TOPIC:

Watching that Australian innings was very hard to take, in particular during the 2nd session when we lost 6 wickets for 54 & handed England the game. I think England deserve a lot of credit for the standard of their bowling. They bowled very tight lines & gave very few runs away. They bowled far better as a team than our bowlers.
Harris carried our attack, while Swann was supported by all the England bowlers. Swann extracted great spin & bounce out of the pitch & this does not bode well for Australia.

Although the lower order masked the top order cracks in the batting in the first test, England didn't allow it in this test. I was hoping that Australia would take the impetus from the first test into the second test & that Australia's top order would come to the party. Unfortunately, after a promising opening partnership, the top order did not display the necessary application to grind out a long innings & played some very loose shots. I could have accepted Australia being rolled for 250-260 if they displayed more application but were outplayed, but they were the chief architects of their demise.

The use of the reviews was terrible by both Watson & Hughes. I could understand Rogers not reviewing his dismissal. He was hit on the full & the non striker appeared out of position to give him an indication on whether he should review. Perhaps he could have looked for a signal from the dressing room.

I felt sorry for Kwawaja, who looked like a petrified rabbit caught in a truck's headlights & was dropped off a dolly of a catch at slip & finally dismissed off a terrible lofted shot.

Very disappointed at Watson being dismissed again after doing all the hard work & looking like a million dollars & again LBW. He needs to cash in on these good start & make some big scores. That would also take some heat off Clarke, who is carrying the batting. Watson also contributes with the ball, so I don't think it is so easy to replace him.

Australia are between a rock & a hard place. If they make too many changes to the side it could be detrimental but how long can they persist with so many underperforming top order batsmen? Who do they replace them with?

It was worth staying up to watch Siddle get 3/30.. The Aussies are still in this thanks to him.. Agar/Siddle the saviours

Cardy wrote: It was worth staying up to watch Siddle get 3/30.. The Aussies are still in this thanks to him.. Agar/Siddle the saviours

Gee Cardy, you are optimistic. England are still 263 runs in front with 7 wickets remaining. I think Australia would have to roll England for no more than 120 to have even a remote chance of winning this game.

LOL yeh mate I realise that.. But wheres theirs hope theres a chance
Seem to remember a few wins in the Footy like that.
Could of got off a bit earlier if Clarke or Haddon had of got that catch that bought me back to earth.

If AUST were chasing 400 and the BATSMEN finally get it right. which must happen eventually there is a chance.. Plenty of time hey.

Should be very intersting anyway tomorrow night as long as WP defeats SF will be happy

The less said about the Aussie 1st innings the better. Siddle taking 3 wkts was badly needed but the way we are batting at the moment - brainless, already 260 plus for 3 it looks like 2 zip to the poms. Weather forecast is good for the next 3 days, could be cloud cover early tomorrow which might help our bowlers.

It was interesting to hear Ian Chappell talk about Andrew Symonds. He asked Symonds about giving it away and Symonds said he liked to have a quiet drink at the end of the day. But players wanted to play Xbox. In separate rooms.

A very gutsy effort by Australia's bowlers so far today. Unfortunately we were not given any help by the dickhead third umpire who could not tell that Smith took a clean catch to dismiss Bell off Harris, That was absolute bullshit & the third umpire should have his ass severely kicked for that error. England have batted fairly conservatively today & have not been able to pile on the runs as they would have liked.

puppy wrote: A very gutsy effort by Australia's bowlers so far today. Unfortunately we were not given any help by the dickhead third umpire who could not tell that Smith took a clean catch to dismiss Bell off Harris, That was absolute bullshit & the third umpire should have his ass severely kicked for that error. England have batted fairly conservatively today & have not been able to pile on the runs as they would have liked.

Huh?, who cares whether they piled em on or not.They controlled the match , and now a gazzillion runs in front with "only" 2 days left!!!

UNKA2 wrote:

puppy wrote: A very gutsy effort by Australia's bowlers so far today. Unfortunately we were not given any help by the dickhead third umpire who could not tell that Smith took a clean catch to dismiss Bell off Harris, That was absolute bullshit & the third umpire should have his ass severely kicked for that error. England have batted fairly conservatively today & have not been able to pile on the runs as they would have liked.

Huh?, who cares whether they piled em on or not.They controlled the match , and now a gazzillion runs in front with "only" 2 days left!!!

Is this where y pull out the old pommy heritage unk

58shark wrote:

UNKA2 wrote:

puppy wrote: A very gutsy effort by Australia's bowlers so far today. Unfortunately we were not given any help by the dickhead third umpire who could not tell that Smith took a clean catch to dismiss Bell off Harris, That was absolute bullshit & the third umpire should have his ass severely kicked for that error. England have batted fairly conservatively today & have not been able to pile on the runs as they would have liked.

Huh?, who cares whether they piled em on or not.They controlled the match , and now a gazzillion runs in front with "only" 2 days left!!!

Is this where y pull out the old pommy heritage unk

Hee hee might do 58!, though i do try and keep a balance, relisedas i get older i barrack for "teams" or Individuals, not countries as such.

UNKA2 wrote:

puppy wrote: A very gutsy effort by Australia's bowlers so far today. Unfortunately we were not given any help by the dickhead third umpire who could not tell that Smith took a clean catch to dismiss Bell off Harris, That was absolute bullshit & the third umpire should have his ass severely kicked for that error. England have batted fairly conservatively today & have not been able to pile on the runs as they would have liked.

Huh?, who cares whether they piled em on or not.They controlled the match , and now a gazzillion runs in front with "only" 2 days left!!!

You should get in touch with Mike or George with regards to your ignore button not working. Mine is working great with regards to the 1000 posts you have made regarding the deficiencies of Eagle's supporters.