2nd Test: Australia v England at Adelaide

[vegster]

They were 150-1 and absolutely flying, the Ashes practically won within the first 2 sessions of the 2nd test. It was a mini collapse on this pitch to then be 174-4. Had Monty held his caught and bowled chance, then the Carberry the easiest chance of the day with Clarke on 43, I might have called it England's day.

The way England are batting though, I'd say 273-5 is well and truly Australia in pole position. Unless we get Clarke and Haddin early, this match, and probably the Ashes are gone. Seems a knee jerk reaction, but we are being gifted opportunities and not taking them.

I fully expect a Clarke century tomorrow, a decent 70+ from Haddin, 40 from Johnson, a wag from their tail, 500 on the board with an hour left of play, England 10-3 at the close.

Prescient. I take no pride in saluting your forward thinking but the wheels came off in the first Test and they are unlikely to be fixed for some time. I can't see me having too many late nights or early mornings this winter after this.

 

[Mackenzie]

England

 

[Bold Seagull]

Prescient. I take no pride in saluting your forward thinking but the wheels came off in the first Test and they are unlikely to be fixed for some time. I can't see me having too many late nights or early mornings this winter after this.

I think the wheels were partially off in the summer, kept on just by a bit of blutak. Not only have our batsman been infected, but so have our bowlers now. Swann now looks like the bowler everyone wants to face, our entire team in complete tatters. We talked ourselves up so high that the fall is all the heavier.

 

[OzMike]

The replay at the end showed that if Clarke had called for a referral, then Carberry would have been out lbw, lucky he didn't.
There is no doubt that an Australian win would be good for cricket, as 4 wins in a row would be excellent for England, but would make supporters lose interest.
That said, I hope we start getting it together soon.
Trott's exit hasn't helped the team, but that looked to be unavoidable and I wish him well.
We have several new or relatively unused players in the team now, who have not yet had enough time to gel.
Root showed how to defend and got his body behind the ball, none of this from Cook, he just looked airy fairy.
Looked like he didn't want to be there to be honest.
Let's hope for a few big or sizable innings from the team, as we know some members are capable of causing damage.
The commentators on the radio here say that days 2 and 3 are the best for batting on this pitch, so let's hope we make the most of day 3.
The headphones will be glued on tomorrow.

 

[colonies man]

FFS it looks like Cook has forgotten how to play, all he had to do was to defend for the last over of the day, he made a poor 3 but looked like he was going to be out a lot earlier.
What the hell is he thinking, it's not 20/20
I will be at the WACA next Sat and Sun, let's hope we are not playing to stay in the series.
It looks like Johnson is going to bounce all this innings again, regardless of the rules, weak umpiring, not sour grapes.

At the waca for day 4 begining to feel very gloomy

 

[Bold Seagull]

There is no doubt that an Australian win would be good for cricket, as 4 wins in a row would be excellent for England, but would make supporters lose interest.

You have got to be kidding me!!?? Do you mean England supporters? You can't possibly mean that can you?

Did you miss them winning 8 in a row or something? Did the Australians lose interest in winning? Like balls they didn't, they lapped up every whitewash and huge victory.

Supporters losing interest because of winning too much, I've heard it all now. I hope I've misread your post!

 

[colonies man]

Yeah lived in Oz for 24 years they never lose interest in winning especially v England.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Yeah lived in Oz for 24 years they never lose interest in winning especially v England.

I wouldn't lose interest in winning all the time either!!! Our little spell of dominance has been all too short for me. I've been taken in by the hype regarding Cook's batting, Prior, Bell's form, Swann and Jimmy's bowling. We've talked them up like we do Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney etc. Like we have the best opener, best seam bowler, best spinner, best keeper....we've talked it up but their collective fall from grace has been rapid and humiliatingly exposed. We don't even look ordinary at the moment, we look just rank poor. Even the Aussies at their low ebb had fight in their belly's, despite losing they snarled and battled. We're laying on our backs having our tummies tickled.

Unless someone does something special, this is going to be even more humiliating than the 2006 whitewash.

 

[big nuts]

Worrying that Cook, Anderson, Prior & Swann 4 players that have been pivotal to England's success over the past five years look completely bereft of form or more worrying in Anderson's and Swann's case slightly past their best.

