Cricket Discussion Thread

[SideshowTim]

well as cricket fans probably know, the ashes series is coming up and also the one dayers. the one dayers begin on the 18th of this month and the tests start late in july, personally i can't wait to stay up late every night at watch it. anyway, i think the ashes will be much closer this year, england have seemed to shake off the crappy mentality they had with hussein as captain. i still think australia will take the series though.

[God]

Australia 3-1 (1 to weather). Can't see the poms winning.

[SideshowTim]

yeah i'm expecting alot of lost play to weather. damn england.

[The lesson is never try]

Australia 3-1 (1 to weather). Can't see the poms winning.

i dont know, this is the strongest team weve had in years, and with Flintoff, Pieterson, Vaughan, Trescothick playing well, we may get the win.

[SideshowTim]

england have never played well against australia in recent years. england need alot of help in the bowling department and in the middle order. if they can fix those things up they are in with a real shot. england always have good opening stands and then collapse in the middle order. but yes, england does have a much stronger team this time around.

[The lesson is never try]

If Giles, Flintoff, and espicially Harmison get bowling well, then the bowling is pretty up to standard, Harmisons been on fire lately.

[SideshowTim]

flintoff has never had much sucess against australia. harminson got injured in the first match last series and he looked to be bowling well. there is a 20/20 match on tuesday morning, don't think i'll catch it but it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

[Grippa]

I think we finally have a team which can actually challenge the Aussies, but I'd have to say that the Aussies are still the favourites in my book.

[SideshowTim]

i'm pumped about the 20/20 tonight. i still prefer the 50 overs version of the game but it will be interesting to see how the poms shape up tonight. ponting has said today that he wouldn't want any english players on his team except for flintoff. nothing like a good verbal stoush.

[God]

Ugh, I hate 20/20 its like rugby sevens for cricket. The 20/20 game here between NZ and Aussie was a huge joke (apart from the beige) and it was all a bit of slap and giggle.
--
Kevin Pietersen looks like an awesome player hopefully England use him instead of the remaining contigent of Dad's Army; Thorpe, Butcher, Trescothick, Gough. As for Flintoff, apart from Simon Katich he would have to be the most over-rated player in world cricket.

[SideshowTim]

i enjoyed the game against new zealand (because of the uniforms...and also we smashed them). it's a fun game to watch and is good for new comers to the game of cricket, overall i think it would have a negative effect on the test careers of some players.

katich has potential, he has never fully used it at test level, but he is amazing for new south wales. he has shown glimpses of how he can play but nothing great yet. also, expect a big series from clarke and hayden.

[God]

I still think Bevan should be there instead of Katich. Didn't Bevan score about 10 centuries during the last gone domestic season ?

[SideshowTim]

yep, but he has never converted well in the test version of the game. i think he's more suited to one dayers but since he was dropped from them too we won't be seeing him around much more. i think he played about 10 tests but his highest score was 94.

the reason they have katich instead of say, bevan is because the australian side is aging badly and katich is keeping the team sort of young.

[JonHillier]

I seriously think that England can do this, as you say, I think they've come over the period where every game was a challenge. There's been a big boost of morale in recent years, and I think that'll show.

Wanted to go and see it, but tickets are incredibly expensive already. All sold out, and only ones available are £300 upwards.

[SideshowTim]

wow thats incredible how quickly it sold out. i just hope australia don't get too up themselves this year, however i think they know how england have progressed and how their mentality has changed. at their best australia are near impossible to beat but this will be a very close and entertaining series.

[SideshowTim]

now, now don't get too excited england, it was only a twenty20. doesn't mean alot and i think winning could get the poms a bit too cocky. anway, england did play very well and batted solidly and bowled brilliantly. australia didn't really do anything too great, you know that when gillespie is your top scorer. but as i said, it's only a twenty20, let's get down to the real cricket i say.

things i am worried about:
* england will get too cocky, over estimate ability, lose a couple of matches and become down on themselves
* australia will have a weak middle order for the rest of the series
* the form of symonds with the bat
* being taunted on this forum by the poms!

god, you pointed out pietersen, he played very well today, took some good catches, hit a few boundaries, he certainly looks like one to watch. gough bowled well, too bad for you guys that he isn't playing in the test series. i think the ODI series will be a true reflection on both teams ability because we get to see more than 20 overs from each team, i think 50 overs each way will give a better picture of what the test series will be like.

england 8/179
collingwood 46
trescothick 41
symonds 3/31 (3)

australia 79
gillespie 24
lewis 4/24 (4)
gough 3/16 (3)

england win by 100 runs.

[God]

Didn't the aussies lose 5 wickets for 1 run ?

[SideshowTim]

something like that. gough was on a hatrick at one point, the top order all dropped within about 4 overs.

[SideshowTim]

rain stopped play in the one day tour match of australia against somerset. australia built up a great total of 5/342. ponting retired on 80 and hayden retired on 76, clarke got a quickfire 63* and hussey got a 50. australia look like they are on the right way up.

[God]

In reply somerset got 345/6 (i think) with 19 balls to spare, but they did have Jayasuriya and Graeme Smith getitng centuries.

[SideshowTim]

yeah that's pretty amazing.

http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/211219.html

there's an article about pontings response there, he doesn't seem to phased and i think this is actually a good thing for australia, seeing as though all the big scores were made by overseas players, not english players and they will learn from their mistakes. australian bowlers need to shape up. australia play bangladesh in the opening game of the one day series on saturday. let's go australia.

[God]

brett lee could miss tomorrows opening game with an injury.

[SideshowTim]

http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/211273.html

it's good that he will only be out for the triangular series. it's a shame though because he looked more in form than any other of the bowlers for one dayers. he should be back for the 3 match series against england though which is good.

[JonHillier]

Wow, Australia lost to Bangladesh. Bit of a shocker.

[Grippa]

Saw the end of it, love seeing an upset like that.

[Terrier Williger]

Wow, Australia lost to Bangladesh. Bit of a shocker.

Yeah let's hope that the form Australia have shown so far in the 20/20 match, and todays embarrasing defeat to Bangladesh continues through the summer...although I guess we want it to improve somewhat, so they at least give England some competition ;)

Anyway we'll see tomorrow what they're made of in the first "real" competetive cricket match of the summer between the 2 old foes.

[SideshowTim]

england are going to be in for a rude shock if they think australia will play like this all summer, remember it's cricket season over there, our guys haven't played competetive cricket for about 4 months. we will get into the rythym soon enough. don't think you will run away with the series easily, poms.

also bangladesh played well last night on the back of some tremendous luck. australia's batting is looking alright but their bowling is a bit suspect, i am expecting a huge improvement tonight because australia really should have bowled a side like bangladesh all out. let's go aussies.

[The lesson is never try]

maybe theyre trying to get us into a false sense of security - we think theyre rubbish, but Australia, can and will beat anyone, England have got to be focussed on their on game, instead of seeing how others do.

However. i also see many of the Aussies *Cough*Sideshow Tim*Cough seem to be overestimating Australia, since they are usually brilliant, they also seem to think we will be a walkover, so you will have a huge shock, when the likes of Flintoff, Trescothick, and Strauss, are batting against you.

[God]

Great century by that Bangladeshi fella, Ricky Ponting looked pretty pissed when he was fielding.

[SideshowTim]

However. i also see many of the Aussies *Cough*Sideshow Tim*Cough seem to be overestimating Australia, since they are usually brilliant, they also seem to think we will be a walkover, so you will have a huge shock, when the likes of Flintoff, Trescothick, and Strauss, are batting against you.
the australian team of today is arguably the greatest team that the cricketing world has ever seen. i am not overestimating them at all and at their best can't be defeated.

no australians had the idea that england would be a walkover this tour, we have seen the teams progress and know they will be a bit more competitive. sure england can play one dayers well but let's see how the fair against australia in the all important test matches.

[Terrier Williger]

Ugh, I hate 20/20 its like rugby sevens for cricket. The 20/20 game here between NZ and Aussie was a huge joke (apart from the beige) and it was all a bit of slap and giggle.
--
Kevin Pietersen looks like an awesome player hopefully England use him instead of the remaining contigent of Dad's Army; Thorpe, Butcher, Trescothick, Gough. As for Flintoff, apart from Simon Katich he would have to be the most over-rated player in world cricket.


As you say, 20/20 is a bit of a laugh and I must admit I prefer the first-class game, but 20/20 is proving very popular over here at the moment, so it's something we're going to have to live with.

Pietersen is certainly proving himself in the one-day side, but I'm not sure that he'll make it into our very settled test team - apart from injuries perhaps ?

I wouldn't say Trescothick is in the dads army camp, he will be 30 on Christmas day this year.
Gough is only playing in the one day side, and Thorpe is retiring.
As for Mr "50 and out" Butcher, I don't reckon he'll play for Engalnd for a long time, if ever again - unless he really hits some really outstanding form. He's got a nice job at Sky Sports now anyway.

As for Australia, they're practically geriatric, McGrath and Warne both 35, Gilchrist 33, Hayden 33, Gillespie and Pontin both 30, blah blah blah......
....Ah well I better not call them old, just experienced ;)

BTW most of Englands current squad seem to be 27 or 28 years old !

Now Mr Flintoff can still be a bit of an enigma in my opinion (he keeps chipping the ball to mid-off), but he's definately starting to show his pedigree. He's had a big bearing on some of England's winning displays lately - He's had some devastating displays with the bat, and he is now becoming a consistent, mean and fairly pacey bowler.

I'm sure Australia will hit some form soon, especially by the time the test series comes round. I think it's gonna be a classic series - to close to call, so I'm going for 2-2, that's depending on the weather of course!

[SideshowTim]

As for Australia, they're practically geriatric, McGrath and Warne both 35, Gilchrist 33, Hayden 33, Gillespie and Pontin both 30, blah blah blah......

i think what is amazing is that regardless of their age, these players have hit the peaks of their careers in their 30's.

