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Ashes Second Test - Lord's, 16-20 July


stevegrant
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Not we Broad I would have thought Harmison would have been a better choice

true

 

unless things change for this test...

 

broad should be dropepd for harmison who took abother 5 wickets today....

 

IMO, the selectors/Strauss' management of the bowling has been pretty poor IMO

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To be honest, that last comment was always going to come back to bite you - there was no way they could have bowled as badly as they did at Cardiff.

 

It just so happened that they pretty much went in the completely opposite direction.

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Thought I'd pop in here while most of you at the Ajax game. :)

 

Terrible performance yesterday. I mean to lose FIVE players to a hook/pull shot is ridiculous. I'll excuse Hughes because it was one of those unlucky dismissals where you get a touch to a poor ball outside leg stump but there's absolutely no excuse for the rest. I can't believe that a couple of our batsman would be stupid enough to be caught on the boundary when the opposition have put two men back.

 

Please rain. For two days.

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Convicts all done for 215, England 57/0 at lunch, decided not to enforce the follow on which is interesting, Mitchell Johnson all over the place again so if we can get a lead of say 450? with 2 days to bowl them out...

 

Better than that, 311/6 at close of play. I don't have a problem with not enforcing the follow on unlike most of the Sky commentators who typically had to say it was wrong. The pitch is a good one but when the weather is overcast and humid that's when it can offer help to the bowlers. I reckon Australia would have easily avoided the innings defeat and quite possibly left us with a tricky target batting last. As it is we have hammered home the advantage we had in pretty ideal batting conditions and now it's either an England win or a draw though only if it rains I believe.

Forecast is not great but that may not be a bad thing as long as not too much time is lost. Either way we have turned the tables from Cardiff impressively and credit in particular to Strauss who set the example.

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Thought I'd pop in here while most of you at the Ajax game. :)

 

Terrible performance yesterday. I mean to lose FIVE players to a hook/pull shot is ridiculous. I'll excuse Hughes because it was one of those unlucky dismissals where you get a touch to a poor ball outside leg stump but there's absolutely no excuse for the rest. I can't believe that a couple of our batsman would be stupid enough to be caught on the boundary when the opposition have put two men back.

 

Please rain. For two days.

 

Well it is raining now but at 8pm not a great deal of help to Ponting and his team of losers ;)

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We sure need to get rid of one of these two sooner rather thna later

 

could this be building up to another classic 'final ball' ashes conclusion? i'm sure we all hope not.

 

we're still bowling well but we really could do with breaking these two up before the close of play.

 

but we've still got lots of time in hand and runs in the bank, as long as it doesn't rain too much tomorrow [-o

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I have to admit I started watching the golf when it appeared Goggin was a chance and the Aussies weren't. Hopefully Watson can win the playoff now.

 

Obviously I'd still take a draw if it was offered to me but if we can get through the first hour tomorrow things might get interesting. Unfortunately our batting doesn't go as deep as it once did. Johnson is a very good batsman and many have said he's on the verge of all-rounder status. I just hope he bats better than he has bowled so far. Hauritz could possibly hang around for a while. Siddle is more of a hitter but can hold the bat. Hilfy can't.

 

Whatever happens, it's at least been great to see a bit of fight. However it's very much advantage England and it could possibly be all over in the first hour should you guys get an early breakthrough.

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The Aussies only need 209 more runs to win with 5 wickets left.

 

They've got all bloody day tomorrow to get them can take their time and won't be taking any chances. I don't care about the fact that historically a team chasing big totals to win in a 4th innings don't make it, the maths say to score 522 runs in 190-odd overs is possible, especially for a team like Australia.

 

That ridiculous decision by Strauss not to enforce the follow-on (ensuring a nailed-on draw at minimum) could well come back to haunt us.

 

Pillock

 

And the declaration was too early - an hour before lunch today was the time to do it - or even at lunch.

 

Having said all that I think we'll still win - but it should have been so much easier.

Edited by Trader
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I have to admit I started watching the golf when it appeared Goggin was a chance and the Aussies weren't. Hopefully Watson can win the playoff now.

 

Obviously I'd still take a draw if it was offered to me but if we can get through the first hour tomorrow things might get interesting. Unfortunately our batting doesn't go as deep as it once did. Johnson is a very good batsman and many have said he's on the verge of all-rounder status. I just hope he bats better than he has bowled so far. Hauritz could possibly hang around for a while. Siddle is more of a hitter but can hold the bat. Hilfy can't.

 

Whatever happens, it's at least been great to see a bit of fight. However it's very much advantage England and it could possibly be all over in the first hour should you guys get an early breakthrough.

 

Can't see it being a draw as the weather forecast is good ( which means it will probably rain all day!). The Clarke/Haddin partnership is obviously key, at least both are in my fantasy league team !! As you say if England break this partnership early then it's likely to be all over by lunch if not in the 1st hour. However, if they get through to lunch it really will be squeaky bum time !

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Since we'll never know what would have happened if Strauss had enforced the follow on it's academic really. One thing it definitely would not have done was to guarantee at least a draw as who is to say the Aussies would not have scored 500+ and then left us chasing a difficult 4th innings target. You just have to say that if the Aussies can win from 128-5 it will be the finest win in Test Match history and if it happens I'd rather give them the due credit rather than rely on hindsight to say whether or not enforcing the follow on was right or wrong. For sure though it looked a very good decision at 128-5. In the end it is down to each persons opinion and as I stated clearly above I thought not enforcing the follow on was the correct decision.

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And the declaration was too early - an hour before lunch today was the time to do it - or even at lunch.

 

Having said all that I think we'll still win - but it should have been so much easier.

 

 

I agree, I can ony assume he was expecting rain and was therefore trying to maximise the time we had to get them all out

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I thought too that they declared roo early...i thought that they should have gievn it another hour of "going for it" to rack up the score a tad more.

 

I reckon he had an eye n the weather...if England dont get a wicket before lucnh..will be draw written all over it...which is not good considering the position we are/were in

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I thought too that they declared roo early...i thought that they should have gievn it another hour of "going for it" to rack up the score a tad more.

 

I reckon he had an eye n the weather...if England dont get a wicket before lucnh..will be draw written all over it...which is not good considering the position we are/were in

 

If England don't get a wicket before lunch I reckon the Aussies will be on about 400-5.

 

In that case the only result it won't be will be a draw - unless the weather becomes a factor.

 

IF we had enforced the follow-on and Australia had got 500 in their second innings ( as someone said as their worst case scenario) say by about tea today, it would have left us 4 sessions to score 290 for the win with 10 wickets standing.

 

Still a better position than we are actually in now.

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IF we had enforced the follow-on and Australia had got 500 in their second innings ( as someone said as their worst case scenario) say by about tea today, it would have left us 4 sessions to score 290 for the win with 10 wickets standing.

 

Still a better position than we are actually in now.

 

No, I don't think so and I mentioned 500+ which was certainly possible.

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Yeh, I was surprised he declared first thing. Would have tried to get to 350, and take a little bit more time off the clock.

 

Still at 128-5 I probably wasn't thinking the above!!

 

Can't you remember what you were thinking about 6 hours ago ;) By the way I hope you backed Crazy Chris at NA today !!

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