3rd Test Thread.

mike65

So no sooner has the dust started to settle from the knife edge of Edgbaston
than its all off to Old Trafford (that caused some confusion when I was young!)

England have stuck with the same 11 + 12th man while Austrialia will be looking to bring in a new fast bowler with the news that Brett Lee has infection in a knee. McGrath is out also.

Mike.

arbeitsscheuer

Fantastic news, England haven't had much luck in Ashes series prior to this one - it seems that the Gods of Fate are most decidedly favouring us Poms!

But even with those 2 (crucial) players out, England need "big performances", as Vaughny would say.

Fingers crossed.

Harry2001

Australia have called up New South Wales fast bowler Stuart Clark into their Ashes squad as cover.

Clark called up

It's weird alright to see the Aussies dropping and England not having any worries apart from Vaughan last week, long may it last

Harry2001

Has anyone changed their overall ashes predictions after the first two tests?

I said 3-1 at the start and still think Australia will have too much overall, maybe 3-2 Aussies now

RuggieBear

i still reckon 2-1 to the aussies....:(

arbeitsscheuer

I said 2-2 at the beginning and I'm gonna stick with that.
I also always maintained that England would win at the Oval, so I guess that means they're gonna either lose at Old Trafford or Trent Bridge.

But I have hope. This is our best shot for as long as I've been watchin Cricket.

mike65

Dang!

Mike.

RuggieBear

was listening to 5live earlier and their reporter was watching McGrath and Lee do their fitness tests. He reckoned that McGrath looked fit enough to field but wasn't sure if the anklw would be capable of taking the strain of bowling.

county

the groundsmen i see say the pitch will not favour shane warne,but i would`nt read to much into that,the man is a class act and i`ve a gut feeling he could have a big game,hopefully i am wrong though

RuggieBear

warne can spin the ball on anything...the bastid

the groundsman also said he'd bat first on this pitch

Harry2001

McGrath plays, torn ligaments? yeah right!

England won toss and are batting

county

93 for 1 at lunch, good start,a few runs to be had on this wicket

Harry2001

Vaughan dropped by Gilchrist and then bowled off a no ball next delivery :eek:
McGrath not happy

RuggieBear

Harry2001 wrote:

Vaughan dropped by Gilchrist and then bowled off a no ball next delivery :eek:
McGrath not happy

priceless.... gilchrist has dropped two relatively simple catches...and i thought Jones was having a mare this series.

Brian017

Tea: England 195-2

kensutz

Vaughan out 290-3 caught by that cnut McGrath. Made a good 166.

mike65

Is Bell on a Work to Rule? He went about 45 mins without a run still if he says in long enough he'll get his 50! Great to see Vaughan shut the critics up.

Mike.

RuggieBear

sometimes pieterson is such a muppet...there was no need to be hooking in that light.

Royale with Cheese

If Bell and Flintoff can put a decent enough partnership together then England should make 500... meaning the most the Australians can really hope for is a draw unless England have a really pathetic second innings. For some reason I can see Flintoff giving his wicket away tomorrow doing something stupid.

arbeitsscheuer

We won't make 500, the tail doesn't wag that much.

I said when Tresco and Vaughn both got 'in', that I'd be happy with 450, and I reckon that's a realistic total. Bell could easily make a century.(I admit I doubted him like the typical naysayer I am, and yet again I am pleased to be proved wrong by an England hopeful) Although it'll probably take him about 3 hours to score the 40 runs he needs!

All in all, a pretty good day. (Altho I woulda thought Simon Jones would've been a better nightwatchman tbh)

cgf

Yaaaayyyyy

Off to Manchester tom morning on the red-eye for 2 days of the test.

mike65

Whats the point of a nightwatchman? I know (I think) why its done ie don't get a middle order batsman out last thing, but why should it happen? If the batsman is say Freddie then he can look after his wicket for a few late overs and if he can't he should'nt be there!

Mike.

Harry2001

mike65 wrote:

Whats the point of a nightwatchman? I know (I think) why its done ie don't get a middle order batsman out last thing, but why should it happen? If the batsman is say Freddie then he can look after his wicket for a few late overs and if he can't he should'nt be there!

