The Ashes...

[Hugh_Jazz]

Help, I can't stop watching it....am I ill?

[lepeep]

not at all.

[Moshulu Rob]

Test matches - Greatest.Sport.Ever.

[Untitled]

i've been watching it and i'm loving it

although the missis thinks it's shite

but what do women know

[eat your parents]

I'd love it if England stuff the Aussies. Flintoff and Pietersen battered Warne and Lee.

Tomorrow will be the telling day, whether Australia (Faliure!!!) will bat well, and whether the English bowlers can have the fire of the first innings from the 1st Test.

[Chris]

Test matches - Greatest.Sport.Ever.

no. that's kabadi.

test cricket is somewhere just above badminton.

[Moshulu Rob]

Looked to be some dents appearing in the pitch, I'd rather the pitch dried out and hardened up than got any damper. Also saw a couple of deliveries with a bit of uneven bounce which you'd expect to get worse at the match continues. Also as Mcgrath is out you'd expect Harmison to exploit variable bounce better than anyone else on either side.

G O Jones - I agree he's on thin Ice, but who do we replace him with? Chris Read? He's hardly on stellar form, and he has a worse batting record than GO Jones. To be fair to the guy, up until Lords he has hardly put a single chance down all year. I have heard it discussed that Trescothick could keep wicket in an Alec Stewart style move.

Vaughan - Have to disagree here -

a) He has proven himself as a world class batsman, including in a series in Australia. At one point he was ranked No.1 by Price Waterhouse. Form is temporary, class is permanent.

b) I think he is probably the best Captain we have had since Mike Brearly (who also wasn't great with the bat as captain) in a motivational and tactical role.

c) Who do you replace him with? No stand out, proven player, springs to mind. Tres is probably closest but I put him a distant second.

If I was selector, my current XI would be :

Strauss

Trescothick

Vaughn

Bell

Collingwood

Pieterson

GO Jones

Flintoff

Hoggard

Harmison

S Jones

Esentially swapping Giles for Collingwood, ask Flintoff to assume a bowlers full workload and have Collingwood as the 5th bowler. I had put Collingwood in the same bracket as Pieterson as a one day specialist, but looking at his recent scores in 4 day matches opening the batting I'd give him a go.

Giles can tie up an end sometimes, but thats not enough to warrant inclusion in my book. Sure it means we don't have a spinner in the XI but if we don't have one good enough to force his way into the side then we have to make do with what we have.

[Moshulu Rob]

no. that's kabadi.

test cricket is somewhere just above badminton.

Fair point

Kabadi - Best sport to participate in

Test Cricket - Best spectator sport ever

[eat your parents]

Looked to be some dents appearing in the pitch' date=' I'd rather the pitch dried out and hardened up than got any damper. Also saw a couple of deliveries with a bit of uneven bounce which you'd expect to get worse at the match continues. Also as Mcgrath is out you'd expect Harmison to exploit variable bounce better than anyone else on either side.

G O Jones - I agree he's on thin Ice, but who do we replace him with? Chris Read? He's hardly on stellar form, and he has a worse batting record than GO Jones. To be fair to the guy, up until Lords he has hardly put a single chance down all year. I have heard it discussed that Trescothick could keep wicket in an Alec Stewart style move.

Vaughan - Have to disagree here -

a) He has proven himself as a world class batsman, including in a series in Australia. At one point he was ranked No.1 by Price Waterhouse. Form is temporary, class is permanent.

b) I think he is probably the best Captain we have had since Mike Brearly (who also wasn't great with the bat as captain) in a motivational and tactical role.

c) Who do you replace him with? No stand out, proven player, springs to mind. Tres is probably closest but I put him a distant second.