[SideshowTim]

after a wobbly start with 3 wickets in an over by harmison, australia did okay. hussey and clarke fought back well again, however i'm not sure if 252 will be enough to beat england.

australia 9/252 (50)
m. hussey - 84 (83)
m. clarke - 45 (71)
s. harmison 5/33 (10)
a. flintoff 2/39 (10)

hopefully australia's bowlers can do a good job. they have the ability there is no doubting that, but to win they will definately have to bowl england all out.

[duffless89]

Sorry mate. They didn't.

[SideshowTim]

it was close, australia played better than they have all series, if they keep improving they will be back at the top of their game in no time. australia played much better as a team however individual performances won the game for england (harmison, pietersen). anyway, i'm expecting australia to win their next game quite convincingly no matter who it's against.

[Terrier Williger]

i think what is amazing is that regardless of their age, these players have hit the peaks of their careers in their 30's.

Whats worse for the rest of us, is that these peaks started 10 years ago or so.


Anyway, good match yesterday, maybe a sign of whats to come. Before Pieterson started his onslaught, I must admit that I thought England were going to lose. They bowled reasonably well, with Harmison being the pick of the bunch. The fielding was good - what about that spectacular Collingwood catch ? I thought 253 looked like being a gettable target - as long as they got off to a good start.

McGrath bowled well, and with the Hogg showing up Engalnds weakness against spin, it was left to Vaughan to steady the ship - all be it a little too slowly for my liking. Engalnd also tinkered with their batting order, promoting Collingwood and Flintoff (out chipping the ball to long-off this time :uhh: ), demoting Pieterson and Solanki. It looked like this tactic was going to backfire when Vaughan departed with the score on 150 for 5 in the 38th over, run rate required was just over 8.5. Next Jones threw his wicket away, but then up stepped Mr Pietersen 91 not out off 65 balls to see England home - surely he's now a candidate for the test side ?

Biggest worry for the Aussies at the moment has to be the form of Jason Gillespie. He looks well off his game.

Here's the scorecard;
ODI # 2251
NatWest Series, 2005, 3rd Match
England v Australia
County Ground, Bristol
19 June 2005 (50-over match)

Result: England won by 3 wickets
Points: England 5, Australia 1

Toss: Australia
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and JW Lloyds
TV Umpire: NJ Llong
Match Referee: JJ Crowe (NZ)
Man of the Match: KP Pietersen

Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4 6
+AC Gilchrist c Jones b Harmison 26 48 32 0 1
ML Hayden c Collingwood b Harmison 31 71 44 2 1
*RT Ponting lbw b Harmison 0 1 1 0 0
DR Martyn c Pietersen b Harmison 0 1 2 0 0
MJ Clarke b Lewis 45 92 71 2 1
MEK Hussey b Harmison 84 109 83 11 0
SR Watson b Flintoff 25 37 36 1 1
GB Hogg not out 10 28 13 0 0
JN Gillespie c Jones b Flintoff 14 19 18 1 1
MS Kasprowicz b Gough 1 3 3 0 0
GD McGrath not out 0 1 1 0 0
Extras (lb 6, w 6, nb 4) 16
Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 252

FoW: 1-57 (Gilchrist, 11.1 ov), 2-57 (Ponting, 11.2 ov),
3-57 (Martyn, 11.4 ov), 4-63 (Hayden, 15.3 ov),
5-168 (Clarke, 35.1 ov), 6-220 (Hussey, 43.6 ov),
7-220 (Watson, 44.1 ov), 8-244 (Gillespie, 48.5 ov),
9-248 (Kasprowicz, 49.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Gough 10 0 47 1 (3nb)
Lewis 10 0 69 1 (1nb)
Harmison 10 0 33 5 (2w)
Flintoff 10 1 39 2 (4w)
Collingwood 2 0 11 0
Vaughan 6 0 33 0
Solanki 2 0 14 0

England innings (target: 253 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4 6
ME Trescothick b McGrath 16 31 32 3 0
AJ Strauss b McGrath 16 40 23 3 0
*MP Vaughan lbw b Hogg 57 121 92 6 0
PD Collingwood b Kasprowicz 14 41 28 1 0
A Flintoff c Kasprowicz b Hogg 19 37 22 1 1
KP Pietersen not out 91 94 65 8 4
+GO Jones c Martyn b Hogg 2 8 5 0 0
VS Solanki run out (Gilchrist) 13 24 14 0 1
J Lewis not out 7 25 15 0 0
Extras (lb 1, w 7, nb 10) 18
Total (7 wickets, 47.3 overs) 253

DNB: D Gough, SJ Harmison.

FoW: 1-39 (Trescothick, 6.5 ov), 2-42 (Strauss, 8.5 ov),
3-82 (Collingwood, 18.3 ov), 4-119 (Flintoff, 27.2 ov),
5-150 (Vaughan, 35.3 ov), 6-160 (Jones, 37.4 ov),
7-214 (Solanki, 42.4 ov).

Bowling O M R W
McGrath 9 1 34 2 (3nb, 1w)
Gillespie 10 1 66 0 (1nb, 5w)
Kasprowicz 9 0 68 1 (6nb)
Watson 9.3 0 42 0
Hogg 10 1 42 3 (1w)

* 4th Umpire - MR Benson
* England innings
* England innings; 1x7 ball over (3rd over, McGrath's 2nd, called by umpire Aleem Dar)
* England 100 in 23 overs (Vaughan 26*, Flintoff 15*)
* Vaughan 50 in 83 balls, 5x4
* England 150 in 35.2 overs (Vaughan 57*, Pietersen 15*)
* Pietersen 50 in 46 balls, 3x4, 2x6

cheers,
TW

[SideshowTim]

the thing is gillespie did bowl a couple of good overs on the back of mcgrath but 4 wides in an over is definately not acceptable at any level. i will be incredibly surprised if pietersen is not chosen in the test side after that performance.

the fielding was quite brilliant by both teams, collingwoods catch was very good and gilchrist did an excellent job of running out solanki. i think australia have their fielding spark back and once lee returns i think there will be a huge improvement in their game. lee is only fairly young too so that's a good thing for australia's bowling attack now and in the future because at the moment they are really lacking pace.

i was impressed with hogg's, mcgraths and watsons bowling. it's spectacular to see a little battle between bowler and batsman like watson and pietersen had. look out for watson in the future. brimming with talent.

[God]

good innings from pietersen I thought.

[SideshowTim]

i think englands batting order was wrong. flintoff should have been where pietersen was and vice versa. also collingwood shouldn't have come in at four, he is much better at finishing innings.

[Terrier Williger]

Another impressive England performance today, and this time it was Collingwoods turn to shine. He's achieved the best allround performance ever in the history of ODI's.
112 notout (off 86 balls) and 6 for 31 in 10 overs.
He's also the first English bowler to take 6 wickets in a ODI.

Only 1 man has managed to score a ton, and bowl a 5 wicket haul in the same game before Collingwood did today.....anyone want to guess who ?

Other star performers; Trezza with 85 off 65, Strauss 152 off 128 (watch out for this guy, he's in superb form at the mo), Tremlett (6 foot 7 Harmison type bowler) who took 4 for 32 on debut. Ashrafal batted well again this time for 94 off 52 deliveries - this lads got some ability, maybe a county side / state side should be looking at him, to nurture his talent ?
A couple of negatives -
Injury worry to Vaughan, he went off the field and wasn't even at the aftermatch presentation. He's got a groin strain and....
.....will Mr Flintoff please stop chipping the ball to mid/long-off, todays dismissal was his daftest yet - attempting a forward defensive push for 6 :LOL:

Final result summary:
England 391-4 off 50 overs, Bangladesh 223 allout off 45.2 overs.
MOTM: Collingwood.

Group standings:
1. Pommies.......W3 L0 bonus2 17pts
2. Aussieslayers.W1 L2 bonus0 5pts
3. Convicts.......W0 L2 bonus2 2pts

Next stop Chester-le-Street on Thursday for the next episode of England v Aus.

[SideshowTim]

you'll see a new australia on thursday. well played by england but they better not get too far ahead of themselves. they thrashed bangladesh.

was it viv richards who did it? (scored the ton and 5 wicket haul)

[God]

Yeah, Aussie should thrash the 'deshis this time

[SideshowTim]

we play england tonight, should be interesting. i think australia are quietly confident. after collingwood's performance i thought he'd be in the test side but i quickley browsed an article today that said he won't be playing in the test series...anyone know why?

[Grippa]

England 82-3 off 23 overs, chasing 267, somehow don't think we are going to win this one.

[Terrier Williger]

we play england tonight, should be interesting. i think australia are quietly confident. after collingwood's performance i thought he'd be in the test side but i quickley browsed an article today that said he won't be playing in the test series...anyone know why?
Collingwood is the England equivalent of Michael Bevan. His style of play is more suited to the one-day game. He's had a few chances in the test team but has yet to produce anything special. There's no reason, if he can show better form in the first class game, why he won't get picked for the test team again. But he's up against some stiff competition.
The same thing seems to apply to Pietersen, but the pressure of his fine performances in ODI's has become too great for the test selectors to resist and it looks like he's going to make the first test squad of the summer.

Now on to more depressing matters as far as an England fan is concerned. The Aussies have well and truly out played us today, especially by their bowling department.
Lee looked awsome - fast and accurate (2-27), and McGrath (2-31) finding out fault with "captain" Trezzas concrete feet again - these two basically won the game for Australia inside the first 10 overs of Englands innings.
Yet again England struggled against the spin of Hogg, which I think is most worrying of all - Warney must be chomping at the bit to get at us in the test matches.
Gillespe was better, he found an extra 5mph today.
Symonds ended up with MOTM for his good knock of 73 off 81, 1 wicket and some fine fielding.

A couple of plusses for Engalnd.
Flintoff played a good innings of 44 off 61 to try and rescue the the side when the score was 9 for 3.
Goughie was our star man with an ecomical bowling performance and a career best 46 notout.