Stokes was a big positive with the ball, if his batting can match that we have a very promising all-rounder.

 

[colonies man]

I wouldn't lose interest in winning all the time either!!! Our little spell of dominance has been all too short for me. I've been taken in by the hype regarding Cook's batting, Prior, Bell's form, Swann and Jimmy's bowling. We've talked them up like we do Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney etc. Like we have the best opener, best seam bowler, best spinner, best keeper....we've talked it up but their collective fall from grace has been rapid and humiliatingly exposed. We don't even look ordinary at the moment, we look just rank poor. Even the Aussies at their low ebb had fight in their belly's, despite losing they snarled and battled. We're laying on our backs having our tummies tickled.

Unless someone does something special, this is going to be even more humiliating than the 2006 whitewash.

Bold Seagull you are so right,We were never as good as we thought and sadly some of our stars are looking very ordinary right now.Still think a lot of the problem is the county cricket which to me always appears weaker than the Sheffield Shield comp.Not looking forward to day 4 at the waca as I fear being a pom may be hard.

 

[Badger]

It's a good job those dropped catches haven't costed us

 

[pasty]

Not looking forward to day 4 at the waca as I fear being a pom may be hard.

The way this series is panning out, there may not be a day 4 at the waca!

 

[vegster]

Worrying that Cook, Anderson, Prior & Swann 4 players that have been pivotal to England's success over the past five years look completely bereft of form or more worrying in Anderson's and Swann's case slightly past their best.

Stokes was a big positive with the ball, if his batting can match that we have a very promising all-rounder.

Anderson and Swann can still bounce back to a degree on a favourable pitch, but, we are not going to get one prepared by Australians.
All the time Johnson is firing we will see fast bouncy wickets and plenty of chin music.
Amazing how fast we have collapsed in to be bewildered chumps and I'm afraid the arrival of Stokes and Carberry may only slow the decline rather than change anything for the better, we are bereft with the ball and have no answer for the pace and the angles of attack they are using against our batsmen.

 

[Bold Seagull]

We should have an alarm clock sweep stake on what time we think England's first innings will be over tonight. Post on here what the score is when you wake up.

I'm going for 03.45.

 

[colonies man]

The way this series is panning out, there may not be a day 4 at the waca!

Yes but if things go really bad I dont want to be anywhere near the waca because the aussies will celebrate long and hard at our expense.

 

[pasty]

We should have an alarm clock sweep stake on what time we think England's first innings will be over tonight. Post on here what the score is when you wake up.

I'm going for 03.45.

I'm going to be exceptionally optimistic and state England will bat all day tomorrow. 286/7 at stumps

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm going to be exceptionally optimistic and state England will bat all day tomorrow. 286/7 at stumps

As long as we don't have anymore shots like this....

 

[Mo Gosfield]

These England players have been some of the luckiest in our history. They have grown up in an era when the standard of Test Cricket is as poor as its ever been. The last 5-6 years has seen a dearth of decent Test bowlers and batsmen have gorged themselves on moderate bowling. Some bowlers have earned exaggerated reputations with cheap wickets.
Cook, Strauss, KP and Bell have racked up a high number of Test centuries but there is no way that any of them would have reached 12 centuries had they been playing in the 80's and 90's. If you compare Gooch, Broad, Gower, Gatting, Lamb, Botham as a line-up v current it is laughably stronger but the former were constantly facing higher class bowling.
The current England side are overrated. Cook has technical issues and under pressure, is now crumbling. Carberry is just a solid County Player and Trott is nervous of quick bowling. KP is a head-case. Hugely talented and with an amazing eye, he just keeps chucking it away in the 20's and 30's. He should be averaging well over 60 in Tests against the poor bowling around. Bell is solid and will grind it out and Root is showing promise. Time will tell whether he really makes it. Prior is like Trott. He doesn't like it up him and will give it away rather than grind it out. As for the bowlers they are all ok without being outstanding. None of them can put a side under sustained pressure and regularly allow sides to recover from early losses.
Flattered in the summer, they are now being found out.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

As long as we don't have anymore shots like this....View attachment 49330

Half-cock, nervous....and this is the captain!

 

[Triggaaar]

Hope the batsmen can show some fight tonight and not collapse but I'm not hopeful...

Make your mind up.