If I was selector, my current XI would be :

Strauss

Trescothick

Vaughn

Bell

Collingwood

Pieterson

GO Jones

Flintoff

Hoggard

Harmison

S Jones

Esentially swapping Giles for Collingwood, ask Flintoff to assume a bowlers full workload and have Collingwood as the 5th bowler. I had put Collingwood in the same bracket as Pieterson as a one day specialist, but looking at his recent scores in 4 day matches opening the batting I'd give him a go.

Giles can tie up an end sometimes, but thats not enough to warrant inclusion in my book. Sure it means we don't have a spinner in the XI but if we don't have one good enough to force his way into the side then we have to make do with what we have.[/quote']

I was going to make the point of Chris Read as well, and remember Jones with the bat has made some valuable runs. Just as he broke into the side he scored a Test century.

Giles, as it has been said many times, is a confidence player, and he can spin proficiently at times. I did read that the Aussies were going to purposely go after Giles so to force England to use Flintoff, Harmison and Jones more, tiring them out far more quickly.

I'd be excited to see Collingwood play test cricket. I'm often a little dumbfounded by the selectors. Remember Bicknell coming in against South Africa because of injuries, after being over looked for nine years. The guy was amazing, bowled with discipline.

Vaughn is a great captain, who has a very good side (partly down to the foundations Nasser, had put down) at his disposal. He's been nurtured for the role in a way after firstly taking over the One-Day captain duties then the Test captaincy itself.

I sometimes wonder about fielding placings, but not often. His main asset is the understanding he has of the troops and the respect he commands.

[Moshulu Rob]

I think half the poblem is that we seem to be stuck in a mindset that says we have to have a spin bowler to tie up an end, and take wickets by forcing batsmen to play rash shots

Other sides are a bit more creative, the aussies for example use McGrath to tie up an end in the same way, and we used to use Gus Fraser do the same.

Do we *have* to have a spinner? because if not, then I can't see any reason to pick Giles.

Giles seems to be far too dependant on the pitch, where as a truly world class spinner (Murali, Warne et al) can adapt to the situation. Sure we knocked Warne around a bit today, but I doubt Giles would have got more than 5 overs against our batsmen on this pitch today and he certainly wouldn't have cleaned up the tail.

I'm a bit concerned that the best we expect from Giles is that he doesn't get hit for too many runs ! think back to our last half decent left arm offspinner - Phil Tufnell, at least you felt he had the potential to terrorise batsmen on the right pitch.

Bicknell - Yeah, that was ridiculous, but we have a record for making crazy selection decisions that goes back years and years.

[eat your parents]

I agree with you on all points. I personally can't see England having any capable spinners until the ideology of County Cricket changes. I just don't think there's a lot of confidence in spinners, so much so, that pace always takes priority and the national test side suffers.

Tufnell was good, you're right, but the dedication wasn't there. Smoking grass, and ladies always catching his eye... makes me laugh. My friend read that Tufnell was once fielding out near the boundry in a match, he saw a lady in the crowd wave at him, so thought to himself "This match is boring," and went into the crowd to speak to her. God, I hope that is true!

So Rob, is the Bassment showing the Ashes on a big screen?! C'mon you and I could be the only ones watching, in beards, with cricket jumpers, cheering "Riiiiichhhhiee" everytime Benaud's says "What a ripper!", ho ho. I miss playing cricket.

(urrrg, Ponting just made 50)

[Moshulu Rob]

Ponting c Vaughan b Giles 61

Hah.

No Big Screen but it is on the TV all day every day i'm there. I don't think anyone else is that interested to be honest

[delboy]

i think if england can hold their nerve today then they have a great chance of winning but having followed the england cricket team for 25 years now i have come to expect spectacular collapses, hell they even lost a good position in the first test. having said that the aussies are not used to being behind and the way trescothick and pieterson are playing they will prob get 150 odd runs between them plus if we get a captains innings from vaughan and freddie flintoff has one of his brief but effective knocking the ball everywhere type innings then england should get a lead of 350 plus which should be enough.

however if warne continues to bowl the way he did in the over last night before close of play he should pick up a few wickets. a fascinating match nonetheless and its good to see england competing with the aussies in at least some departments!!!!