Mike.

True but it's not worth taking the chance, Hoggard did his job even though he got out last ball, now Freddie and Bell can start afresh tomorrow

It's worked twice so far for England this series so the risk has been worth it

RuggieBear

cgf wrote:

Yaaaayyyyy

Off to Manchester tom morning on the red-eye for 2 days of the test.

bastid.....em...i mean that should be fun.

One of my mates is going to the trent bridge test...but he'll be supporting the australians... :rolleyes:

county

cgf wrote:

Yaaaayyyyy

Off to Manchester tom morning on the red-eye for 2 days of the test.

you dog,i will be in the home land next week but thats for the football,so not all bad

Royale with Cheese

SebtheBum wrote:

We won't make 500, the tail doesn't wag that much.

I said when Tresco and Vaughn both got 'in', that I'd be happy with 450, and I reckon that's a realistic total. Bell could easily make a century.(I admit I doubted him like the typical naysayer I am, and yet again I am pleased to be proved wrong by an England hopeful) Although it'll probably take him about 3 hours to score the 40 runs he needs!

All in all, a pretty good day. (Altho I woulda thought Simon Jones would've been a better nightwatchman tbh)

Ok, so maybe 500 is a little hopeful but you have to remember that England are effectively only 4 wickets down as Hoggard was the nightwatch man and wasn't going to make any runs anyway, he never does. With Bell going well and Flintoff capable of scoring quickly 500 is very much so possible. Geraint Jones will probably have to get more than 5 though, which doesn't seem likely.

mike65

So the tail did'nt wag but Freddie is the main villian for a lazy big hit that should'nt have been - it was only 7 mins to lunch! Still the Aussies have a hard job on to catch 444 as they are 103-3 as I type.

Mike.

Harry2001

199-7 Unbelievable stuff but after last week not getting carried away yet

mike65

Close of play has England in near complete control with Austrialia in danger of having to follow on for the first time since 1988! Thing is England dropped twice (albeit one a bit tricky) so it could be worse for the Crims.

Score at close 210 for 7, once Warne goes they won't hang on much longer.

Mike.

RuggieBear

england really bullied australia today...much like Aus did to Eng in the first test. I've to bring the girlie shopping tomorrow morning so i'm going to miss whether Eng can get them out and force the follow on or not....bugger.

arbeitsscheuer

RuggieBear wrote:

england really bullied australia today...much like Aus did to Eng in the first test. I've to bring the girlie shopping tomorrow morning so i'm going to miss whether Eng can get them out and force the follow on or not....bugger.

Unlucky mate.

I'll have my eyes glued to the tv. Btw, I'm a bit miffed that nobody praised my analysis of England's innings yesterday ^^^^^. I said 450 would be a good total, we got 444. And it seems to have been a f**king good total. Ppl complaining about England not making 500 have plainly not been whatching English international cricket of the last 15 years, esp against Aussie bowlers.

Fantastic batting from England, Particularly Tresco (v unlucky), Vaughny (amazing), Bell, Flintoff and G Jones. In fact, all the players who badly needed runs got them, after coming in for criticism a lot - G Jones, Bell and Vaughn.

And Giles was magnificent today, as was Freddie's bamboozling of Katich! Jones did well too. England have a great attack.

Need to get Warne first thing tomorro morning tho, to ensure Aus have to follow on. Pivotal.

RuggieBear

SebtheBum wrote:

Btw, I'm a bit miffed that nobody praised my analysis of England's innings yesterday ^^^^^. I said 450 would be a good total, we got 444.

<cough> erm, spot on there Seb

Nick C

Top performance by England. Not sure I'd enforce the follow on though. If Giles can get so much turn on that track, just imagine the carnage Warne could cause.

mike65

We all bow to SebtheBum!

Ruggie the weather forcast for tomorow is poor there is unlikely to be much play before mid afternoon, details here.

Mike.

arbeitsscheuer

That's what Boycott was saying as well. The weather forecast is such that I reckon if the follow-on is there we have to take it. Sure if we bat we could take the game totally away from Australia but by the time they come out for their 2nd innings, after the (forecasted) rain as well, there might not be enough time to get em all out.

