5th Test - Oval, Weds 21st August

First topic message reminder :

With England having won the series, I wonder what changes we will see to the teams.

England
The batting, barring Ian Bell, is misfiring. Too many times batsmen are getting in, but getting out for cameo scores. Prior is struggling a little with bat and gloves, but as the new boy and without a big innings, Jonny Bairstow is most at risk.
The wickets have been shared amongst the bowlers. Onions was unlucky to miss out at Chester-le-Street, but having now broken a finger is ruled out for two weeks. Monty's well publicised indiscretion will not endear him to the management and Steven Finn will probably be left to regain form and confidence with Middlesex. On his own ground, Chris Tremlett may get a run out, especially if they feel that Anderson or Broad need a rest.

all in all I suspect that changes are unlikely.


Australia
The good news is that they may have found an opening pair. The bad news is that the middle order is desperately fragile unless skipper Clarke scores runs. Khawaja and Smith are both batting at least two positions too high and unless he is able to bowl, Shane Watson looks a waste of a spot. Possible chances of recalls for Hughes or Cowan at 3 - and consideration has to be given to Faulkner lower down as an all-rounder.
Bowling has stood up well, but in another horses for course selection we may well see Starc replace Bird. Australia will be desperate for Harris to stay fit.




England have not played very well so far, especially the batters, yet are 3-0 up. Australia have shown they can compete but seem unable to win, even against a faltering team. If England can actually play well we could see a real thumping, but the money men at Ca will hope their team can sneak a win to create interest for the return series.

So 80-20 for an Aussie win now?

If they set England a total with 40 overs I am not certain our batsmen will survive. They are in such poor form,

Watson opening with Warner. So I guess they are going to have a bit of a go.

What happens when they lose a couple of wickets will be the test...

trebellbobaggins wrote:So 80-20 for an Aussie win now?

If they set England a total with 40 overs I am not certain our batsmen will survive.  They are in such poor form,

Now that is pure "old Trebell "  

Classic .

dot dot dot dot dot.

test cricket's dead , even the most exciting team in the world cant do it:)

They are bloody rubbish with the bat though Alfie.

Shown up on a ground where even the lbw kid and funny face hit tons.

Did anyone believe Trebbs was going to change in the long run.. He only lasted 2 weeks max  

mystiroakey wrote:Did anyone believe Trebbs was going to change in the long run.. He only lasted 2 weeks max  

Would be easier if eng didn't choose this summer to return to being pants though.

 

luv you trebello

 

Oh god tms are getting on my nerves. They are gagging all over Aussie now.

They hate their own country. Bunch of nobs.

Dot dot dot dot dot dot.

RR 2 an over

 

dot dot dot dot dot dot

RR . 1.33 an over

 

Shane warne tweeting that if it came down to captains Aussie would be 5-0 in this.

Whatever Shane.

a captain that hasn't lost in 12 compared to a captain that hasn't won in 8




but no actually a captain's job is actually to be an x factor contestant where we judge them , so cook is 5 losses compared to Clarkes 5 wins..

yep . thats it..

trebellbobaggins wrote:

alfie wrote:The thing is , even if they gave England fifty overs to bat , taking ten wickets would be rather unlikely , on what appears to be still a good batting surface.

I think all these "boring England" quotes from the Aussie players are largely journo driven.  With a bit of stirring thrown in  

We'll see soon enough...all out 115 behind.  Rather lucky four wickets for Faulkner and a breezy 34 for Swann.

Unusual scorecard - 377 with a top score of 68

Unusual.

FLat out poor on this track.

I'm very disappointed in how poor England have become with the bat.

Not one player converting a start.  An absolute shambles giving Aussie a good lead on a good track.

Not Good enough at all.

Exactly. I think a problem is some of them are a victim of a more aggressive style. With our bowlers doing well they been liberated to develop an attacking approach, particularly players like Prior. When they then need to try and drop anchor it's so unnatural they get out cheaply by getting easily frustrated. Just a thought, could be way off.

That's it MR.

It is all about the hair. It's why they have lots of nice blond strugglers.

I can't get enough of this - RR just over 1 so far. Its enthralling.. Oh did watson try and score- straight to a fielder

but dropped

Blimey !

Stuart Broad owes Jimmy a beer or seven...very bad drop ...

*Begin Sarcasm*

This series has completely opened my eyes to how little I know about cricket.

I thought, that because England were 3-0 winners in this series, they would have the momentum down under. Clearly, I was wrong, as the BBC and some Aussie pundits reckon Australia have the momentum.

I also thought Cook was the better captain, but clearly Shane Warne knows more than I do, and Clarke is actually the better captain.

*End Sarcasm*

I am not watching it.

Is broad messing up like the rest of them now?

he dropped an easy catch. 29 out of 30 times he would have caught it.

Doh.

Tms finally happy as Aussie cream England there.