Here's the scorecard;

ODI # 2253
NatWest Series, 2005, 5th Match
England v Australia
Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street (day/night)
23 June 2005 (50-over match)


Result: Australia won by 57 runs
Points: Australia 6, England 0

Toss: England
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and MR Benson
TV Umpire: JW Lloyds
Match Referee: JJ Crowe (NZ)
Man of the Match: A Symonds

Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4 6
+AC Gilchrist c Jones b Tremlett 18 38 31 2 0
ML Hayden c Jones b Flintoff 39 94 56 5 0
*RT Ponting c Giles b Harmison 27 51 40 4 0
DR Martyn not out 68 118 81 3 0
A Symonds run out (Trescothick) 73 94 81 4 2
MEK Hussey c Collingwood b Flintoff 5 9 10 0 0
SR Watson not out 11 7 7 1 0
Extras (lb 12, w 7, nb 6) 25
Total (5 wickets, 50 overs, 211 mins) 266

DNB: GB Hogg, JN Gillespie, B Lee, GD McGrath.

FoW: 1-44 (Gilchrist, 9.1 ov), 2-95 (Ponting, 20.2 ov),
3-96 (Hayden, 21.1 ov), 4-238 (Symonds, 45.2 ov),
5-247 (Hussey, 47.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Gough 10 0 41 0 (3nb)
Tremlett 9 0 53 1 (1nb, 1w)
Harmison 9 2 44 1 (2nb, 2w)
Flintoff 10 0 55 2 (3w)
Giles 9 1 44 0 (1w)
Collingwood 3 0 17 0

England innings (target: 267 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4 6
*ME Trescothick c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 23 15 0 0
AJ Strauss b Lee 3 17 13 0 0
VS Solanki c Ponting b Hogg 34 87 69 2 0
PD Collingwood b McGrath 0 1 2 0 0
A Flintoff c Gillespie b Hogg 44 90 61 6 0
KP Pietersen c Hussey b Symonds 19 37 28 2 0
+GO Jones c Hayden b Watson 23 45 30 2 0
AF Giles c Symonds b Lee 4 4 3 1 0
CT Tremlett c Hussey b Gillespie 8 25 18 0 0
D Gough not out 46 50 47 7 0
SJ Harmison not out 11 37 17 0 0
Extras (lb 8, w 6, nb 3) 17
Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 209

FoW: 1-4 (Strauss, 4.3 ov), 2-6 (Trescothick, 5.1 ov),
3-6 (Collingwood, 5.3 ov), 4-85 (Solanki, 24.4 ov),
5-94 (Flintoff, 26.6 ov), 6-123 (Pietersen, 33.4 ov),
7-133 (Giles, 34.5 ov), 8-145 (Jones, 37.6 ov),
9-159 (Tremlett, 40.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Lee 10 2 27 2 (1nb, 4w)
McGrath 10 1 31 2 (1nb)
Gillespie 9 0 36 1 (1w)
Watson 8 0 51 1 (1nb, 1w)
Hogg 6 0 19 2
Symonds 7 0 37 1

Group Standings
1. England.......W3 L1 Bonus2 Pts17
2. Aussies.......W1 L2 Bonus3 Pts 8
3. Bangladesh..W1 L2 Bonus0 Pts 5

Next matches;
Saturday, Aussies v Bangaldesh, at Old Trafford.
Sunday, England v Aussies, at Headingley

cheers,
TW

[SideshowTim]

well played by australia but you still haven't seen the best of them. england bowled quite well but batted poorly, i think this is a great confidence booster for australia and they will take alot from this game. lee and symonds really helped us alot.

[Terrier Williger]

i think this is a great confidence booster for australia and they will take alot from this game.

When England were 9 for 3 you could see a change in body language of the whole Australian side from anything seen in the previous matches - they looked like they were out for blood.

Game on.

[neoballmon]

Australia had better beat Bangladesh tonight. How bad would it be if we were beat by them twice in a row

[God]

I am really expecting Bangledesh to get smashed this time.

[Terrier Williger]

I am really expecting Bangledesh to get smashed this time.
A 10 wicket win for Australia inside 20 overs is not too far off from being smashed.

A stroll in the (Trafford) park for the Aussies today. Once Ashrafal was kept quiet by the spinners taking wickets at the other end, what little chance the Deshi's had of making a decent score disappeared.
Symonds got plenty of turn on the spin-friendly pitch, to produce a career best 5 for 18. Hogg took 3 for 29 as Bangladesh could only manage 139 allout after being 113 for 2 at one stage.

Hayden and Gilchrist both 66 notout, pissed the run chase in only 19 overs (73 mins.)

Latest group standings
1. England..... W3 L1 Bonus2 Pts17
2. Aussies..... W2 L2 Bonus4 Pts14
3. Bangladesh.W1 L3 Bonus0 Pts5

[SideshowTim]

australia thrashed bangladesh. the bonus points are going to help australia get to the top of the ladder i think. anyway, it looks like an england and australia final which will be great, i can't wait. symonds is in great form and hayden and gilchrist looked great with the bat. bangladesh lost their last 4 wickets for nothing :).

[Terrier Williger]

To me it looked like England were going through the motions today - they've got bigger fish to fry on Tuesday ;)
We didn't bowl particularly well, although to be fair, the Deshi's toughed it out, especially after they lost Ashrafal first ball. They crept along to 208-7 off 50.
Flintoff the star bowler with 4 for 29.

England cruised home by 5 wickets with 11 overs to spare.
Strauss out for 98, trying to hit a boundary to reach his century with the scores level.

Result;
Bangladesh 208-7, England 209-5 off 38.5 overs

Group Standings-

1.England......W4 L1 Bonus3 Pts23
2.Aussies......W2 L2 Bonus4 Pts14
3.Bangladesh.W1 L4 Bonus0 Pts5

Next Match
Tuesday - England v Australia at Eggbaskets, Birmingham (Day/Night)

[SideshowTim]

australia and england confirmed in the final. hopefully australia have strong wins against both england and bangladesh to top the ladder, bonus points shouldn't be a problem.

[Terrier Williger]

australia and england confirmed in the final. hopefully australia have strong wins against both england and bangladesh to top the ladder, bonus points shouldn't be a problem.
Whoever tops the "group" doesn't really matter - what does matter for me is the England v Australia head-to-head, which is of course is currently 1 match all.

Anyway, watch out, it looks like Vaughan might be back.

[SideshowTim]

it will be good for their confidence though. it should be a good game tonight, i'm really looking forward to it.

[Terrier Williger]

Well, it finally had to happen - the weather has won todays contest.
MATCH ABANDONED AS A NO RESULT - 3 points each. :irked:

Here's the scorecard;

NatWest Series, 2005, 8th Match
England v Australia
Edgbaston, Birmingham (day/night)
28 June 2005 (50-over match)

Result: No result
Points: England 3, Australia 3

Toss: Australia
Umpires: BF Bowden (NZ) and DR Shepherd
TV Umpire: JW Lloyds
Match Referee: JJ Crowe (NZ)
Man of the Match: No Award

Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4 6
+AC Gilchrist c GO Jones b SP Jones 19 13 18 2 0
ML Hayden lbw b SP Jones 14 31 24 3 0
*RT Ponting c GO Jones b Flintoff 34 69 40 4 0
DR Martyn c Pietersen b Harmison 36 78 65 4 0
A Symonds run out (Collingwood) 74 89 75 6 2
MEK Hussey c GO Jones b Harmison 45 76 42 4 0
MJ Clarke c GO Jones b Gough 3 8 6 0 0
GB Hogg c GO Jones b Gough 2 9 6 0 0
B Lee not out 21 19 18 3 0
JN Gillespie c Pietersen b Gough 1 6 2 0 0
GD McGrath not out 2 3 5 0 0
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 4, nb 1) 10
Total (9 wickets, 50 overs, 209 mins) 261

FoW: 1-34 (Gilchrist, 5.2 ov), 2-46 (Hayden, 9.1 ov),
3-95 (Ponting, 21.1 ov), 4-123 (Martyn, 27.5 ov),
5-224 (Symonds, 42.5 ov), 6-234 (Clarke, 44.3 ov),
7-236 (Hussey, 45.1 ov), 8-242 (Hogg, 46.6 ov),
9-254 (Gillespie, 48.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Gough 9 0 70 3 (1nb)
SP Jones 10 2 53 2 (1w)
Harmison 10 1 38 2 (1w)
Flintoff 10 0 38 1
Giles 10 1 44 0 (2w)
Vaughan 1 0 13 0

England innings (target: 200 runs from 33 overs) R M B 4 6
ME Trescothick not out 11 25 19 1 0
AJ Strauss c Gillespie b McGrath 25 25 18 5 0
*MP Vaughan not out 0 0 0 0
Extras (nb 1) 1
Total (1 wicket, 6 overs, 25 mins) 37

DNB: A Flintoff, KP Pietersen, PD Collingwood, +GO Jones,
AF Giles, D Gough, SJ Harmison, SP Jones.

FoW: 1-37 (Strauss, 5.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Lee 3 0 13 0
McGrath 3 0 24 1 (1nb)

I've gotta say, that apart from Gough, England bowled well in keeping the convicts to 261 for 9 - especially Harmison and Flintoff. All 4 bowlers who will be part of the test side looked on form. It was nice to see Simon Jones get a couple of early wickets in his first ODI appearance against the Aussies, he's gonna be an important part of our bowling attack, and a great weapon to have as our 4th seamer during the tests. Add Hoggard, and I think the England attack is gonna be very effective.

Latest Group Standings;

1.England........W4 L1 NR1 Bonus3 26Pts
2.Australia.......W2 L2 NR1 Bonus4 17Pts
3.Bangladesh....W1 L4 NR0 Bonus0 5Pts

Final Group Match;
Thursday - Aussies v Deshi's at Canterbury

FINAL
Saturday - England V Aussies at Lords

[SideshowTim]

i hate no result games. it looked like it would have been a really exciting match too. damn. anyway, evenly distributed game. before symonds got out australia were on target for about 280/290. can't wait for the final!

[God]

apparently in the 3 match series beginning next week they will be trialling some of the proposed rules changes (reserve, fielding restrictions decided by bowling team etc.)

[Terrier Williger]

apparently in the 3 match series beginning next week they will be trialling some of the proposed rules changes (reserve, fielding restrictions decided by bowling team etc.)

Yep, there are new rules which includes using a substitute, they are coming into force for all ODI's from July 31st, but they're gonna try them out in the 3 match Nat West Challenge which starts on the 7th July.