That's a worst case scenario, granted, but it would be so much easier if we could make em follow on, and give ourselves a smallish target for victory.

Ya never know though. Remember at Edgbaston, when at the end of the 3rd day the Aussies were almost finished as well? And remember Lee coming out and batting superbly to almost save the game? Gotta get the buggers out first.

But lovely cricket all the same.

RuggieBear

mike65 wrote:

We all bow to SebtheBum!

Ruggie the weather forcast for tomorow is poor there is unlikely to be much play before mid afternoon, details here.

Mike.

There is a god....

but i'm also going to miss the bledsoe cup game.....which would have been my back up in case of rain....no pleasing me

Regarding there being enough time...there are still 3 days scheduled...

county

just finished work and looking forward to sitting down and watching the highlights,with a few beers of course

arbeitsscheuer

feckin' rain...

KevIRL

Very little play today, 14 ovs I believe. But Warne is doing well. Would be good to see the Aussies make about 350 and then bowl England out for low score (say 170). Might be time for an exciting finish to this test yet.

RuggieBear

looks like i missed sfa

regi

Apart from Jones having a few more clangers, poor lad.

arbeitsscheuer

Regi wrote:

Apart from Jones having a few more clangers, poor lad.

Yeah that stumping was a regulation one, absolutely easy. And as for the dropped catch, yeah he lost it in the sun but it didn't deviate from its original trajectory and went straight to glove. Gutting.

Gotta get Warne out, he's vicious at the moment. No chance of getting Gillespie, he's got his defensive strokes all worked out and he's stickin' to em. He knows Warne can get the runs, all he has to do is stay in. Warne will take more risks, so we've got to target him better.

I wonder what a reasonable England 2nd innings would be on this pitch...

RuggieBear

Regi wrote:

Apart from Jones having a few more clangers, poor lad.

oh dear...tbh, without sounding like a broken record...he has never, ever, inspired confidence in me

edit: Just listening to 5live on sunday morning and bob willis has just lambasted Fletcher for being too loyal to Jones when the best wicket keeper in the country is Read. He argued that while Read might only average 15 or so for england, Jones was costing England Runs by missing regulation catches and stumpings. Still haven't seen these latest boo boos

SebtheBum wrote:

And as for the dropped catch, yeah he lost it in the sun but it didn't deviate from its original trajectory and went straight to glove.

I was dropped from my school's team once for missing a catch from gully that was balooned straight in the air and I lost it in the sun....my protestations about being glared didn't cut mustard with the coach...bastid Admitedly the sun is very low in the late afternoon this time of year.

KevIRL

Hope Warne gets his first ever test ton today. C'mon Aussies, put up a decent score today and then bowl out the English pretty quickly. Lets make a decent finish to this match.

Umpire Billy Bauden just on trying to explain why more overs couldnt be played after 6.30 yesterday evening even though it was beautiful clear summers evening at that stage. Even he admitted himself that he was confused by the rules

KevIRL

Australia all out for 302. Warne ended up getting 90. Great bowling from Jones with 6-53. Draw looks most likely now but still any of the 3 outcomes could happen.

mike65

I fear a draw! With any luck England will go for broke and try to rack up a decent second innings total of say 250 and declare, then spend a day getting the Ausies out.

I saw the Austrialian batting figures for the series so far and Warne is 4 in the list after Extras at 3!

Mike.

mike65

England moving along well at 4.5 an over (63-0) they should be ready for a declaration at say, 5 pm?

Mike.

regi

It'd be nice to see the australian openers in for a spot of evening play this evening I'm sure Giles is gonna relish that rough too.

RuggieBear

maybe they could promote flintoff with the instructions to slog...might not ne prudent but it would be fun

arbeitsscheuer

Yeah, Bell is scoring too slowly tbh.

Fair play to Strauss tho, he didn't let that early bash on the noggin get to him, and he looks in really good nick now. Shame about Tresco, 2 unlucky dismissals in this match, when he hasn't done a lot wrong.

mike65

G'wan Strauss! Bell has picked up the pace nicely as well. The Aussie attack has rarely looked so toothless.

Mike.