The Ashes: 1st Test, Trent Bridge

First topic message reminder :

England:
Alastair Cook*, Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow,
Matt Prior†, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson

Australia:
Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Ed Cowan, Michael Clarke*, Steve Smith, Phil Hughes,
Brad Haddin†, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Ashton Agar

New ball taken-- can they utilse it.. Starc got two very lucky wickets to start this innings with the new- I doubt he will get that again..

mystiroakey wrote:oh come on knee jerk- root stays on top. he had a 30 first innings- thrid highest score and wasnt even out this innings..

Root will come good- V good

Was it not a knee jerk reaction to drop Compton?

compo had a lot longer than two innings Scrumpy!!

Prior obviously doesn't.

Keep it going Bell. Fight it out mate. Be the hero and us naysayers will live you alone for a week or two

Will be surprised if the selectors would make a knee jerk reversal of the change they had only just made !
One can argue they might have been wiser to start with Compton opening etc ; but having put Root up to the top they are unlikely to abandon the idea after one game.
Recent patterns suggest they will probably take the same team to Lord's whatever the result here , fitness permitting.

I generally dont believe in cricketing superstitions, LB, except for stepping onto a ground with my right foot...

Need these 2 survive until tea at least, then im becoming more confident.

alfie wrote:Will be surprised if the selectors would make a knee jerk reversal of the change they had only just made !  
One can argue they might have been wiser to start with Compton opening etc ; but having put Root up to the top they are unlikely to abandon the idea after one game.
Recent patterns suggest they will probably take the same team to Lord's whatever the result here , fitness permitting.

and given Lords and the Aussie record come out 2-0 down sadly.

kingraf wrote:Duty is an absolute superstar. Cheerleader par excellence. Probably eats an English breakfast every day, in his Union Jack boxers, watching replays of the '66 world cup...        

he is my favourite poster here
every nation needs die-hards like him

NickisBHAFC wrote:Need these 2 survive until tea at least, then im becoming more confident.

if it was aussie batting then 250 might be enough but the young genius adds a ton to what you need.

Ian Bell Bell Bell. Ian Bell Bell Bell

How many do people think Bell has to get for us to declare him a hero?

Obviously if he gets out before say 50 he's still crap, 50-75 then I guess he'll get credit for a good innings, 75-100 do we accept him for a couple more matches but 100+ and England win does he become an Ashes hero?

To be fair if it wasn't for the 3rd umpire Eng would be out of sight by now.

I am actuallly suprised with Duty in this match. He got all pessimistic during wimbledon. Couldnt figure it out.

Glad to see him back in his element

Hibbz wrote:How many do people think Bell has to get for us to declare him a hero?

Obviously if he gets out before say 50 he's still crap, 50-75 then I guess he'll get credit for a good innings, 75-100 do we accept him for a couple more matches but 100+ and England win does he become an Ashes hero?

 100 and he becomes a hero - but only for a week ..

Hopefully Prior bats well into the evening session

New ball not really swinging for Starc. Chance for England and Prior to press on here with the harder ball!

Aus should have stuck with the old ball!

Nah , trebs...even if Australia win the first Test this England team will be confident of rebounding in the remaining matches.

Australia are still on top here , and may well close this match out ; but I have not seen anything to suggest they are actually a superior team. Their advantage comes almost entirely from one swashbuckling partnership...

Anyway the 200 has arrived courtesy of a Prior boundary so perhaps there is still life in this game  

no I will agree on that one alfie. Without the boys wonder innings this would be totally the other way. He might just paper over Aussie cracks that won't help them in the future.

I'm now not postiong on the match position for fear of the mockers...

Aus are 100% rebuilding. deep down I am sure the next 3 series(including this one) is more about finding balance and a plan over wins..

obviously they are aussies and want to win. But realistically I think they were too disjointed before this and they have some great matches coming up to find themselves..

England lead by 131, so to set a total of 250, we need Bell to get 70, Prior to get 50, then Swann/Broad/Finn/Anderson to add 50 between them.

Easily do-able

I see I was a bit hasty with my 200 call...they changed the scoreboard too quickly  

This is a real battle for England ...when is the last time they were still shy of 200 in the eighty eighth over ?

Perhaps suggests Australia might find a fourth innings chase harder than we are all assuming ?

120 runs from here on should really be a  minimum, but this is england that love a collapse at this point

Our collapses are bigger than yours, mysti.

