You are a harsh judge hawthorne. I guess if you had been at the U2 concerts you would have stopped the Mexican wave and banned the singalongs which Bono exorted.
By the way, any chance of rain?
If - sorry, when - England lose this test and possibly the other 4, consider these things:
Fletcher recently called Monty Panesar “the best finger-spinner in the world” - and then promptly went and dropped him in favour of a man (Giles) who couldn’t spin a ball if he lived to be 100 and who hasn’t played a test for gawd knows how long.
Fletcher also dropped the innocent Read in favour of the Papua New Guinean/Australian/Welshman Jones purely because he’s in love with him.
The Australian selectors are unlikely to be as sentimental and ought to drop Gilchrist, who cannot score a run these days to save his life.
Flintoff is a magnificent cricketer but he’s no captain. I wonder how many of Australia’s runs wouldn’t have been scored if someone more experienced was setting the fields? Relieve him of that burden and find someone else who can share the bowling with him (i.e. not Anderson or Harmison).
On another front, my mate the execrable Jez is off Down Under next week and will be infesting England games at the WACA, the MCG and the SGC among the Barmy Army. The man’s a moron - on Friday at work he was confidently predicting that England would comfortably save this test, even when other die-hard Englishmen were jacking it in after Day 1. Good luck to him!
Noooooo, sorry. It’s not even that hot here, not humid. The last two days have been very mild by late November Brisbane standards.
mm
Really, they were very defensive moves, meant to stiffen along tail and stop the old rule of “5 out, all out” which has dogged England for years. The problem is the 30 extra runs they add are worthless if they lose 100 runs in wickets not taken.
Brad Haddin is a tailor made replacement for Gilchrist - a great 'keeper and a very very good batsman, but Gilchrist will keep his place on the basis of his almost telepathic understanding with Warne. Gilchrist’s problems are more imagined than they are technical.
Flintoff’s ineptitude was evident in the first half hour as Justin Langer, one of the players the English are supposed to be targetting, got away with three fours through a vacant third man. To his credit though, he hasn’t folded as completely as Nasser Hussain, who was a mental wreck by lunchtime of the first day four years ago. He is also the only English player who actually looks fit. The Aussies look rock hard, but 10 of the 11 English look slow and overfed.
Oh good. Is he bringing his trumpet?
Confirmed by mamboman and I couldn’t agree more.
IMO Flintoff has been placed in a similar situation to Botham in 1981. Bring back Brearley. It’s never too late.
As much as I am enjoying the “psy-ops” going on against the English team at the monent, perhaps this is going a little far…
As reported on cricinfo…
That’s just wrong. Hilarious, but wrong.
mm
Well.
Five down but the last two wickets thrown away. At three down and possible thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon we might have had a squeak. Still, the team can take some heart from this. Roll on Adelaide.
And so to bed.
Well, finally some show of spine from England - ay one point there a 500 run loss looked right on the cards.
Collingwood looked a much better player than we have been led to believe. Any grievances the English supporters may imagine over various events yesterday have been well and truly equalised by the decision to give Pietersen not out from a huge noise, big deflection caught behind.
Still, a grand and brave job of delaying the inevitible.
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It’s quite true that Hammond came back from a tour of the West Indies with a dose of “Cupid’s measles” - according to reputation he was fond of getting his leg over. I agree with you on the point though. Sledging’s a dubious enough part of the game as it is, without the entire country getting in on the act.
Still, let’s take heart. Fifty-two years ago…
Thankfully, the Jez is as musical as he is knowledgeable about cricket. He also has the whitest of white skin so burns easily. If anyone sees him out there, please steal his hat.
Yosss! 4 balls in and Lee removes Pietersen - another valuable psychological milestone, denying him his 100. Lee is bowling really fast and the clouds which England hope to save them are making the ball swing like a very swingy thing indeed.
cricket is good!
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Well thats 1-0. I hope Fletcher and/or Flintoff has learnt the lesson of leaving “the best finger spinner in the world” out of the attack. If declaring on 602 wasn’t enough to show the English attack sorely lacked sting, how about 1-202 declared where the only wicket was a run-out? Looking forward to a closer contest in Adelaide.
If Australia win the toss, it’s all over red rover.
So, who play Shane Watson at Adelaide?
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While England were thoroughly slaughtered overall, their second innings (380 odd) looked at in isolation was a solid effort. Australia won’t score 800 in every match. The English aren’t down and out.
Watson has been ruled out of the Adelaide Test.
Australia has real selection headaches. What they want to do is play Watson as a seaming all rounder. This would allow them to play 5 bowlers, two of which would be spinners for somewhere like Adelaide.
Four bowlers is not really enough. You worry that someone’s going to break down during the match or that the opposition’l have a good couple of days with the bat and your front liners will have done so much work they’ll be buggered for the next match. That - and not the size of the cracks - is why Australia didn’t enforce the follow on at the 'Gabba.
If Watson had been fit, Australia might well have played MacGill and dropped Clarke. Without Watson, they probably need Clarke as a second spin option! They can’t drop Clark and won’t drop Lee or McGrath assuming the latter is fit. The choice is four bowlers with Clarke as part time tweaker or five bringing in Tait or Johnson.
All this is a reminder of the value of Colin “Funky” Miller.
Is Andrew Symonds not an option? Lord, what an embarassment of riches!
What about James Hopes? Cameron White? Heck, does Simon Katich still bowl leggies? Or, your splendid idea - bring back Funky!
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The Wally Hammond/syphilis thing was an opportunity for the ground announcer to set up a joke, rather than pure mean spirited Pom-bashing. After asking the question, and then proudly announcing that the answer was syphilis, he said, “All of you who got that right, give yourselves a clap!” Got a few chuckles.
Not unless he’s changed hands…
In Adelaide.