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Oh and thanks to a 50 year old has been behind the stumps who dropped a custard tart from Root on 0 - it's going to be a whole lot harder too

Here we are at the end of day 2 and Watson has a perfect opportunity to take a game by the scruff of the neck by scoring a ton and working with Haddin and the tail to try and get Australia into a reasonable position. If he can do this he will have proved me ( and a lot of others) wrong.

Australia's top and middle order batting was reckless to say the least. There was very little in the pitch for the bowlers and the bowling attack was steady rather than threatening but the Aussie batsman invented ways to get out. All of them got starts but none could go on to a century like Root did. Rogers batted very well but got out to a poor shot, Clarke and Smith seemed to be on a mission to belt Mooen Ali all over the park instead of just milking him and paid the price. Then Voges who had batted in a sensible manner for two hours played an abysmal shot to a nothing ball and perished 15 minutes before stumps.

So the chance is there for Watson to make his mark on this game........

Can the Australian selectors stop farking around and put the red line through Watson & Haddin for good never to play Test Cricket ever again!
Time to bring in some new blood Marsh, Nevill et al as this series is looking shot already.

get rid of Lehmann and replace him with Langer and that just might happen BH.....Lehmann has served his purpose......but Langer needs to step in and pull the pin on a few careers which are becoming very Taylor and Waughesque like.....its obvious Lehmann is either too scared to or has NSW roots some where.

Mikeh the arrogance of Aust batsmen some times astounds me......like you said Ali just needed to gently milked he was going for 4 - 5 runs per over...why the need to smash him out of the attack........now he looks more dangerous with the ball than Warnie did......can the Aussies chase down 420?......looks doable just need to curb some ego and set about it with some controlled intent...its not a difficult pitch only needs two of those aussie top 6 to turn a 30 into triple figures.....touch wood its not Watto though!

Freeze I used to piss my self laughing at the Poms back in the 80s & 90s and their Dads Army selections with the likes of Boycott, Gooch, Taylor, Emburey, Hemmings, Pringle et al all playing into their 40s and getting belted by our younger keener leaner Cricketers but it has now come the full circle and now we are the laughing stock playing blokes well past their prime.
Fark me Healy would still be behind the stumps if someone hadn't have just tapped him on the shoulder and said times up champ we have the greater keeper/batsman in history waiting in the wings.
We have looked so old slow & cumbersome in the field in this Test it isn't funny anymore

There is still some hope if the Australian batsmen can show more discipline in the 2nd innings. The forecast for Sunday is pretty bad apparently so it is a matter of batting through the 90 overs on Saturday and see what happens, although based on the 4 runs per over run rate so far in this match, they wouldnt be far off the target if they managed to do this. It's going to be tough though as Broad and Anderson seem to have their mojo back and the pitch is keeping low. Hopefully there will be no reckless stuff against Moeen Ali this time.

I thought the bowling was much better in the second innings so thats a positive they can take out even if they lose this test. Johnson bowled with more fire although he still is getting hit for a lot of 4's, Starc showed a lot of courage to bowl injured but I wonder if that will affect him long term in this series.

If the Aussies lose which history suggests they will, it is not time to panic at this stage of the series, I would make just one change for Lords and that would be the obvious one with Mitch Marsh coming in for Watson who surely has done his dash now. I know people are calling for Haddin to be dropped but this wicket has been difficult to keep on and he has a great record of producing with his back to the wall so I would back that at least while the series is alive.

Finally in tune with this thread I give you a joke.

Q: What's the difference between Sherlock Holmes and the Australian Test Team?
A: Watson was some use to Sherlock Holmes

The bowlers have done a pretty good job in the third innings, keeping Australia in with an outside chance; both Root and Bell were dismissed by good bowling. I have got a little bit of sympathy for Haddin, as it is simply more difficult to keep in England

BH The hardest to watch at the veteran stage of their career was Gatting.

What an abysmal batting performance from the Aussies. They have conceded a massive psychological advantage to England in this game which will be tough to turn around at Lords

1. Australia selected a familiar squad of players that England are aware of & have intel on - there are no weapons or unknowns to unleash for blooding

1a. Certain squad members particularly Haddin have no respect & cannot keep their smartarse traps shut - they just have to sledge everything & anyone

2. There are at least 3 that are too old & waning

3. Now that Harris is gone there is no-one able to use the Duke ball in English conditions

4. The first test was designed to be played on a track that would cause extreme toil for the strike bowlers of Australia given that there is only a 3 day break before the next one at Lords (it worked swimmingly due to the usual fat heads)

5. Where are the likes of Maddinson , Burns , Sayers , Henriques , Coulter-Nile in the equation - will we wait until they are in their 30's yet again

Now that Watson has just got out using his pad for a bat again let's hope it's the end for him.