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.

aha England deciding to emulate the aussie batting performance.

a few more of these and we have got a serious game on.

what a crazy game.

Even if we lost the last 8 wickets for no runs, we would still win.

you know what?  we could be calling this aussies day before long

 
yeah, believe these two will settle down now.

England like a little wobble in the 20's.

Our batsmen can't go to the crease thinking this is all over. If we collapse like we have done in the past for sub 100 the Aussies are still in this which would be unforgivable. Just want Root and KP to steady the ship then we can turn the screw tomorrow

15 wickets on this pitch today is a joke

Even now Aus are looking at around 260.

Which frankly should be easy, except their batters are Poopie

And KP fails yet again..quell surprise...another poor shot.  

England now 30-3 and in danger of letting Australia back into the game.

Just when you thought it was safe to believe...

Oh, good God! How is this happening on this pitch?

We're doing our upmost to throw this away!

Tim Bresnan began the day batting, and he's going to end the day batting, having taken 2 wickets in the middle. #reliabletim

Is there any reason why we batted.. daft sods!!!

Looks like we are relying on the 4 killer bees once again today

mystiroakey wrote:Is there any reason why we batted.. daft sods!!!

It was, and remains the right decision to bat. England just need 1 partnership really.

Bresnan in as night watchman instead of Anderson this time.

Batting was probably the right thing to do, to put Australia under serious pressure for 2 days and the pitch today was a battery's pitch but then we did it awfully, again, playing ourselves out and making the Aussie bowlers look better than they will ever be

There is never ever a time i wouldnt enforce a follow on gsc.

Quick note - Siddle 3 wickets for 4 runs.

Not the best advert for Test cricket I have to say.

mystiroakey wrote:Is there any reason why we batted.. daft sods!!!

Cook was done by a pretty good ball but Trott and KP more or less gave their wickets away. The Aussies haven't suddenly become unplayable.

As i said i would allways enforcre

This is the bowlers era! Makes a nice change from the 2000-10 era where teams called a state of emergency had 500 not been breached

Its day 2, lead of 200, 2nd of back to back tests played almost entirely under the sun and its batting conditions. You bat the other team out of the game and let your bowlers put their feet up.

Now England have batted poorly but the decision was correct.

One more wicket. then its 90-10 England, as it is, its 98-2 England

I can't say the state of Test cricket is too good at the moment. There's one great team (South Africa), one very good team (England), 3 inconsistent average teams (India, Australia, Pakistan), 3 not very good teams (Sri Lanka, West Indies, New Zealand), and 1 awful team (Bangladesh).

Just another 15 minutes or so to hang on and then both sides can rest and regroup. Hopefully England will work on their batting plans and play like they did first innings tomorrow.

We only need 150-200 before declaring. Even now it should be pretty difficult to completely implode.

Really England need 1 or two partnerships of substance to take the game away from Australia.

Ten years ago, there was one great team (Aus)
One semi good team (South Africa)
Three "kinda good at home" teams (England, Ind, Pak)
One If "Murali isnt injured" team (SL)
One "Punch above their weight" team (NZ)
One Brian Lara team
and Bangla & Zi


I think you have to go far in cricket annals for a team when there was more than one great team... Even then it would probably be because there were only two teams

In truth, this has been horrific batting by both sides on a plum pitch.

Still, England will go 2-0 up barring some freak weather, so I can't complain too much!

Should Aus have looked into players like David Hussey and Adam Voges?

I think following the Aussie team that dominated cricket was always a tough comparison.

Hopefully Joe will remain Root-ed to the crease and anchor the England innings.

...I'll get me coat...

Was really hoping to see KP take it to the Aussie attack this summer, looking less likely. Stupid way to get yourself out

Duty281 wrote:In truth, this has been horrific batting by both sides on a plum pitch.

Still, England will go 2-0 up barring some freak weather, so I can't complain too much!

It is amazing the way wickets have gone down. While quite a few batsmen on both sides have been guilty of gifting their wickets, there has been some quality bowling from both sides as well...probably underestimating just how good (and fielding).

KP was always a risk with virtually no cricket under his belt. Aussies have shown a couple of big scores in county cricket doesnt translate to test runs

Anyway 31-3, lead of 264. 400 should easily be enough

mystiroakey wrote:There is never ever a time i wouldnt enforce a follow on gsc.

What about the match where Flintoff sent SL back in and effectively ended his own career by in the end bowling for 3 days flat?

Always do what the opposition least want. I doubt the Aussie bowlers wanted to go back out so soon.

Well, that's yer lot for today. Another frantic day's play in which England first batted then bowled themselves into the ascendancy...only to leave everyone's nerves jangling a little by close of play.

Should be another good one tomorrow...

Well, who at the start of the day saw Bresnan coming out to face the first ball, thought he would face the last ball too?

Plus whats more likely.

Australia chase 400+ batting last or England fail to make 150 batting last?

Could have done without losing three wickets before the end, but emphatically England's day. A couple of 50 partnership's and England will be 400+ ahead. Hopefully they can go even further.

I think everyone is assuming its easy out there to bat. Simply put. IT probally isnt dudes

mystiroakey wrote:There is never ever a time i wouldnt enforce a follow on gsc.

Then again last match you claimed you'd always walk Mysti but earlier on this thread you were suggesting that "you'd have to be a mug" not to use up all of your reviews after Broad reviewed a clear edge so just maybe we should take your hyperbole with a pinch of salt eh mate?

I agree on this occasion not to enforce because of the match situation and because in this heat there's an even greater need to protect the bowlers from exhaustion and potential injury.

England have time. Why not use the best batting conditions and take the loss out the game, leaving yourself 2 days to seal a win?

Enforcing the follow on gives Aus more of a chance

Only if England are 50/9, would I put money on anything other than a England win

GSC wrote:Plus whats more likely.

Australia chase 400+ batting last or England fail to make 150 batting last?

key problem above is that either way aus need to score 400.. factor that in first..

shame to see KP flop again here.

Lets hope he can get it together.

still think England can rebuild.

Watson 50, Clarke big score + contributions. Unlikely but not impossible

Broad has Clarke's number

Ive seen too many teams rocked for 50 recently to put Oz's guarantee England are gonna get 400... But even 31 All out is a chase of 265... No way are Aus winning this.

mystiroakey wrote:

GSC wrote:Plus whats more likely.

Australia chase 400+ batting last or England fail to make 150 batting last?

key problem above is that either way aus need to score 400.. factor that in first..

Why the hell would you want to risk the bowlers getting damaged. As it is the injury prone Aussie bowlers have had minimal rest. At least one of them will pull up lame.