 2005 side was more of a young team only just starting to believe in themselves, individuals turning small spells into chances and a fair bot of luck.

I hate to say it, but this England side have been looking and acting more like the Waugh era Aus than anything else.

in which case the perception that Strauss is too conservative makes sense. Playing only 2 slips and deep covers to save boundaries when their 350 and an innings behind while edging tremlett all over the place.

^agree RPM and consistency in selection has a lot to do with it, both building up individuals confidence and developing a cohesive team. Also i give strauss his due as a calm head at the helm. Australia did exactly the opposite chopping and changing the team looking for a new warne, gilchrist et al and lead by angry-man ponting

I havent seen any of it. But poor scores like those the Aus have put up, are often down to relentless pressure. Reading match reports make me think that England has achived this. Being able to rotate 3 or 4 bowlers without ever loosening the grip is the key. You only really need one of these bowlers to be a strike bowler.

I want to take anything away from the England batsmen, but its all about taking 20 wickets in my mind.

It's always about those 20 wkts.

You really only need one or two of the top six to produce big scores, the bowlers are where the games are won. Australia always used to do this, one of the batters would always make a ton, meaning a score of about 300 was always possible even when others failed. With the bowling they had it meant they were always in with a shout. Masters of getting a foot in the door and not letting up until they were well and truly inside and sat down with a cuppa. A bit like the Jehovas Witnesses.

^agree RPM and consistency in selection has a lot to do with it, both building up individuals confidence and developing a cohesive team. Also i give strauss his due as a calm head at the helm. Australia did exactly the opposite chopping and changing the team looking for a new warne, gilchrist et al and lead by angry-man ponting

And in contrast, those 2005 aussies with Ricky smiling and joking, thinking it was just a blip and they would still triumph (2006/7 just round the corner) still a side with the best players in the world, new guys coming in not looking too bad.

What did happen to Tait?

As an aside, it really pissed me off that you can't watch this national treasury being constructed unless you pay fikkin Sky. It's just plain wrong.