[chilli]

its great to know people here are into the cricket, essentially i would love the series

to go to the wire, england have to win this test as there is going to be a result on the basis an innings a day.If they loose it today because Warne looks almost unplayable

based on that one over last night. the rest of the auusie bowling looks very vunerable without mcgrath. enland need a minimum 250 in the the second innings.

WILL they get that today???????????

If they can set a decent target then giles will takes wickets

[delboy]

he he all us cricket fans coming out the closet now!

totally agree with chilli, the aussies are missing mcgrath big style but warne remains the biggest threat. here's hoping he has a bad day cos he has the ability to rip england to peices (all that crap from certain england players about him being past his best is coming back to haunt them!) but the rest of the bowling looks vulnerable so i would expect england to make at least 250 and as the pitch deterioates, 350 plus is gonna be a hard total to make even for the aussies.

i so hope england can level the series cos there's just a two day break till the next one and confidence will be high, its really time for the england players to stand up and be counted.....

[chilli]

he he all us cricket fans coming out the closet now!

totally agree with chilli' date=' the aussies are missing mcgrath big style but warne remains the biggest threat. here's hoping he has a bad day cos he has the ability to rip england to peices (all that crap from certain england players about him being past his best is coming back to haunt them!) but the rest of the bowling looks vulnerable so i would expect england to make at least 250 and as the pitch deterioates, 350 plus is gonna be a hard total to make even for the aussies.

i so hope england can level the series cos there's just a two day break till the next one and confidence will be high, its really time for the england players to stand up and be counted.....[/quote']

right now i would settle for 250 making 350 the target, today is set up for the captain to stay

at the crease for two sessions.

Oh how we miss Graeme Thorpe to graft, where others think that five test maches

last three days. Unfortunately this has been the best opportunity England have had to best the Aussies for far too long. i believe the selectors blundered with their decision

about Thorpe & it will male ALL the difference. Surely it should have been

two from three thorpe, pieterson or BELL.. Enland bowlers will only perform if fielders are round the bat, to get round the bat you need runs on the board.

[delboy]

i so wish thorpe was playing instead of bell, i think england could do with thorpe's experience today but we shall see. england have been pretty impressive this test but there's a long way to go to the winning post. thing about the aussies is that they always have an extra gear or two and i wouldnt be suprised to see them rattle england out for less than 200. however, this england team has the ability to get 250 plus, i just hope they dont bottle it....

[Guest onlynik]

Great cricket display today, though a couple of dubious decisions, but that just the way it goes.

[Guest onlynik]

Although can anyone explain the second innings collapse?

[chilli]

Although can anyone explain the second innings collapse?

australia never have more than two bad days in a row & the early wicket to a woeful shot with no foot movement was a disgarce for an opening batsmen. Vaughan was out again to

a ball that nobody would have survived.................

as i said earler 350 minimum the match is lost, had this been a day later then expect some more help from the pitch

BLAH

freddie two in one ever what an over, its in the balance now

[Guest onlynik]

australia never have more than two bad days in a row & the early wicket to a woeful shot with no foot movement was a disgarce for an opening batsmen. Vaughan was out again to

a ball that nobody would have survived.................

as i said earler 350 minimum the match is lost' date=' had this been a day later then expect some more help from the pitch

BLAH

freddie two in one ever what an over, its in the balance now[/quote']

I think Ponting has been really poor this series, maybe its the pressure of captaincy affecting his game. HE certainly didn't look comfortable against Flintoff. Anyway the game is certainly on, unless there is rain for the next 2 days.

[Ollie]

whats the score now? i was watching it earlier. pretty cool like.

[Guest onlynik]

1738: WICKET Australia 134-5 (Katich 16)

[Ollie]

ace, never thought id say this but go England!

[delboy]

165/7 but some stout aussie resistance at the moment!!!!!