Here's a brief summary of the rule changes;

Each team will designate a 12th man who will be able to bat or bowl. The change will be announced over the PA system and details of the change shown on the giant screen. Fielding restrictions will now be in place for the first ten overs of the innings - rather than 15 at present - but there will be two blocks of five overs later on in the innings where the regulations come back into effect, although there will be no need for the two close catchers at that point. These overs will be known as the Powerplay Fives, and will be taken by the fielding captain at his discretion.

A recent meeting of the ICC decided that the new regulations will be tested over a ten-month period. The trial officially begins on July 31, but permitted the England and Australian boards to use the regulations in the NatWest Challenge, and both boards agreed.

[Terrier Williger]

Final group match result;

Bangladesh 250 for 8 off 50
Australia 254 for 4 off 48.1

MOTM - Shahriar Nafees 75

Australia rested McGrath and Hogg, but looked lack lustre in the field today. Bangladesh deserved their "bonus point".
Kasprowicz seemed to be struggling with his run-up but his bowling figures weren't too bad. The big question is, will he keep Lee (expensive today) out of the test team ?
Good batting from Clarke 80n/o, Ponting 66 and Symmonds 42n/o, but Hayden was out for 1, is he still rattled from the verbals with England the other day ?

Final Group Standings

1. Engalnd.......W4 L1 NR1 Bonus3 26pts
2. Australia......W3 L2 NR1 Bonus4 22pts
3. Bangladesh..W1 L5 NR0 Bonus1 6pts

[God]

Tied game this morning between England & Australia, share the trophy.

[SideshowTim]

australia did very well to tie that. they looked done for after that batting performance but proved what a great bowling line up they have. however, at 5/33 australia really should have won the game.

[Terrier Williger]

What a great match. :thumbsup

It was a difficult batting wicket - 196 wasn't a bad score against quality bowling.
The "old" England might have been blown away in that game, but now they can bat a lot further down the order.
Collingwood is the man to have in a crisis, while Garrant Jones and Ashley Giles are very useful to have batting at 7 and 8.

It's looking more and more like there's very little to seperate these two sides - lets see if anyone gets the upper hand in the 3 match Nat West Challenge (including new rules), which starts Thursday.

[SideshowTim]

i'm not sure about these new rules....i think they should leave the 50 over game the way it is...and maybe trial these rules on twenty20 or something. it will be interesting to see what happens though, i predict these changes are sucessful though...which i don't really want to see. anyway, i can't wait for the natwest challenge.

[Chester Lampwick ESQ.]

McGraths Last over was dissapointing, full tosses and no balls, so unlike him!

[SideshowTim]

he did the right thing, tried to bowl yorkers. i think he did well and the critics of australia's bowling line up should shut their mouths for a while.

[Terrier Williger]

As far as the new substitute rule goes, all I can see teams doing is;
When batting first - going in with an extra specialist batsmen, then subbing the worst non-bowling fielder with a top bowler when the innings changes over.
When bowling first - going in with an extra specialist bowler, then subbing the worst batsman for another top batsman when the innings changes over.
No thought by the captain necessary here.
This will result in genuine number 11 'batsmen' (ie McGrath )never needing to bat ever again.

The 2 lots of "power 5 overs" or whatever they are called, is more tactical, but i'm not sure we need 20 overs of fielding restrictions.
Mind you it will lead to more boundaries and bigger totals.

[SideshowTim]

mcgrath will hate that. he backs himself as a batsman after scoring that 61 against new zealand.

[Terrier Williger]

You never know, maybe they'll sub someone else. :-O

Of course the benefit is, that once he's bowled, he can put his feet up, and save energy - might help add a few more years onto his career.

[SideshowTim]

i dunno about that, he never batted much anyway. australia used to rarely get down to the bowlers. australia will probably put watson as their 12th man. i think england will probably but a bowler as their 12th man.

[Terrier Williger]

Hard to say who the sub will be.
If they are basing the side on the same team who played on Saturday;

Trescothick
Strauss
Vaughan
Pietersen
Flintoff
Collingwood
G Jones
Giles
S Jones
Gough
Harmison

Then there are 6 genuine bowlers;
Harmison, Gough, Flintoff, SJones, Giles, Collingwood.
plus a couple of part time bowlers;
Vaughan and Trescothick.

So I think they've got the bowling covered.
I reckon they'll choose an extra batsman in the squad, maybe Bell or Solanki.

The only question is, when do you have to announce who your sub is going to be ?

If it is after the toss, then the sub would most likely be Harmison if England were batting first, or if bowling first, possibly Strauss- Bell or Solanki are better fielders.

If it's before the toss, then they'll most likely keep the balance of the side the same as Saturday, because they've got the bowling covered, and have Bell or Solanki as sub.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what they do.

PS- Look who was at Wimbledon yesterday (http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/image/212538.html)

[SideshowTim]

yeah, the whole aussie team was there. two champions meeting in that picture.

[Terrier Williger]

yeah, the whole aussie team was there. two champions meeting in that picture.

Eh ?, I see Federer, but I don't recognise the guy round the back. :evil:

What I've been told about the new substitute law, is that the player has to be nominated before the toss. This will make it a lot more tactical - maybe an all rounder would make the best type of player for a sub ?

[SideshowTim]

yeah, watson is an all rounder so i think australia will opt for him in the matches. i think england will go with solanki as their 12th man for the series.

[Terrier Williger]

England have announced a 15 man squad for the 3 matches, and have decided to make a change from the Nat West Series squad. They've replaced bowler Kabir Ali, with Matt Prior - a batsman who can keep wicket, and has played in only 1 prevoius ODI.
So the squad is;
Michael Vaughan (capt), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, Geraint Jones (wk), Simon Jones, Jon Lewis, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Chris Tremlett, Marcus Trescothick

i think england will go with solanki as their 12th man for the series.
Yep, I'll be suprised if they don't go with Solanki.

[SideshowTim]

i expect an explosive start to the series by australia, if they sort their batting out, i think they will be very hard to beat. many of the australian team have said they wish the ashes would just start already.

[Terrier Williger]

Yeah, it's been a long drag since they arrived here at the beginning of June, and there's still another 2 weeks before the first test match.
At least they can't complain about being underprepared.
In a way England have lost a slight advantage they might have had, if they'd played a 'cold' Australia in the first test, almost straight after their arrival.
This used to happen in previous ashes series.

As for tomorrow's match, I hope the weather holds up.
Everyday this week it's been wet, windy and cool (low 60's) where I live - which is fairly near Headingley. But the forcast appears to be better - sunny, with passing showers, for tomorrow afternoon.

[SideshowTim]

it could either be a positive or negative for england that they don't get into the test matches straight away, more practice against australia can only be a good thing. can't wait...only 5 hours to go now. :D

[Terrier Williger]

Do you get to see the games live, over in Oz ?
They must finish at around 3 or 4 in the morning...and as for day-nighters ?

[SideshowTim]

yep, the game starts at around 8:00pm here and finishes around 3 or 4, day/nighters start at about midnight and finish at around six. i try and stay up to watch them all, i usually catch all the day games and most of the day nighters.

[SideshowTim]

england win. not much to say really and i'm sure the players aren't jumping for joy after what has happened today. not a nice note to win on at all. both teams would have been affected by this terrible news. england win convincingly though.

[Terrier Williger]

I'm not gonna gloat, England had by far the easier batting conditions.
Nice to see Paul Allot mention the sad events down in London, at the prensentation ceremony.

[SideshowTim]

next match on saturday. the supersubs didn't provide a whole lot of difference and either did the powerplays. not sure if they'll be kept or not.

[Terrier Williger]

Too early to say for me. It was a bit of a freak match yesterday.
Because of the conditions, and the fact that neither team were scoring quickly, it made the decision to use up all the powerplay overs at the start of the innings, fairly easy for each captain. It might be a different story on a good batting wicket.

As for the subs, yesterdays match was a bit unusual in the fact that England only lost 1 wicket, and never got near to Solanki's number 8 batting position. I'd definately have preferred Solanki batting rather than Simon Jones if he'd been needed. Plus Solanki is a much better fielder. A good substitution and at the right time (as soon as Jones finished his bowling spell), I thought.
As for Australia's sub Hogg, he came in handy when Watson got injured.

[SideshowTim]

was the wicket not moving around as much when england were batting? i couldn't see, i was just checking the score updates on the internet, they didn't seem troubled at all.

[Terrier Williger]

It moved around a lot at first when it was cloudy- (Trescothick was caught off a Bret Lee no ball when he was only on 5, and Gilchrist put down an easy chance too) but after a few overs the sun came out, and it soon made quite a difference. There was still movement, but not as much.
I don't know why it should be, but the weather at Headingley seems to affect the pitch more than any other test ground in this country.

[SideshowTim]

australia have lost alot of important tosses on this tour, the wickets have been unpredictable and i think australia has alot of trouble facing swing. if the picth had not had any movement i think the result would have been quite different.

[Terrier Williger]

I'm hoping Australia continue to have difficulties against swing, it's one of the advantages England should have by playing at home.
The ideal pitch for one-day cricket, really should be a dead flat run maker, but with good pace, which allows bowlers to at least get some life out of it.

I think, the weather forcast is good all day for Sunday, so there shouldn't be any advantage. The match is still going ahead despite the terrorist events.

[SideshowTim]

series 1-1. match 3 should be a beauty, i can't wait for it tonight.

from sundays match:

england - 8/223
a. flintoff - 87
p. collingwood - 34
b. lee - 5/41

australia - 3/224
r. ponting - 111
d. martyn - 39*
a. giles - 1/38

australia win by 7 wickets. it was a very good game for australia, they never really looked in trouble at any point. gilchrist got our chase off to a flying start blasting 29 off about 16 balls and it was good to see ponting return back to form with a stunning 100. tonight should be a very interesting game.

[Terrier Williger]

This win was as easy for Australia, as it was for England the other day.

Meanwhile todays farcical England top order batting performance, is beginninig to get worrying. Aussies are currrently cruising to victory on a batsmans paradise, where England only managed a paltry 228 for 7.
Also, why we're continuing to play Gough is beyond me.

