The Ashes, Second Test Lord's

First topic message reminder :

Harris and Khwaja in.
Aus's bowling depth is so good that they can drop who was rated to be their top fast bowler without blinking an eyelid.

Not a lot seem to be happening for the bowlers so far. Looks like a pretty good toss to win for Cook.

Bit of bounce and bit of swing. Not entirely benign.

Should be good test.

Root's off the mark

I've just noticed that not only do they play the ashes again this winter, they then play them again in 2015.

Aren't they in danger of cheapening the ashes by making it a far too regular thing? Ashes overload?

Watson comes on for Pattinson, and strikies immediately!. Cook's gone LBW.

Oh genius from Watson.

You can only say that was far too good.

Cooky didnt pick that up.

Advantage Aussie,  England would have wanted a safe morning with no wickets gone but a ball like that deserves a wicket.

Cracking delivery by Watson

He loves bowling at Lords.

Oh dear - not the start we needed.

Lot of pressure on Root and Trott to put on a good score. Trott can undoubtedly handle it, but what about young Joe?

Wonder if Watson should be re-classified as an all-rounder?

That was an interesting change from Michael Clarke. Pattinson wasn't getting his line right in that 2 over spell and Cook was finding it rather easy to deal with him, brought Watson on, and the goldan arm struck 2nd ball. And a good decision from umpire Erasmus.

My opinion of Watson as an all-rounder has grown in the last two weeks. I always thought Kallis comparisons were a little kind to him, but he has certainly proved himself one of the leading cricketers in world cricket.

Who is that England number 3 striking 4 hundred a ball????

Watson just took a wicket but looks annoyed a himself for those couple of boundaries. Shows what a serious competitor he is.

And another!. Harris this time. Or is it? Root's reviewing the LBW call.

Oh England are in desperate trouble already

Root doesn't look comfortable. I really wish they would leave him at 6 and let him come in lower down and play his shots,

Off to the Open 

that is 100% in!!

massive knick- impossible to give him out

Inside edge it looks like, but was it pad first? Glenn McGrath thinks its pad first. The third umpire under pressure right away!.

doesn't look out from here close though but id expect it won't be overturned.

Bs Pad first- Batter has to have benefit of the doubt.

This is a joke.. Impossible to tell what was first

Nah third umpire says pad first,

Out.

And roakey.  I think you need to bring that prediction down a tad lol.

Big cheers from the crowd. Must be lots of Aussies here today.

HM will no be amused.

Looking back at eng first innings again Aussie here. I reckon they could get about 180-200 here.

Pad first from the side on hotspot.

Yes, Australia gets another. Poor start for England here. Time for KP to show his genius.

Uh-oh...alarm bells ringing already as Root follows his skipper in quick succession, lbw to Harris for just 6.

I think England are going to be in desperate need of 12th man trebell today.

Out. No clear evidence to overturn. Good decision by Dharmasena.

The thrid umpire is blind- He just couldnt tell and agreed with onfield!!

Can England's South African contingent get them out of trouble? We can only hope...

liverbnz wrote:Out. No clear evidence to overturn. Good decision by Dharmasena.

 what a load of rubbish - The point is there was no evidence he was out!

dyrewolfe wrote:Uh-oh...alarm bells ringing already as Root follows his skipper in quick succession, lbw to Harris for just 6.

I think England are going to be in desperate need of 12th man trebell today.

Not from me.

I have been banned from that crap.

If England are doing it they do it without andy silly hoodoos from me.

I hope to see a prop long test match so hope England's can settle and at least get a couple of hundred. I don't want a three day thrashing.

And there goes Pietersen.......

Ryan Harris you little beauty!!

Well done Capt Cook, field 1st ffs!

What a joke!

Oh dear. Harris on form here. KP gone.

mystiroakey wrote:The thrid umpire is blind- He just couldnt tell and agreed with onfield!!

Commentary team reckon it was pad first by a gnat's whisker...just enough to go with the bowler, sadly.

Oh FFS! KP gone for 2 and England are 28-3.

