General Cricket (not the chirpy kind) Discussion Thread

[Cyborg Holland]

Oh Ian...

[Liventia]

England have lost 4/48.

[Nimzonia]

Looks like England will be lucky to reach 250 at this rate. Question is, will the Aussie batting show up?

[Cyborg Holland]

Honest Yorkshireman Tim Bresnan has come close to scoring a test century, but has never done it.

Until now.

Pleassseeeee....

[Nimzonia]

Looks like Australia have won this test. England aren't even trying.

Sometimes, England get bowled out cheaply in the first innings, but you can be confident they'll get stuck in second time round. I don't see it happening this time, they've just gone to pieces. Australia must be wondering how they managed to lose the first two.

[Cyborg Holland]

Looks like Australia have won this test. England aren't even trying.

Sometimes, England get bowled out cheaply in the first innings, but you can be confident they'll get stuck in second time round. I don't see it happening this time, they've just gone to pieces. Australia must be wondering how they managed to lose the first two.

I too am wondering how we won, well, anything...ever...

[Liventia]

Well Bresnan, Swann and Anderson have added useful runs at the tail end. 238/9 is not where I expected England to be at stumps.

[Nimzonia]

Well Bresnan, Swann and Anderson have added useful runs at the tail end. 238/9 is not where I expected England to be at stumps.

That's true. I expected them to be bowling.

The sad thing is, this is only about the 4th or 5th worst batting performance of the series so far. If ever there was a worst time to have back to back ashes, it must be now. Both teams are awful.

[Chelta]

Looks like Australia have won this test. England aren't even trying.

Sometimes, England get bowled out cheaply in the first innings, but you can be confident they'll get stuck in second time round. I don't see it happening this time, they've just gone to pieces. Australia must be wondering how they managed to lose the first two.

I too am wondering how we won, well, anything...ever...

It's just that your three main men, Cook, Pieterson and Trott aren't firing, apart from KP's 100 at OT. That's leaving Bell to pick up the slack and it's just not enough. I feared they would come good eventually, Australia couldn't keep them quiet forever, but it's now the fourth Test and only KP has made a hundred... are Australia's bowlers really that good or are England's batsmen just going through a bad patch?

[Cyborg Holland]

I too am wondering how we won, well, anything...ever...

It's just that your three main men, Cook, Pieterson and Trott aren't firing, apart from KP's 100 at OT. That's leaving Bell to pick up the slack and it's just not enough. I feared they would come good eventually, Australia couldn't keep them quiet forever, but it's now the fourth Test and only KP has made a hundred... are Australia's bowlers really that good or are England's batsmen just going through a bad patch?

I presume you're forgetting Bell's two at Trent Bridge and Lords?

You're probably not...

[Liventia]

Jimmy Anderson's Test best is 34. Can he break that today?

[Liventia]

Jimmy Anderson's Test best is 34. Can he break that today?

That'll be a no…

[Chelta]

Now Australia just need to get an unassailable lead by posting 600. Clarke is due for another 200, and Watson, Warner, Rogers and Smith all 100's.

If only...

[Cyborg Holland]

Now Australia just need to get an unassailable lead by posting 600. Clarke is due for another 200, and Watson, Warner, Rogers and Smith all 100's.

If only...

I like to think up those hypothetical newspaper headlines if Australia did get a mammoth total. But then again, our press is a lot more tame than yours.

It's weird to think that there are pessimistic Aussies, because we're the team that's in serious trouble right now, and you can take the game away from us, and even if you fail, you're still in it.

EDIT: That's what we needed...

[AiliailiA]

I'm perplexed at Clarke's decision to take the new ball yesterday. The last 3 overs with the old ball were maidens, and Harris and Bird were having no trouble bouncing it to head height (troubling Swann if not Prior). Sure it worked in the end, but it cost 40 runs for the last two wickets.

Warner is out.

[Chelta]

Now Australia just need to get an unassailable lead by posting 600. Clarke is due for another 200, and Watson, Warner, Rogers and Smith all 100's.

If only...

I like to think up those hypothetical newspaper headlines if Australia did get a mammoth total. But then again, our press is a lot more tame than yours.

It's weird to think that there are pessimistic Aussies, because we're the team that's in serious trouble right now, and you can take the game away from us, and even if you fail, you're still in it.

EDIT: That's what we needed...

Well put it this way, four of our six innings so far in this series have been collapses (I'm not counting second innings of OT since the objective was to make quick runs). We've gotten used to being cynical about Australia's batting abilities...

[AiliailiA]

Warner had his pad in the right place and his bat near it. Ball didn't go "through the gate" so much as over his pad but still hitting the stumps. He's not short of stature really, just had the pad angled sharply forward at the knee.

Doesn't really make any difference, as he'd probably have been LBW if it had hit his pad. It's just odd. Bowled over the pads?

[Liventia]

238 could yet be competitive. First innings at Durham in the Championship this season have averaged 237.

[Liventia]

Typical Broad review, that one.

[DesAnges]

Meh. Makes sense.

[AiliailiA]

238 could yet be competitive. First innings at Durham in the Championship this season have averaged 237.

I thought the England openers were being deliberately slow (bat for two days and make it a draw) but seeing how their innings turned out and the start of the Aus innings, I think this pitch is not as easy as it looks on television.
Also, a fairly ordinary spinner got 4 middle order wickets on day 1.

[Forsher]

238 could yet be competitive. First innings at Durham in the Championship this season have averaged 237.

I think this may turn out like one of the last tests NZ won. We made a low total and everyone was shaking their heads and then it turned out the pitch just really suited bowlers.

DRS strikes again... DRS Ashes looks quite likely, whoever mentioned that.

[Liventia]

DRS was correct though. No nick, so not caught behind. The ICC procedure (Appendix 2.2(a)(iv) states "When reviewing the TV replay(s), if the third umpire believes that the batsman may instead be out by any other mode of dismissal, beyond that initially consulted upon, he shall initiate the process described in paragraph 3.3 below as if the batsman has been given not out."

Therefore umpire's call: not out.

[Nimzonia]

If they're going to keep DRS, they need to do away with this "umpire's call" rubbish.

[Liventia]

If they're going to keep DRS, they need to do away with this "umpire's call" rubbish.

DRS is meant to be an aid for umpires, not the final arbitrator.