Anyway, next stop the test series.

[SideshowTim]

great win for australia, and it's awesome to finally have some sort of stranglehold over england. one thing that was really getting to me was the bias of the english commentators, especially on the live score updates on the internet and on sky. incredibly bias, they seem to think that if the supersub wasn't in play england would win this match easily, fact of the matter is that australia didn't even need their supersubs in the games they played and england used them...and still lost. it's very good for us to take the series and will no doubt be a confidence booster, it will be interesting to see how the british media handle this one, australia have won their last two games seemingly easily. gough has bowled terribly throughout the summer and has really only picked up the wickets of lower order batsmen.

australia played a near perfect game today other than a couple of dropped catches and with the bat they didn't even need the powerplays to put away boundaries, i was very impressed with their performance and although gillespie had a much better game this time around i would still be surprised to see him take the line up in the first test unless something dramatic happens. i don't believe that pietersen will be picked for the first test but i'm sure he will come into the equation somewhere down the line. however england looked lazy with the bat and the same with the ball, not even harmison or flintoff could stop gilchrists onslaught. always nice to see my favourite player in form again.

good series england but the better team won on the day. :D and on another note, today was umpire david shepards last odi game, sad to see him go.

scoreboard:

england - 7/228 (50)
k. pietersen - 74 (133)
v. solanki (supersub) - 53* (91)
j. gillespie - 3/44 (10)

australia - 2/229 (34.5)
a. gilchrist - 121 (101)
r. ponting - 43 (44)
d. gough - 1/37 (4)

australia win match by 8 wickets and take the natwest challenge 2 games to 1 after being 1 nil down.

[Terrier Williger]

No doubt the Aussies deserved the series win.
Today, in the only true even playing conditions we've had, England have come up well short.
The Aussies look like they've all got some sort of form behind them now - and this includes just about every member of their squad. All barring Warne and McGill has played against England this summer.
As for England, they will go into the test series with 3 or 4 players who have not faced the Aussies yet this summer.
Bell and Hoggard are almost certain to play, and maybe Thorpe, Key, and Anderson too.
I think it's been a crazy decision not to blood Bell against the Aussies in at least one match during this Nat West Challenge. Instead they picked the 'nobody' Prior for some reason, who never got a sniff of a chance to play.
Playing Gough instead of a younger bowler like Tremlett was also a total waste of time. Gough's days are over, but still they persist with him. It looks like the same old case of going with past reputations rather than with form, or looking towards the future.

Anyway, that's the one-dayers over, and now onto some proper cricket.
One big factor for the test series could be the dry flat wickets like today's at the Oval. Old Trafford and Trent Bridge could also be similar, while there is no test match at the swing-bowler-friendly Headingley.
These wickets are almost certainly going to take spin at some stage in each match, especially as the wickets get worn and begin to crack-up.
Warne and McGill must be considered a major threat, with Hogg waiting in the wings.
Meanwhile, England are totally dependent on Giles for their main spin option.

Lastly, it's sad to see umpire Shepherd retire. He seems to have been around for as long as I can remember. I think we're all gonna miss him jumping up and down when a score reached 111, 222, 333 etc. A great character, but at least we've now got Billy Bowden....that guy's f***ing hillarious !

[SideshowTim]

i can't wait for some first class cricket to get under way. mcgrath will snare his 500th test wicket against england, i am betting it will either be vaughan or trescothick. anyway, australias line up will look like this if i were a selector:

m. hayden
j. langer
r. ponting
d. martyn
m. clarke
m. hussey
a. gilchrist
s. warne
m. kasprowicz
b. lee
g. mcgrath

and the 12th man will either be macgill or gillespie, not that it's important, however i think on wickets that may turn more, kasper will be dropped for macgill, macgill is an excellent bowler on highly turning wickets, i would say the best in the world and warne has had plenty of practice on english wickets. i think england should have gone with the younger players in these one dayers as no one will remember these and everyone will remember the ashes and the more experience they get, the better. anyway i'm sure this ashes series will be full of excitement and classic moments.

australia have a very solid lineup and base of players to choose from. i actually wouldn't be surprised if symonds got a call up to play a test.

[Terrier Williger]

I agree Hussey should be playing, but he's not even in the test squad. Unless they've changed their minds ?
I'm almost sure the 'spin twins' will have at least one game together. Most likely at Old Trafford where it's always been a turning wicket.
I reckon Australia could pick any seam bowler they want, for the first test - as long as McGrath is included !

My 'probable' England Team for first test at Lords;

1. Trescothick
2. Strauss
3. Vaughan
4. Bell
5. Pietersen
6. Flintoff
7. Jones . G .
8. Giles
9. Hoggard
10. Harmison
11. Jones. S .

edit - Hoggy's gonna get you. :D

[God]

Australia is much better at test cricket than ODI's in my opinion, so I am still picking 3-1 to Australia.

[SideshowTim]

no thorpe in your team terrier?

once australia gets a sniff in a test match they pounce on it and get you out of the game early on. i think hussey will get the call up to the test side, he really deserves it as he has been the most consistent of the australian players all season, i'd much rather see him in the squad than katich. hoggard didn't do too well against australia last time.

[Terrier Williger]

No, I'm going for Pietersen, I think his last innings of 74, is worthy of a chance in the test match. He's still got a lot of improving to do - the way he was out yesterday was ugly, it did his groin in too :LOL: - but I think he's got enough talent and a tough mental attitude, that will be needed against the Aussies.
Thorpe has not done anything special with his batting in the County championship so far - he's only averaging 34.50, and his top score this season has been a modest 73.
I wouldn't be too dissapointed if Thorpe was picked for the first test, but if there's any sign of failure then 'out' him. He's retiring at the end of the year, and there should be no room for sentiment.

As for Hoggard - he's a lot better bowler now. He's become naggingly accurate, and is a real workhorse.

On the subject of ODI's and Test Matches, it's a fact that England are much better at the longer form of the game. I was suprised that we competed so well in the recent ODI matches. Out in South Africa, after winning the test series, we were arseholed 4-1 with 1 tie. Last summer we didn't even get through to the final of our own Nat West Series competition versus West Indies and New Zealand- we only won 1 match out of 6. That was the 2nd or 3rd time this embarrasing situation had occured since we started the triangular tournaments about 6 or 7 years ago. :ashamed:
The Official Test Match and ODI rankings are as follows;

LG ICC Test Matches

07 Jun 2005

Team............Matches-Points-Rating
Australia........49......6455.....132
England.........52......5756.....111
India.............43......4613......107
Pakistan.........38......3796......100
Sri Lanka........38......3792......100
South Afri.......51......5089......100
New Zea.........38......3678.......97
West Ind.........45.....3368........75
Zimbabwe........28.....1141.......41
Bangla............38.......208.........5

LG ICC ODI Championship

12 July 2005

Team........Matches-Points-Rating
Australia.....56...7629....136
Sri Lanka....37....4334...117
New Zea'....36...4161....116
South Afri...43...4837....112
Pakistan.....60....6712...112
England......43....4623...108
India..........43....4189...97
West Ind.....39....3723...95
Zimbabwe....40....2018...50
Kenya..........8....204.....26
Bangla........39....465.....12

I think it's pretty bad that Kenya are above Bangladesh. :uhh:

[SideshowTim]

i didn't even think kenya were included in that championship.

australia are well ahead of the field in the test one considering the closeness of the next 6 teams. just over a week to go until the first test, it's really exciting.

[God]

kenya are only ahead of bangladesh because they got through to the semi's of the 2003 World Cup. I don't think they have played a ODI since then (against another championship team).

[SideshowTim]

holy shit they did too. i couldn't remember that, that's fucking amazing though. i remember lee got a hattrick against them in one game.

[Terrier Williger]

England have just announced their 12 man squad for the first test;

Marcus Trescothick,
Andrew Strauss,
Michael Vaughan (capt),
Ian Bell,
Kevin Pietersen,
Andrew Flintoff,
Geraint Jones (wk),
Ashley Giles,
Simon Jones,
Matthew Hoggard,
Steve Harmison,
Chris Tremlett.

So they've decided to go with Pietersen in the end. No room for Thorpe at the moment, but the selectors are saying he will still be considered for the other Test matches in the series. The inclusion of Tremlett is interesting - considering England only played him once versus Australia in the One Dayers. I doubt he'll get a game.

[SideshowTim]

doesn't surprise me all that much. what poms have to remember is that pietersen is human and like any other brilliant player he will have down points in his career, if this ashes is one of them well they'll just have to work from there and keep him in high regard.

[God]

Tremlett pretty much certainty to be 12th man I think.

[SideshowTim]

australia take on leicestershire today in a tour match. it'll be good to have some first class experience finally for the guys. here's our xi for the match:

Australian XI 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Adam Gilchrist, 8 Jason Gillespie, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Stuart MacGill.

mcgrath and warne rested, macgill comes in and i feel as though it will be a battle to get a test spot between gillespie and kasper.

[SideshowTim]

stumps day one

leicestershire - all out 217
c. rogers - 59
j. krejza - 38
b. lee - 4/53

australia - 2/169
m. hayden - 75
j. langer - 71*
j. maunders - 2/22

australia in a commanding position after day one, they trail by just 48 runs with 8 wickets in hand, lee bowled impressively today and gillespie picked up two late wickets but i still don't think it's enough to earn him a test spot. it's nice to see langer in some form. it's funny, the two top scorers for leicestershire were both aussies.

[Terrier Williger]

I'm off to watch Yorkshire play Northants today in the QF of the C&G Cup. - pity Yorks haven't got a game against the Aussies , but I 'spose they don't deserve one, Yorks are a real mediocre outfit these days - in the bottom division of both league competitions. :ashamed: I'm hoping Ian Harvey will pull his finger out, and do something for the team today.
I notice this is the 2nd time the Aussies have played Leicester - they beat them by 95 runs in a one-dayer at the start of the tour.

[SideshowTim]

hope it's a good game terrier, i've been keeping notice of the live scores on cricinfo from the county cricket competitions, i'm surprised how well some aussies have been doing in them. harvey is a great player when he's on his game and can pick up alot of vital wickets, his form over the last few years has been a bit suspect though.