This is a joke! I'm off to do something worthwhile.

Goodness, Kevin Pietersen's gone. They are checking for the no-ball, but no luck for KP. Terrible.

That was actually a really good advertisement for drs.

Root couldn't be quite sure which it hit first - hence his hesitation before calling the review - but fair enough to check ...and the technology gets the correct result.

Everyone happy  

Oh it's a bona fide collapse from England. KP, as can happen, gets out before he settles.

Aussie always have had the mental edge over England at lords and they are playing like men possessed.

You'd have to already say that outs Aussie well in control of this one. 100 looks a struggle from here.

Brilliant start, I applaud them.

mystiroakey wrote:

liverbnz wrote:Out. No clear evidence to overturn. Good decision by Dharmasena.

 what a load of rubbish - The point is there was no evidence he was out!

Cut the rubbish accusation out. The umpire give him out.

3 wkts in 10 balls

oh dear!

Looked pad first on the off-side side view from hotspot. A bit similar to the Gayle LBW to Swann in an ODI a bit ago. 3 failures now for Root as an opener; if he fails again in the next innings what do you do?

An interesting question is whether that is reversed if it's the other way around? i.e. we suspect it is pad first but would that be enough?

Pietersen out caught behind to Harris. So much for it being good to bat.

There's a bit of pace and bounce in this wicket, and that will suit Australia, but also would have suited Finn. I wonder if England will regret that...

dyrewolfe wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:The thrid umpire is blind- He just couldnt tell and agreed with onfield!!

Commentary team reckon it was pad first by a gnat's whisker...just enough to go with the bowler, sadly.

Oh FFS! KP gone for a duck and England are 26-3.

This is a joke! I'm off to do something worthwhile.

 Not being funny mate- but I 100% now i have much better eyes than the commentary team.. What did you think!

Come on are you sure what was first?

Wolfe the golf is on by the way!

Scrumpy wrote:Well done Capt Cook, field 1st ffs!

What a joke!

To be fair the conditions looked perfect,

If his team can never settle and bat properly first up the its not something they will fix by never doing it.

They have to get out there and fix it the hard way with good old fashioned hard work.

If they cannot and they lose to Aussie then congrats Aussie and thank you for showing England where they need to improve.

Stil, no reason to give up hope yet,

Early days. They are probably just a bit overwhelmed being watched by her Maj.

These two could settle into a big partnership here.

Dreadful start for England ! And rather out of the blue...Cook in particular had started very brightly and I was just thinking " what a good toss to win" when all hell broke loose...

Three down on a blameless pitch under clear skies...if Australia don't win from here they will never win one.

Note : not an attempt to replace Trebell . Just an observation that teams that take 3/24 on good pitches at the start of a Test match generally go on to win.

Generally. Not a guarantee of course. But they could only have dreamed of this start.

Ooh troubled running. Last thing England need is a run out at this stage.

Call up Compton.

mystiroakey wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:The thrid umpire is blind- He just couldnt tell and agreed with onfield!!

Commentary team reckon it was pad first by a gnat's whisker...just enough to go with the bowler, sadly.

Oh FFS! KP gone for a duck and England are 26-3.

This is a joke! I'm off to do something worthwhile.

 Not being funny mate- but I 100% now i have much better eyes than the commentary team.. What did you think!

Come on are you sure what was first?

Wolfe the golf is on by the way!

Personally I couldn't call it, but am happy to rely on the opinions of those with more experience. If the commentators agree with the umpires then I'll go with the majority.

If it was that close he probably deserved to be out anyway. Very poor batting from England so far...though credit to the Aussies for getting on target so quickly.

Not a golf fan tbh...think I'll get some guitar practise in.

Trott and bell- This is where they shine. So yep we could swing this back in our favour

I don't think you could overturn the umpire.

It was too doubtful , so it was out.

Mike Selig wrote:
An interesting question is whether that is reversed if it's the other way around? i.e. we suspect it is pad first but would that be enough?

I suspect they would have overturned the umps decision - wrongly IMO.