The Ashes Test Series

Well done England but Australia are on the rampage, Ponting is in good nick, not good news for England surely.  Maybe neither team may be able to force a result, but Australia will push hard.

Rain and Bad Light, is the only reason we did not make 500. Well done Clarkey and North (still in). Things are looking grim for England.

1st Test short summary.

^ Typical poms Draw a match and they think they have won the World Cup!!

I had begun to chant, "Ashes Are Burning The Way" at tea  but England got away.  That's Test cricket for you, one session is all it takes to avoid or reverse the result.  Kudos to England for pushing the Aussies hard and making them fight for the wickets in the last session.  The Ashes are away in right earnest!

As promised a message to barn-door McGrath and his prediction for a 5-0 series win for the Roo's.

progmetalhead wrote: As promised a message to barn-door McGrath and his prediction for a 5-0 series win for the Roo's.         Just in case you missed that.......      Oohh Glens rear could be sore with all that proddin"          (no offence intended Matt)

 Fair enough he made the prediction

Frankly, if you don't know how to bowl to tail-enders and/or bowl the right bowlers to them , you don't deserve to win tests or the series.

This thread is sooooo polite it's almost sickening but I won't be the one to bring it down . All I'll say on the dreaded contoversial aspect of it is as follows :

1. The time wasting was blatant, not only in the dying throws of the test, but the day before when the Aussies were batting and the rain was on it's way . The regular bowling changes which then allowed meticulous and involved changes in field placements was deplorable .


2. It was all so blatant that Ponting could have said nothing, retain some dignity and let others raise the debate e.g. Nasser Hussain


3. His raising it was as facile as Strauss and others attempting to explain away the inexplicable. We all saw it Straussy . As Kevin R would say ' Fair shake of the sauce bottle'.


4. The umpires need to grow some balls and take control of time wasting and other on-field incidents firmly and decisively. Doctrove is embarassingly innocuous and indecisive and our old mate Aleem is marginally better.


5. The Aussies only have themselves to blame for letting England off the hook and it may prove very costly . The Aussies are not going to have 4 centurions in every test innings and some of the English batsmen will convert their good starts into big innings - no doubt.

As it is , jibing and banter about such things can only serve to spice up the series and it has. Bring on Lords and may the better team win, so long as they can bowl out the tail.

Bloody good match so far,something for all of us. I will admit the first 4 hours were not good for me but I bet you all enjoyed it Strauss is still not out and England has broken the old record set in 1326, ooh sorry I meant 1926,

Twas a good toss to win at Lords. Aussies bowled poorly and some errors in the field . Give a team a chance and they'll make you pay . England has done just that .

Can Australia bat as well in their first innings as they did at Cardiff. I have my doubts.

Lets see what happens on day 2 with the Aussies bowling at the England tail. They'd want to do better than they did against the top order. It's gripping stuff.