So when will they declare and how many will eng need?

If its 240 or less the twenty overs should be enough,

I like the way our top order have baited em by pretending to be out of form. Just wait!

Jimmy must be cursing Broad as Watson plants him into the stands...

The intent is there for Watson ...England have bowled pretty well so far , but this over is proving costly. Even the edges going for runs...

Even the lbw kid is in the runs,

Eng might only need 15 overs to win this.

But yes it seems broad has betrayed Anderson there.

Time for him to go in the stocks i think.

Lots of good overs ruined now by some terrible stuff.

Clarke v Cook.

Perhaps Shane means at Single wicket ? Maybe then , because Cook can't bowl...

Some of those BBC "pundits" do seem to be taking the honour your guests thing a bit far...Australia have competed gamely , but 3-0 ought to mean something !

Must be said the match is ending with massive momentum for Aussie.

And it'll mean nothing when they start afresh this winter.

That is a truly brilliant caught and bowled from Jimmy Anderson   

Warner on his way...

Warne grumbling about Cook having a few fielders set back...

What the devil else should he do with Watson swinging at everything?

For a player with his immense cricket knowledge Warne says some daft things...

Funny how Aggers isn't grumpy about Aussie failing to declare now.

He ought to have a chat to his old friend Ian Consistent.

Watson holes out off Swann...

It occurs to me that this is all good practice for the ODIs...

But what rubbish Holding is talking : suggesting the umpires should apply one day rules to "wide" calls because Australia are trying to hurry  

Next he'll want instant field restrictions...

The comment from someone called Ann kittenplan on the tms feed is so funny.

Something about how Aussie are establishing their metal dominance over England. It's a load of nonsense but its funny.

Ok another wicket- which off course is immaterial in the situation anyway.

they have crept up to almost 4 an over i see. still not exactly pushing are they..

When you make a decision to play one way- You play one way.England made that decision day 3- got abuse from trolls and unknowledgeable fans so maybe thats what switched the game plan .

If they want the win they need to just smash.. not this half baked slow odi style..

Classic aus- always do it wrong and not committing .They can not play effectively one way or another. There declarations in hindsight have either been too early or too late throughout this series.

Start of the collapse for Oz. Bowl them out for around 100, give ourselves around 40-45 overs to smack 210-220, 4-0, easy.   

Missed stumping ! Tough for Prior...kept very low.

Faulkner's lucky day continuing...

And sadly priors poor series.

Could he be dropped?

In fairness , roakey , I think they are trying. Just finding it not so easy against fresh bowlers.

Haddin in at four , so they are still pushing - Clarke and Rogers held back in case of a collapse I guess.

Duck for Haddin.

Broad into the action..

Is the positive stuff aggers loves them for so ball achingly much?

so they don;t have the ability to push for a result then, yet attack an england side that actually showed they had the ability to carry out a game plan?

trebellbobaggins wrote:And sadly priors poor series.

Could he be dropped?

No seriously , trebs...was a very tough one. You don't shoot a keeper for those.

Anyway Prior was back in runs today. He'll be fine in Aus.

A fair enough Alfie.

That's the problem following text, you can't know how easy the chance was.

mystiroakey wrote:so they don;t have the ability to push for a result then, yet attack an england side that actually showed they had the ability to carry out a game plan?

Althought I think england made the mistake of listening to the press and trying to entertain today. I suspect Aussie helped stir up that call for such nonsense.

No doubt playing into Aussie hands. Could have had a ton more playing more sensibly.

mystiroakey wrote:so they don;t have the ability to push for a result then, yet attack an england side that actually showed they had the ability to carry out a game plan?

  Good point.

However as I said earlier , I don't think that stuff really came from the players. The Aussie journos put words in their mouths quite well...the players are bit more realistic about cricket , I think.

Of course no English newspapers would ever do that sort of thing , would they  

Yes maybe your right trebs maybe it was a troll attempt at england that actually worked..

Fact is we knew our own and the pitch imitations.. and respected Aus so we shut up shop. WE couldn't push for a result in the context of the game- we would have fallen foul like the aussies are now..

Whatever , it is all giving the paying punters some fun stuff to watch .

Six for Faulkner ! Broad won't like that .

This Faulkner is having a debut tha rather shows up our two.

...but he likes that !

Great catch by Matt Prior sees the end of Faulkner  

great jinx trebbs..

englands 12th man is back in action..

BTW let them have as many bit and piece players as they want to. These players will never be greats that can win games on there own, like the broads, jimmys, swanns, kp's or cooks..

Ah good, I'm back in the wickets.

Well Clarke can't fail anyway,

This Aussie team has such a strong spine running through it they won't all collapse for bugger all now.

trebellbobaggins wrote:This Faulkner is having a debut tha rather shows up our two.

I am not very impressed. He had a lot of luck today , with bat and ball. Looks more like a good ODI player , but not really a Test bowler.