I wouldnt call your last innings a collapse LB!!

You're aussie.. just better by divine right.

mystiroakey wrote:120 runs from here on should really be a  minimum, but this is england that love a collapse at this point

Myst

That's been the issue with England in the last couple of years - could be all out for 60 more or Bell and Prior could add a couple of hundred in reasonable time. 3 or 4 years ago we'd have found a way to get the runs (even if it relied on Broad and Swann), but I just don't have faith in their ability to do this any more.

mystiroakey wrote:I wouldnt call your last innings a collapse LB!!

It was until Skippy the wonder boy transformed world cricket in an hour.

Dummy, definitely, in the time around and before the last Ashes we were a very good side. Very much in decline now as the young players just aren't at the same level. Not yet anyway.

I think Root will be, not sure JB ever will.

mystiroakey wrote:I wouldnt call your last innings a collapse LB!!

 5 for 9? Doesn't get much better than that.

I feel the same Dummy. Its a lottery at this point, no faith in the batting at middle order

Linebreaker wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:I wouldnt call your last innings a collapse LB!!

 5 for 9? Doesn't get much better than that.

 then 170 for 1

Blame DRS/3rd umpire for that.

Prior looking so settled. C'mon Sidds... some chin music please.

Well regarding collapse England lost their last 4 wickets for just 2 runs and Aussies were never upto the mark in the first innings leaving the last partnership. Still 100 more runs and chase would be difficult for Australia.

Prior naughty slash.

The Beeb put up a stat yesterday, that there have only been 3 occasions in test cricket where the 10th wicket partnershp has more than doubled the score. Obviously, Hughes and Agar did, and one of the other cases was the Aussies recently going from 21-9 to 47 (iirc).

The third case was the unlikely partnership of Peter Willey and Bob Willis putting on well over 100 between them. Now, I know PW was a decent all rounder, but big Bob's batting is most fondly remembered for his coming on to the field minus a bat - the way he used it, many would argue it wouldn't make much difference. So the fact (sorry FACT ) that he was involved in a century stand in a Test has to be one of cricket's biggest surprises.

Agar is a batsman- he looked to good not to be. So more of an error in position over a freak result for me.. He will never do it again. But that is because he will never bat last again

He may well do it again but not at No. 11. Talk of him batting 7 or 8 (next Test)

Remember that one , dummy...secured a fighting draw against a very strong West Indian outfit ...Bob was actually surprisingly hard to get out sometimes : put the big foot down the wicket and and prodded...

He had the most not outs in Test history when he retired , I believe.

Oh Prior

Linebreaker wrote:He may well do it again but not at No. 11. Talk of him batting 7 or 8 (next Test)

Second innings , lb ?

Or don't you think you'll need him ?  

mystiroakey wrote:Agar is a batsman- he looked to good not to be. So more of an error in position over a freak result for me.. He will never do it again. But that is because he will never bat last again

and they will plan and prepare for him. His real test starts from now.

Flamin' Nora Matty

alfie wrote:Remember that one , dummy...secured a fighting draw against a very strong West Indian outfit ...Bob was actually surprisingly hard to get out sometimes : put the big foot down the wicket and and prodded...

He had the most not outs in Test history when he retired , I believe.

I remember Willis only had one attacking shot - an attempted cover drive that went through midwicket off the inside edge...

prior fails and it's game over.

frustrating game.  agar aside this could have been a reasonable total but it isn't and they've been hammered.

I really do fear they won't bounce back from this, feels like one of "those" moments that starts the aussies being all over England for decades.

England need players who don't gift wickerts and who apply themselves. feels like they need a total reshuffle or new coaching.

Trebs your logic astounds me. Australia struggled to 117-9 and you think a target that's currently 153-6 is 'game over'? Madness.

alfie wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:He may well do it again but not at No. 11. Talk of him batting 7 or 8 (next Test)

Second innings , lb ?

Or don't you think you'll need him ?  

 ha ha. We need all batsmen to take a leaf out his book if possible. Many are struggling to overcome psychological problems with their batting. We just need one or two to click but tbh I'll believe it when I see it. Cowan needs to score runs... so too Watto and Clarke.

Prior pretty well had to play that way...someone had to actually score some runs or they would be bowled out eventually for about 230 and still two days to play.

Still might  

But at least he took the fight back to the bowlers. Might have softened them up a bit , hopefully.
Though not a lot of batting to come...missing Bresnan