[Archived] The Ashes 2010 / 2011

[Flopsy]

517 for 1!!!! Bloody hell

[broadsword]

We can't get white-washed 5-0 now.

That makes me feel rather smug, just goes to show how much teh last tour hurt.

[Al]

We can't get white-washed 5-0 now.

That makes me feel rather smug, just goes to show how much teh last tour hurt.

It's more like we can't whitewash them 5-0 now!

[berkshireblue]

There are always going to be players who make low scores. Bell did well but my point is England's batsmen have a habit of getting out when they have done the difficult part, got their eye in and have a nice 50 on the board. Not enough of them go on to make big hundreds like players of their calibre should. When I was playing if I got past 50 more often than not I went on to get the 100.

Jim good to see your cricketing pessimism / knowledge is on a par with your political one

[jim mk2]

Jim good to see your cricketing pessimism / knowledge is on a par with your political one

It is rare for England's batsman to dominate like they did yesterday - usually they find ways of getting themselves out like Strauss, who threw away a potential massive score by dancing down the wicket to a part-time bowler and also tried to get himself out earlier when Freddie Mercury dropped him at mid-off. Trott was dropped albeit to a very difficult catch. Other than that England were relatively untroubled. As I said before, England might have been better to have batted on and made 600 plus by the close of play .... now that would have been humiliation for the enemy.

[neekoy]

Big call that England would win the series from a second innings triumph, if Australia had been able to get some early wickets then that lead of 200 would have been a struggle. The pitch was good for 10 overs of the new ball otherwise it was a peach.

Writing Australia off now when we actually have 3 better bowlers sitting out due to injury who can come in for Adelaide is not wise.

Dave, you know Clarke isnt going to be dropped, theu cant drop 2 future australian captains in one week

[dave birch]

Neekoy, as well as Clarke, the other person that should be shafted is Neilson. He's not a patch on Buchanan, if he's not available, as a pro tem, I'd have Border, even Bobby Simpson (who started the golden years of Aussie dominance),he's the one that instigated the training regime.

wtf, Neilsen has supported Johnson for the next test, just on the ABC news. I despair.

[Ozz]

From an English point of view, the main positives to come out of the game in Brisbane are..

Firstly the thought of another 5-0 pounding. It was never likely, but after the hullabaloo following the win in 2005 England arrived in Australia to a very rude awakening, precipated of course by the startling turnaround of one of the best bowlers in the 2005 series, from major threat to incompetent pie chucker. And that's a bit harsh on pie chuckers. To get the possibilty of a similar turn of events out of the way must give the tourists some small psychological lift, however much they may deny it. Not gonna happen this time.

Secondly, barring Siddels freaky hat trick, the first test confirmed that the bowlers the Aussies had on show have not much to worry the Poms. Johnson looked sterile, Watson the same, Doherty and Hilfenhaus too defensive. Siddel obviosuly came out looking OK, but only due to his first innings heroics (which he himself admits was lucky-the hat trick ball was a mistake) and he joined his team mates in the secong go as cannon fodder. I'm sick of hearing it (not really sick, rather pleased actually) but the Aussies do not have a McGrath or a Warne any where near their team these days.

Thirdly, one of the two weaker links in the English batting has just scored 300-ish runs in one test, and looked like the prodigy he was once thought of. If Cook carries on his rehabilatation in the next few tests, it only leaves KP to resolve his demons, and the Aussies spinning options (his main problem aside from his own massive ego) look the tamest in test cricket these days. Plus Strauss showed great mental resolve, not least a bit of luck too at The Gabba.

In the past if England were 200 runs behind on first innings, I am most other similar supporters would gladly have put big money on us being all out for 247 or so and losing by an innings-it happended almost every other test for most of the 1990s and early 2000s. They proved that the times have changed, and to do it on foreign soil must give the side an enormous boost in confidence.

Finally, We are likely to see the emergence of Swann as a bigger contributor as the games come down south-usually Englands major threat, he has contributed little so far and he is likely to get better results on the less tropical grounds, esp in Victoria and NSW.

But as Flopsy said, the best bit about the first test was this-

Bloody hell!

[Flopsy]

But as Flopsy said, the best bit about the first test was this-

Bloody hell!

Just love that picture hahahaha

[Rover Down Under]

Anyone coming to Adelaide want to meet up to watch Rovers v Wolves on Saturday (Sunday morning)?

[Blueboy Downunder]

we must carry that batting form into this test match, hopefully winning the toss and batting first and tiring the aussie bowlers even further. providing that we win the toss and bat, the aussie bowlers will come out with gusto and somewhat of a renewed vigure, but if we can see out the first hr, and stick a good score on the board...then the pressure if firmly on the aussies and in particular, punter!!

COME ON ENGLAND, LETS HAVE IT....1-0 UP, PLEASE

[SouthAussieRover]

Anyone coming to Adelaide want to meet up to watch Rovers v Wolves on Saturday (Sunday morning)?

Probably not.

A day at the cricket will be more than enough given I'm also going the following day.

[HemelRover]

Brilliant start! Dreadful running from Katich!

[BuckyRover]

Get in!

[HemelRover]

Ponting too!!!!! Golden Duck!! 0-2!!!!!!!! Wonderful stuff!!

[HemelRover]

Your fricking joking!!!! Clarke gone now. Incredible! Anderson bowling like the worldie he is.

[Tom]

What the hell

[Nate]

Good. Maybe we can get rid of Ponting now. Been overdue. And Clarke.

[BuckyRover]

I might get to see England bat before I go to bed

[Presty On Tour]

Awesome bowling and fielding by England.

Unlucky with the lbw review though.

[neekoy]

Any score over 200 is going to be a blessing. Why North wasn't dropped is beyond belief, it is probably the most amazing selection of a non performer since the early days of Damien Martyn.

EDIT: I was just looking at his stats, a century every 4 tests but an avg of 36, W.T.F

[Ozz]

Australia have a real problem now, after that performance it leaves England with a good chance of going one up with three to play.

That means if Aussie do lose this test, they cannot lose another and win the Ashes back.

[Exiled_Rover]

Australia have a real problem now, after that performance it leaves England with a good chance of going one up with three to play.

That means if Aussie do lose this test, they cannot lose another and win the Ashes back.

Looooong way to go yet. It's a good start, but let's see how we bat tomorrow. Plus getting 20 wickets is always a hard task.

[Ozz]

That's the ever suffering English man talking!

Bet the Aussie lads don't think that way.

[RibbleValleyRover]

England's day with some good bowling and poor batting. Got to question some of the shot selection by the Australia batsman especially at key times Clarke and Watson being two examples and there was two really poor run outs. Hussey probably the only Australian batsman fully deserving his place right now.

You would think 245 is a poor score on this pitch but you don't really know if it is until the other side have batted.