[SideshowTim]

stumps day two

leicestershire - all out 217
c. rogers - 59
j. krejza - 38
b. lee - 4/53

australia - 7/582
d. martyn - 154*
r. ponting - 119
j. langer - 115
m. hayden - 75
j. gillespie - 49*
j. maunders - 3/89

australia very well on top with three stunning centuries by a few of their top order batsmen. they should declare tomorrow morning and have all day to bowl out leicestershire which i feel they will do fairly comfortably. even gillespie got in on the act towards the end, perhaps trying to prove his worth with the bat and not just the ball. come on aussies.

anyway, this was a pretty interesting article:
http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/213601.html
you might want to have a little read as it's fairly accurate.

yorkshire won too, looks like harvey fired at the right time.

i was reading an article about the game, obviously by a pom (since poms do match summarys on cricinfo)

Gillespie finished one short of his sixth first-class fifty, as Australia contemplated a satisfactory day's work.

satisfactory days work?! three batsmen got a century and the run rate was pushing 5 an over. very hard to impress. the english media are incredibly bias.

[Terrier Williger]

Harvey played well today - 74 with the bat, and after a shakey start, he picked up 2 for 46 in 7 overs with the ball. Hoggard also started off badly, but recovered to take 2 for 49 in 10 overs.... A great win for the Tykes.

In the semi's it's a trip down to Hampshire, who will be without Warne, and most probably Pietersen, but they've now got Shane Watson playing for them.

You can't argue that the Aussies are giving Leicester a pasting, but the standard of opposition is not brilliant, so I can understand a bit of a luke warm reaction.

Frizzell County Championship Division Two, 2005 Points Table

Durham 132.00
Lancashire 121.00
Worcestershire 114.00
Yorkshire 112.50
Essex 111.00
Somerset 84.00
Leicestershire 71.50
Northamptonshire 67.00
Derbyshire 37.00

They're even worse than Yorkshire.

Interesting article about the key match-ups.
So it appears Australia win them by 4 to 2 with 1 tie.
At the moment I have to agree with them - (btw it doesn't have to be Gillespe V Trescothick, I think McGrath will get him out just as easy), but I don't think it will take too much improvement from an England perspective, for those predicted outcomes to be reversed. :D

[SideshowTim]

i don't think gillespie will even be playing in the first test match, kasper is much more on his game at the moment, he just has to stop bowling no balls every over...

yorkshire without warne and pietersen are probably very vulnerable since they will be lacking alot of confidence. watson won't add that much, his form hasn't been great lately but sometimes he can add that extra spark.

[God]

The side I think Australia will field for the 1st test
1 Justin Langer,
2 Matthew Hayden,
3 Ricky Ponting (capt),
4 Damien Martyn,
5 Simon Katich,
6 Michael Clarke,
7 Adam Gilchrist,
8 Brett Lee
9 Shane Warne
10 Michael Kasprowicz,
11 Glenn Mcgrath

I've probably left out someone really obvious by accident though.

[SideshowTim]

nope i think that's pretty much exactly spot on. i wish symonds or hussey would come in for katich though, his form hasn't been great lately and neither has clarke's

[SideshowTim]

stumps day 3 - match drawn

today:
leicestershire - 5/363 - 2nd innings
c. rogers - 209
d. robinson - 81
s. macgill - 4/122

match drawn. ironically an aussie saved the match for leicestershire but still, australian bowlers are going to have to shape up for the first test, keep in mind however that this wasn't a full strength aussie bowling lineup and the most expensive bowlers most likely won't be in the test side. gillespie didn't prove his worth in my opinion. batting is not a problem for australia but the bowlers will definately have to work hard. not long until the first test now! woo!

[SideshowTim]

the aussie team is announced tomorrow, i just hope to god that lee is included, we really need him. mcgrath said that if australia play their best they should win comfortably and i would have to agree with him. anyway, it's getting closer! i'm very excited.

[Terrier Williger]

the aussie team is announced tomorrow, i just hope to god that lee is included,
Me too, that's one bowler England can hit out of the attack :D
anyway, it's getting closer! i'm very excited.
same here...
....C'MMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNN ENGLAND !

[SideshowTim]

that's one bowler who will intimidate your bastsmen thank you very much! lee is a very valueable asset for australia and i think he'll have an excellent ashes campaign especially after his bowling in the one dayers.

COME ON AUSSIES!

[Terrier Williger]

The side I think Australia will field for the 1st test
1 Justin Langer,
2 Matthew Hayden,
3 Ricky Ponting (capt),
4 Damien Martyn,
5 Simon Katich,
6 Michael Clarke,
7 Adam Gilchrist,
8 Brett Lee
9 Shane Warne
10 Michael Kasprowicz,
11 Glenn Mcgrath

I've probably left out someone really obvious by accident though.

Looks like that's gonna be the team - Gillespe seems to be carrying an injury so it looks like he's out - not that he would have started if fit anyway.

I've forgot all about langer - he didn't play in any of the ODI's did he ?

[SideshowTim]

nah he's not a one day player, he takes a while to settle into an innings but once he does, he is pretty much up there with the best batsmen in the world. look out for a good series by him.

less than 4 hours to go! so exciting!

[God]

I might watch the first two sessions tonight, can't wait.

[SideshowTim]

cricinfo has listed a probable australian side

Australia (probable) 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Glenn McGrath.

pretty much correct except for gillespie...i'd be quite surprised to see him in the side unless he has been making an enormous impact in the nets. kerry o'keefe who is an australian selector said not long ago that they probably wouldn't choose gillespie at the moment.

[SideshowTim]

well well well! 17 wickets in a day is the last thing i thought i would see. england dominated the first two sessions to bowl the aussies out for 190, i thought australia were in huge trouble before mcgrath has come back and absolutely blitzed england and now the poms are in very big trouble at stumps. great first day of cricket. i must say though, this pitch is awful. the bounce is so bloody ueven, this isn't a test standard pitch.

australia - 190
j. langer - 40
s. harmison - 5/43

england - 7/92
g. jones - 30
k. pietersen - 29*
g. mcgrath - 5/21

amazing bowling by mcgrath, i can't wait for day 2. hopefully we'll clean you up before lunch and bat for a couple of days. :D

[Terrier Williger]

Sack the groundsman, the bounce has been all over the place - they always slag Headingley off, but Lords has had more than it's fair share of low scoring games, and it never gets criticised. The batsmen don't stand a chance on this wicket. Thank God there's been a fast outfield, or else the scores would be even lower.
This game's probably gonna be over in 3 days tops - a real rip-off to spectators and cricket fans.

That aside, it's been an amazing day's cricket, obviously dominated by the bowlers. Langer getting hit on the arm, 2nd ball was a sign of things to come, and further blows to Hayden and the beauty to Ponting which cut his cheek from Englands star man Harmison, showed how difficult it was to bat. Although England bowled well, and Harmison was more than a match for the Aussies, I thought they gave their wickets away too cheaply - but then again, maybe taking extra risks is the only chance of getting runs on this pitch.
I thought 190 all-out was the first victory to England, but I didn't account for McGrath - 5 for 'nowt much' what more can you say ?. It's now up to Pietersen and the 3 remaining rabbits - Hoggard might stick around a while - to inch the score towards 150, if we're lucky.
Lee looks like he's found his reverse swing now the ball has got old, as well as some awsome pace - he had Giles in his back pocket before getting him out with that bouncer at the end of the day. Then there's Warne too - he looked good as well.
One suprise is that Jason Gillespe is playing, his injury obviously wasn't that serious, although he hasn't done too much yet. I know that I'm glad, and I'm sure the England team are too, that he's bowling. :D

Definately advantage to Australia after day 1. It looks like they're in position for a first innings lead of at least 50 or so, which will be more than useful.
But England still have Pietersen, who might be able to salvage something.

Bring on day 2 !

[SideshowTim]

australia looked like they were just trying to come out and dominate immediately, they were looking to smack the ball to all ends of the park. i really think they should have attempted to play themselves in, the pitch can't be an excuse for alot of their wickets. ponting got a very nasty cut and the bruise langer got was enormous.

i'm still pissed that gillespie got chosen although he bowled a couple of diamonds in the rough. mcgrath and lee will start the bowling tomorrow, i think australia and england will have figured out the pitch by now and will pretty much know what to do...but god, what an awful pitch. also, congratulations to mcgrath, 500 wickets. 504 now actually.

it's been a tough contest though and both sides are playing with a great deal of pride and passion which is always brilliant to watch.

edit: i just feel like pointing out that langer was caught out on what should have been a no ball by flintoff :-$

[Grippa]

Couldn't believe it. My mate at work told me the Aussie score so obviously I was pleased. So when i get home and start eating my dinner to hear on the news how poor we had been was just depressing. It's just so typical of us to collapse.

[SideshowTim]

don't blame the batsmen, blame a world class bowling display by mcgrath. no batsman in the world could have stood up to that really. mcgrath loves bowling in england, it's pretty amazing he has 122 wickets against england and he dismissed mike atherton 19 times.

[Terrier Williger]

I think they were saying that McGrath has had more success at Lords than any other Englsh ground.

Talking of Atherton he's a commentator for the main test cricket broadcaster, Channel 4 nowadays. Today he did a bit of commentating with Tony "I will make the 1976 West Indies grovel" Greig - But I'm wondering if Greig's over here, then who's commentating on Channel 9(?) over in Australia ? I hope they've taken Nasser Hussain from Sky.

[SideshowTim]

well we get the same coverage you do, on channel 4 so we get the same commentators too. strangely though, greig and benaud still commentate even though this year, a small non commercial tv station (sbs) has got the rights to the ashes which is always good to see. athers was commentating with michael slater, both great players in their prime. sometimes i wish that tony greig would just shut the fuck up though.

