TOPIC:

Make that 5 - our best bowler. Had to play. Gives it his all. 2nd session to the Aussies despite some loose bowling.

Well England certainly have given Australia a golden opportunity with a totally lacklustre & sloppy batting display to be all out for 215.

Well done to Siddle for his early strikes & for Pattinson & Starc to clean up the lower order.

Australia bowled a little inconsistently, bowling plenty of good balls & plenty of 4 balls, but errors made when batting are usually more costly than when bowling.

I for one would think the selectors have picked a good side & I definitely would have picked Siddle. He is the fifth highest ranking bowler on the ICC test rankings & before this test he had taken 150 wickets in 41 tests at an average of 28.84 & a strike rate of 57.6. He is a great team player & always gives 100%.

It is down to our batsman to ram home this golden opportunity.

I dont know why anyone would be excluding Siddle from the team. He is heart and soul of it. And that has definately showed on day 1. I also like the idea of Agar. Wasnt too sure on the Steve Smith decision, but if he can add a few more runs, then i guess that is what he is there for and would have done his job perfectly.

Our top order obviously failed, so need a few runs from the middle/low. This is exactly where Hussey would have been perfect for. But guess it is up to the new guys now and I think they have what it takes. Come on boys. We need to atleast draw equal on first innings. The bowlers did their job and obviously the batters arent doing theirs.

got to love Siddle, bad spell early but came back hard after lunch to get us back in the game..

would love to see both Smith and Hughes go on and make perhaps 'career defining 100's'.......yeah pigs can fly and all that.....but I'd love to listen to Botham, if these two boys go on and give Australia a half decent lead......one can only hope!!

while all this 20/20 cricket infiltrates the cricket agendas worldwide, expect test matches to get shorter & shorter.

this test will be lucky to make 3 days.

players will / or have started to lose the art of test cricket. Patience, mental strength and strategic pressure is what has made test cricket the pinacle.

and some boring bits in patches

Freezin wrote: would love to see both Smith and Hughes go on and make perhaps 'career defining 100's'.......yeah pigs can fly and all that.....but I'd love to listen to Botham, if these two boys go on and give Australia a half decent lead......one can only hope!!

Bear minimum is 2 break even...can't afford to be behind on the 1 st innings

I thought Lyon would have been useful yesterday to hold down an end and build pressure in support of the fast bowlers. He is a proven test performer and I was stunned when he was dropped to be honest. I think England could have been bowled out for 150 which would have put Australia in a far better position. Agar is without doubt a very promising bowler, but he was thrown to the wolves a bit I thought.

As for today, it looks like it is going to be cloudy in the first session which is a bummer as Anderson and co will be licking their lips. Apparently Broad is injured though so he might not be able to bowl. The sun will burn through at lunchtime and Australia's challenge is to still be batting by then as it will no doubt get easier as the day goes on. Massive opportunity for Smith and Hughes, really hope that they can take it.

A lot of credit must go to the Finn & Anderson who bowled very tightly in the absence of the injured Broad & maintained good pressure throughout Australia's innings. I think they were pivotal in the demise of Australia's top order, rather than a lack of effort or application from Australia's batmen. They were just too good. The delivery to Clarke was an absolute pearler.

Australia did well to lose only 1 more wicket after being 3 for 19 but the loss of Rogers was a huge body blow as his partnership with Smith was salvaging the innings.

I am looking forward to today's play & it is a wonderful opportunity for Australia to show it can match it with the big boys.

puppy wrote: A lot of credit must go to the Finn & Anderson who bowled very tightly in the absence of the injured Broad & maintained good pressure throughout Australia's innings. I think they were pivotal in the demise of Australia's top order, rather than a lack of effort or application from Australia's batmen. They were just too good. The delivery to Clarke was an absolute pearler.

Australia did well to lose only 1 more wicket after being 3 for 19 but the loss of Rogers was a huge body blow as his partnership with Smith was salvaging the innings.

I am looking forward to today's play & it is a wonderful opportunity for Australia to show it can match it with the big boys.

7 for 114....we won't be matching it with anyone till we get ourselves a cricket team! Useless twats