* * * The Ashes - Official Thread * * *

[Simster]

No evidence that Katich or Watson WERE thrown.

Personally, I would have declared and backed the bowlers who skittled out the Aussies for 250-odd in the first innings. I acknowledge that it is a tight call, but look at the odds - England and the draw are both 10/11, while the Aussies are 250-1. That means the bookies think we've got less than 50% chance of winning which, given the position we were in yesterday, is a little disappointing.

Easy to say in hindsight though. The fact is that it was a batsman's wicket early on, and ours filled their boots this morning.

With only 2/3 recognised batsmen, and an in-form Jimmy Anderson running in on a cloudy day and Swann twirling away on that wicket, I still think we ought to win this if we're given anything more than 50 overs tomorrow.

 

[sten_super]

No evidence that Katich or Watson WERE thrown.

No indeed. Nor any evidence that an extra hour at them in good batting conditions this morning would not have just meant they knocked off another 70 runs for no extra loss, we're both working on conjecture. For me it was a decent gamble.

Personally, I would have declared and backed the bowlers who skittled out the Aussies for 250-odd in the first innings. I acknowledge that it is a tight call, but look at the odds - England and the draw are both 10/11, while the Aussies are 250-1. That means the bookies think we've got less than 50% chance of winning which, given the position we were in yesterday, is a little disappointing.

I take your point, but I think we have to factor in that while this wicket is more conducive to spin than Brisbane, it is still a pretty decent batting wicket. England were similarly skittled for 260 in the first Test and ended up in such a dominant position that they were able to have a shot at the Aussies for the last hour of the last day, and England took a lot more from that game than the Aussies. They have now been completely ground out of this game, and if the weather intervenes tomorrow and they don't lose they will know that it is solely down to good fortune, rather than the kind of battling display that England put in at Brisbane. IMO it ensures that the momentum remains Englands.

 

[SirElliotBennett]

Confident if we remove Hussey early

same. I also said that in the first innings.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Easy to say in hindsight though.

I said it are the end of Day 3. There were 2 days to play of which you expect to lose 1 due to bad weather. You're 300 runs up and the wicket's better for the bowlers than the featherbed on Day 1. Given there's going to be bad weather the Aussies are effectively out of the game already.

The only reason for not putting them in straight away is if Strauss thinks we didn't have enough runs, but we already had a 300 run lead and the batsmen are in the form of their lives so knocking off 125-150 wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Simster]

The only reason for not putting them in straight away is if Strauss thinks we didn't have enough runs, but we already had a 300 run lead and the batsmen are in the form of their lives so knocking off 125-150 wouldn't be a problem.

But that isn't the only reason for putting them straight in.

Other possible reasons are to wrong foot the oppostion or to score big while the pitch was really flat. Lets not forget that the Aussie openers promptly put on 84 when they did come out, and were very untroubled in doing so. If they'd gone straight in this morning, that might have been a 150 stand instead.

 

[keaton]

The thing I love about the England cricket team is no matter what's happening people will still get angry and criticise

 

[highway61]

whatever the outcome I think i would go with the way Strauss went about the declaration. Though at the time i was hoping it may be an earlier one i always had in mind that although a possible 100-150 target for us was gettable the more important issue was the amount of time taken out of the game to a) amass the lead and b) chase it down.am sure that if it had happened that way it would have taken far longer than the extra overs we batted on, timewise

 

[keaton]

Does tonight's play start at 11:30 again to make up for lost time?

 

[CHAPPERS]

I would think they will start early again.

Sounds like the ball should swing....

Tuesday Rain periods, easing to a shower or two early morning, before increasing to showers and a thunderstorm during the afternoon. Warm to hot with light to moderate NE/N winds and a light to moderate SW afternoon sea breeze.

 

[simmo]

Yes, to an early start at 11.30 tonight.

 

[Peter Grummit]

10 am start (1130 our time) again. Forecast iffy. its in the balance!

i would keep going with Swanny and Pietersen spinning the old ball. Then if we need a breakthrough we can callup Jimmy and the new cherry.

PG

 

[CHAPPERS]

New ball due next over?

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Both the England win and the Draw can be had at Evens

 

[BensGrandad]

If we can remove Hussey and/or Haddin before lunch we must be on course for a win because cant see the other end holding up to support either of those two until the end .

 

[Perry Milkins]

Why do you say that?

 

[BensGrandad]

Because once they go the rest will follow very quickly and if one goes the rest are not very good batsmen so we will obviously put our effort into removing the support batsmen.

 

[PHCgull]

very impressed with the bounce KP achieved in the 8 balls he bowled. I really hope Strauss keeps going with him and swan for a good hour before thinking about taking the new nut...

 

[CHAPPERS]

If the ball is likely to swing we've got to take the new cherry as soon as it's available, haven't we?

 

[Bozza]

I fear I peaked too soon doing an all-nighter last night - I should have saved it for tonight.

There's no way I'll manage to make it through tonight and tomorrow before sleeping again. I suppose one option is to go to bed quite soon and get up at 1 or 2, but there's a risk of having missed all the fun by then.

 

[PHCgull]

and the other fear is that you get up at 3am and its either a) raining or b) all over ....