[SideshowTim]

australia - 190
j. langer - 40
s. harmison - 5/43

england - 155
g. jones - 30
k. pietersen - 57
g. mcgrath - 5/53
b. lee - 3/47

2nd innings
australia - 7/279
m. clarke - 91
d. martyn - 65
m. hoggard - 2/46

australia lead by 314 with 3 days to go. australia are in a good position and if they pile up about 400 i can't see england winning, they need to stick around for as long as they can in tomorrows first session and build up runs because time isn't a matter at all. it was a good days play, pietersen got a few quick runs at the start of the day but england didn't really get too many, australia will be happy with their current lead, clarke batted very well for his 91, unfortunate that he couldn't go all way to 100 because he looked in great form. can't wait for tomorrow.

[Terrier Williger]

I thought Engalnd did well to get 155 earlier in the day, but batting was a bit easier today, and the Aussies have taken full advantage. They've probably got enough runs to win already.
Clarke has played what could be the match winning innings - he's been out of form, so England would have been hoping for a quick breakthrough, but his partnership of 155 with Martyn has got to be the most significant event of the match so far.
It's gonna be tough for England to win this game, but they have a faint chance if they can bowl Australia out quickly tomorrow morning with less than a 350 lead - and certainly no more than 400.
If the top order batsmen finally perform, then England might have a chance.
Time should be no worry regarding a win for either side, even though there is some rain forcast over the weekend.

Other news - Graham Thorpe has retired from international cricket with immediate effect today. I'm sad to hear this, because I still think he would be useful for this test series, especially if the current top order keep on failing.
He averaged a very respectable 44.66 with the bat in Test Matches.

[SideshowTim]

bad news for thorpe. pietersen has been having a good test, he has dropped 3 vital catches, the dropping of clarke could have cost england the game so it scoring that great 57 shouldn't be an excuse. catches win matches.

[Terrier Williger]

Good point. England have had a habbit of shelling easy catches v the Aussies in recent series, which has cost them dear.
Pietersens misses are very worrying - hopefully it's just nerves. The team managed to get away with the first two he dropped, as both batsmen were out almost immediately after, but the miss off Clarke certainly cost vital runs.
It's not that they've been hard chances either, his misses in this match should all have been taken - the first drop going low to his left being the hardest but the other 2 were really easy. If you want to be the best side in cricket then all your fielders should be capable of pulling off catches like Martyn's yesterday on the boundary edge, that got rid of Pietersen, and certainly should be capable of catching the ball if it goes straight to your hands. :angry:

[SideshowTim]

on englands fielding, as we saw when clarke and martyn went on the attack, everything was silent, there was no energy in the field and the bowlers appeared they weren't even trying. this might be something australia can dwell upon, once they get in they just need to knock it around to build up a big score and england will wear themselves down.

[SideshowTim]

australia - 190
j. langer - 40
s. harmison - 5/43

england - 155
g. jones - 30
k. pietersen - 57
g. mcgrath - 5/53
b. lee - 3/47

2nd innings
australia - 384
m. clarke - 91
s. katich - 67
d. martyn - 65
m. hoggard - 3/54

england - 5/156
m. trescothick - 44
k. pietersen - 42*
s. warne - 3/46

good days play. england will have been very disappointed that they couldn't bowl australia out before lunch and allowed them to put on 100+ runs with the last 3 wickets. we set up 420 to chase. trescothick and strauss got england off to a good start then warne came on and caused trouble. england had a collapse here which really cost them alot. pietersen should have been given out lbw. it was absolutely plum. no doubt about the poor umpiring today. lee and warne bowled very well and will continue to cause england problems tomorrow god forbid rain...england shouldn't be able to win from here but they'll be praying for rain for 2 days.

[Terrier Williger]

Well I'm currently doing a rain dance - apparently the forecast for tomorrow isn't good. :D
It's the only thing that's gonna save England, although Pietersen might grab a few more runs.

Before today I thought England still had an outside chance to win this match, but obviously the team didn't think so because i thought their attitude sucked. No more was this most evident than by the way England fielded, so many errors and they didn't look focused at all. Whereas looking at Australia, they never let their fielding standards drop, even when things aren't going for them. This extra focus allows vital wickets to be taken whereas other sides, like Engalnd today, may miss out.
England's bowling, and especially the fielding this morning was abysmal - wicket keeper Gerraint Jones in particular. Simon Jones was rightly pissed-off for having 4 easy catches dropped off him this innings. Those dropped catches alone have cost England any chance of winning this match.
Although the seamers have on the whole looked good for England, Giles has offered absolutely no threat in this match. OK, so he's never gonna get the amount of turn Warne gets - but this wicket is fairly helpful, and I don't think he produced an inch of turn or even much variety- he looked like cannon fodder bowling for the Aussies.
England have to realise spin is going to be a major factor in this series, especially in the 2nd innings of matches, they need to get something sorted out here.
As for the batting - after a bit of luck, a good opening partnership, and the increasingly impressive Pietersen, England have been found wanting.
Trescothick, Strauss, Bell and Flintoff have no idea against Warne and can only play shots expecting the leg break. As soon as Warne bowls one straight at them it catches them out. Both Trescothick and Strauss during their good opening partnership were given notout when clearly out plumb LBW.
OK, so batting against Warne - the greatest spinner of all time - isn't easy , but he can be shut out with a half decent technique and some ability to read his bowling action, and Pietersen to me is proving this. The 'cream' of this countries top order batsmen should be learning by now. :angry:
I also think Vaughan and Bell are two major worries. The England captain is virtually a passenger these days, and keeps playing across the line. He will be bowled out many more times by the pace of Lee if he doesn't improve his technique.
Bell on the other hand looks out of his depth - he's never faced the Aussies and to me it shows. Why they didn't blood him against them in the one-dayers to see how he coped is beyond me. Maybe Thorpe would still be in the side otherwise.
Pietersen is the only batsman so far who looks like coping with all of Australia's variety of bowling, although he should have been out LBW to the Lee beamer that he didn't pick up - maybe the umpire thought that it was just unfair ? :boggled:
The biggest dissapointment for me though today was Flintoff - his bowling got smacked to all parts of the ground, he dropped an absolute dolly in the slips, and batted without a clue against Warne. What happened to the fighting spirit of Englands 'hero' and match winner ? To me it looks like the first signs that he's holding up a white flag.

I don't know the forcast for Monday, but I'm gonna go get me a prayer mat. :bow:

[SideshowTim]

even if rain stops play for the rest of the match the psychological advantage will still be with australia as it would be at 1-0. australia don't need the series to be 1-0, as long as they have this psychological advantage they will be happy. if anything it would be good for england to go out and get pietersen to smack a few to increase englands confidence.

awful fielding by england today, particulary jones dropping what are regulation catches, he couldn't even take the balls that carried through off the bowler. get rid of him because no matter how many runs you score, catches win matches, wicket keepers at any level should be taking those chances.

come on aussies!

[Terrier Williger]

The main reason Jones is in the team, is for his runs, but as you say, if he can't take simple catches, then what he makes with the bat will be far outweighed by what the opposition end up getting by his mistakes.
Reid and Foster are better keepers, and not that much worse with the bat.

No fear of lack of confidence for the Aussies any more, they have quickly found out Englands weaknesses, and must be looking at 5-0.

It's now up to England to show some balls to prevent this happening, starting with a tough rear guard action tomorrow.

[SideshowTim]

i just can't believe that england didn't pursue the tactics that scared the hell out of langer and hayden in the first innings which lead to a small total. harmison bowling quick bouncers to the body at first, hitting ponting in the head had a huge effect for england which was quickly lost when mcgrath started bowling...anyway, lee is back in form..gillespie looking suspect though, he did help katich through the first session. i've been hearing good things about reid, apparently jones has dropped 9 catches and missed 1 stumping in his 16 test match career....very poor record indeed.

australia need to find a pietersen weakness, i think going for the big shots is one of them and being caught on the boundary off a mis-timed shot is probably the most likely one..only thing is, pietersen is such a clean hitter of the ball it'll probably just fly straight over the fielders head.

[Terrier Williger]

England just didn't seem to show any sort of aggression or fight today - it's as if they were resigned to defeat. I was really dissapointed.

Yep, Pietersen is most likely to be caught in the deep trying to hit Warne against the spin.

[SideshowTim]

pietersen is the only batsman who looks like he can play warne at the moment, on a spinning wicket i wouldn't be suprised if australia played two spinners in one match because england don't seem too good against it.

[Terrier Williger]

You're not wrong there - although Vaughan is not too bad against spin, but he's not gonna get much chance to play it 'cos the Aussies are just gonna keep attacking him with pace.
Most probably will play two spinners at Old Trafford where it's always been a spin friendly wicket, although you could argue that putting McGill in for Gillespie for the remainder of the series wouldn't be a bad thing. Australia have basically won this 1st test match with only 3 bowlers anyway.
Australia could use McGill and Warne to open the bowling in the 2nd innings and remove Englands openers in double quick time !

[SideshowTim]

no play as of yet today, conditions are starting to clear up though which is a good thing.

edit: great start for the aussies, picking up 2 quick wickets but then what else would happen but it starts to rain again!

[SideshowTim]

i guess there's only one thing to say in a situation like this: WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

we did it. we smashed em' by 239 runs! a great start to the ashes series for our boys. pietersen came out and belted us around a bit but none of the other batsmen got a single run today! great bowling by both warne and mcgrath.


australia - 190
j. langer - 40
s. harmison - 5/43

england - 155
g. jones - 30
k. pietersen - 57
g. mcgrath - 5/53
b. lee - 3/47

2nd innings
australia - 384
m. clarke - 91
s. katich - 67
d. martyn - 65
m. hoggard - 3/54

england - 180
k. pietersen - 64
g. mcgrath - 4/29
s. warne - 4/64

not much play today because not much was needed at all, as i said earlier no batsmen other than pietersen added to the total, it was disappointing to see england go so early though, a bit more of a contest would have been better to see today. can't wait for the next match, should be a beauty, australia look back close to their best and i think their poor total in the first innings will really help them. mcgrath should get man of the match here, 9 wickets at lords is an awesome achievement.

[Terrier Williger]

Wow, I missed the live play - thought it was gonna rain all day. :uhh:
I'm taping the highlights, so I'll watch the carnage later on.

so, I guess there's only one thing I can say in a situation like this : BOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO !

The fact that no other batsman apart from Pietersen scored a run today, just about sums up the performance by the other 10 England players - as soon as the going got tough they wussed out - big time.

McGrath deservedly got man of the match - I think that's 3 out of 3 in his Lords Test match appearances.

There's just under 2 weeks for England to change things round before the next test at Egbaston (beginninig Aug 4th) - all the ODI players, especially Vaughan, need some more competitive first class cricket under their belts to sharpen them up - Fletcher had better release them back to their counties instead of hiding them away in the safety of his training sessions.
They might also do well by asking new-boy Pietersen for some advice on how to bat.
Meanwhile, Australia go to Worcester on 30th July to hone their skills even further.

My controversial change for the next test match would be Dawson in for Giles. The ex-England and Yorkshire spinner is on form, he's bowling and batting well at the moment. I'd certainly promote him above Batty -another so-called spinner who can't turn a ball - in the pecking order for Giles' replacement.
Apart from that I'd leave the rest of the team alone and trust them to perform better.

2nd Test Prediction : England win :D

[SideshowTim]

giles needs to go. he's taking up space and just really giving australia easy runs. however, the last thing england need to be doing at this moment is chopping and changing, they need to build a solid team rather than moving everyone around, moving people around plays on peoples confidence. my prediction for test 2 is australia, they have found englands weaknesses and will pounce on them. it's pretty good to say 'take that' back to the english press who bagged us so much at the start of the tour though. if australia win the next test (which i think they will even though australia don't have a good record at edgebaston) australia will win the ashes without a doubt. all they need to do after that is force a game into a draw (which they won't do anyway) and they win the ashes again.

2nd test prediction: australia win :D

[God]

Who got MOTM was it Mcgrath ?

Australia to win 2nd test.

[SideshowTim]

yep, man of the match to a very deserving mcgrath. it's pretty unbelievable, he has won man of the match in his 3 consecutive test matches at lords. amazing bowler and in my opinion the best quick the world has ever seen, even better than walsh or lillee.

[God]

Yeah I'd agree with that.
Do yuo think Gillespie will keep his place for the 2nd test ?

[SideshowTim]

yeah, he bowled a very good spell in the second innings and he is working his way back to form, while he didn't take any wickets he looked good and was solid with the bat and in the field, he really hasn't done anything to lose his place.

[Terrier Williger]

How's the press reacted 'down-under' ?Have they laid the boot into England ?

Meanwhile it looks like all of the England squad barring Vaughan have gone back to their counties for the next few days. Vaughan is staying with Fletcher for some specialist batting practice in the nets.
One player knocking heavily on the selectors door is Collingwood. He's scored 190 and 181 in his last two county matches.

[SideshowTim]

hasn't collingwood ruled himself out for test matches though?

the press are just saying that australia played well and look in good form but can fix their game up in some areas.

[Terrier Williger]

After the success of the test side over the last 2 years he's not a centrally contracted player anymore, but he's still available for selection. I'm sure if there are more failures in the batting and the fielding continues to be a problem, he will be in with a big chance of making his 3rd test appearance later in the series.

[Terrier Williger]

England have just announced an unchanged squad for the 2nd test;

Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan (capt), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones (wk), Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett.

There was a lot of speculation that Collingwood was going to be included in place of Tremlett especially as he got a 3rd ton in a row on Thursday, but Graveney doesn't believe any change is necessary.

[SideshowTim]

sticking with the line up is probably a good idea for england if they are to get any consistency happening in their game. changing wouldn't do anyone any good at the moment, it would just prove to be a show of lack of confidence.

[Terrier Williger]

Collingwood has been added to the squad today.
Graveney has included Collingwood to give England maximum options, after recognising his exceptional form, and after looking at the Edgbaston wicket which is still very damp after last week's tornado in Birmingham.

[SideshowTim]

the damp pitch will advantage australia, the two biggest threats to them, flintoff and harmison will not bowl as well since they generally hit the pitch hard more than anything. collingwood will probably be included to the third test.

australia vs. worchestershire

1st innings
australia - 9/406 dec.
b. haddin - 94
m. hayden - 79
m. malik - 3/78

worchestershire - 187
s. moore - 69
m. kasprowicz - 5/67

2nd innings
australia - 2/161
r. ponting - 59*
m. clarke - 59

match drawn.

some good batting practice at the end there for ponting and clarke, i think the aussies will be feeling confident going into edgbaston. i'm hoping for very little rain and maximum play. go aussies.

[Terrier Williger]

Yeah, a nice workout for Australia, meanwhile all the England players have done is play in 1 day cricket and 20/20 games - not the right preparation as far as I'm concerned. Still, it's better than nothing i suppose.
At least Vaughan got a ton the other day.

I'm praying for some decent weather - it's been freezing up here these last few days.

[SideshowTim]

i think australia will bat first and post a huge total on days one and two and then bowl england out and enforce the follow on. it's just my prediction but i think australia will be too strong this time around again.

go aussies :D.

[Terrier Williger]

It's unbelievable but Vaughan has been injured during net practice.
Tremlett has hit him on the elbow, and although there's no fracture, there's a worry that he will not be able to play on Thursday.
Robert Key has been mentioned as a possible replacement.
While Trescothick will step in as captain if necessary.

I'm going for the opposite. I think the toss will be vital in this game - with the side batting first having the worst of the conditions.
If Australia bat first, then England might just sneak a win in a low scoring game. :D

[SideshowTim]

vaughan will play, i imagine it couldn't have been much worse than the hit langer copped so he should do fine.

[Terrier Williger]

Yep, Vaughan's been passed fit and it looks like both sides will be the same as the first test.
Ponting has said that the Australians have been working on a plan of attack against Pietersen. It'll be interesting to see what it will be

[SideshowTim]

they need to unsettle him with a bouncer or a beamer first up, he got really frustrated at that lee ball that should have been lbw, anything that can be done to unsettle a batsmen will get him out soon enough. gillespie has said that australia would consider going home if there was another terrorist attack in london...

[Terrier Williger]

It has to be a beamer at his head - now that would unsettle anybody !

[SideshowTim]

that'd be good to see but if lee did it there'd be all these stupid accusations about him trying to kill people again, i'm afraid the only way you could hit a batsmans head at edgebaston would be to bowl a beamer anyway. just a few hours to go now. very exciting.

go australia :D

[Terrier Williger]

that'd be good to see.....
I know there's people who don't like cricket who would agree that bowling beamers at a batsmen's head or nuts would make the game more interesting.

Personally I think they should allow all oponents of Australia to have this bowling option. mwah ha ha :devil:

[SideshowTim]

over
0.1 harmison to langer, SIX, short ball smashed over long on for six.

that would be an ideal start to the game for us, let's hope it happens! 3 hours to go, woo hoo! if australia win the toss they'll bowl first but i don't think they'll worry too much if they are sent in first either.

[God]

Glenn McGrath stepped on a ball during pre-match warm-up and turned
his ankle and has been ruled out.

Australia: Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt),
Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist (wk),
Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz.

England: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan
(capt), Ian Bell, Kevin Pitersen, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones
(wk), Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon
Jones.
Australia won the toss and elected to field first, england 9 without loss after 2.4.

big blow to lose mcgrath for aussie.

[SideshowTim]

mcgrath injured. fuuuck.

[SideshowTim]

well i wasn't expecting england to be all out without mcgrath in our team, but they are. rain is coming down so that looks like stumps.

england - 407
m. trescothick - 90
k. pietersen - 71
a. flintoff - 68
s. warne - 4/116

well, i was wrong, this is an excellent batting pitch, england could have made 500+ the way they were going, they will probably be pretty happy with their total but it is definately not out of reach for australia, this makes for an interesting second days play. i think australia bowled pretty average but did well to get england all out in one day especially when it was 112 for 0. trescothick will be pissed he didn't get 100, he really should have from where he was at. the tail wagged for england which helped them alot but i think australia will have no worries in making this target, i'm tipping a big century from either hayden or ponting. go aussies. :D

[Terrier Williger]

What an amazing days play - probably the most entertaining I've ever seen in test cricket. It was like watching a 1 day match.
Definately looks like a good batting wicket, and I'm sure England will be dissapointed not to have made at least 500, and that no batsman got a ton either.
Pietersen looked impressive again, I like 2 types of shot he plays that i very rarely see. The first is a pull shot off the front foot to anything short, and the 2nd is a wristy flick to a full ball outside off-stump which he hits through the on-side - amazing. Dissapointed he threw his wicket away though. I got the feeling he thought he had to go for it even more once Hoggard came in, but abit more patience would have seen him make more runs with the tail, who also found batting fairly easy.
Still it's a competetive score, and it'll be interesting to see if Harmison with his extra height can get anymore life out of the wicket, and maybe Simon Jones' wicket to wicket skidders could be useful on this wicket too. There doesn't look like much swing so Hoggard may not be a factor.
Giles has also got a few more runs to play with and so will be able to bowl his negative line - so England might be able to bore a couple of Aussie batsmen into giving away their wickets.

Day 1 i'd say honours even.

[SideshowTim]

i wouldn't be suprised if australia took a similar approach to todays play, it didn't seem as though england came out looking to belt the ball everywhere but it just sort of happened on a wicket that wasn't doing much with the ball, it cost them alot of wickets, hopefully australia can take it a bit easier.

[Terrier Williger]

Without a doubt a good day for England. They did a lot more with the ball than the Australian bowlers.
I thought they bowled very well, especially Flintoff and Giles.
Hats off to the England spinner, he's answered his critics by letting his bowling do the talking.
Jones also bowled well, and it was good to see him and Flintoff getting plenty of swing with the old ball - Jones is a very dangerous weapon for England, which is always helped by good fielding which England generally showed today.
This included a fine runout by Vaughan - it was interesting to see him practising with the Yorkshire team the other week. Even though he didn't play in the game he joined in with the rest of the team beforehand and was noticably more accurate than anyone else when it came to throwing at a small target.

England 407 and 25 for 1

Australia 308
Langer 82
Ponting 61
Clarke 40
Gilchrist 49 notout
Flintoff 3-52
Giles 3-78

So England lead by 124 with 9 second innings wickets left.
Still a