Ashes 2010/11

[olaftab]

View from my seat up on the top tier.                                             

you could have mentioned you were going for the Ashes?

[TopDeck113]

Never judge a pitch until both teams have batted...

He says, clutching at cricketing cliche for comfort.

The other one, unfortunately, is that a first day can set the tone for a while series.

[john e]

Hmmm well I was woken up by hearing Siddle got a hat trick, so I thought the score would be lower. 260 isn't great, but it could have been worse. We just need to come out all guns blazing today and bat properly in the second innings.

a bit the same for me,
 looked at my mobile phone in bed and the headline was 'Siddle destroys England' when i eventualy found out we got 260 i was mildly happy, even though its still low, i thought it was gona be 125 or something like that

[The Man With A Stick]

I dozed off at about half past one and then dreamt we were 66 all out.  Was actually quite relieved when I woke up at 6 and saw the scorecard.

[Andy Poole]

Letting  a donkey bowler like Siddle get away with a hat trick on the first days of an Ashes series does not bode well.

I know we're the Poms and they're the Crims and we're really 'sposed to dislike each other but this was a potential Ashes winning moment.....the first day in an Ashes series, home or away, requires someone to stand up and be the man.

Siddle did and is.

Justin Langer on T.M.S. said how much Ponting and Mr Cricket thought about Siddle, it was no surprise to him that he got the nod ahead of Bollinger. He also pointed out that there are many, many hatrick opportunities in cricket, yet very few get converted due to pressure. Only those who can handle that get the third wicket. To get the ball right on the money for the third time is immense.

So give Siddle his due...it was a magnificent 3 balls and he cannot really be refered to as a donkey.

[OzVilla]

The thing that they always say they really like about Siddle is that he'll run in with just as much energy at the end of the day as he will at the start.  Yesterday proved that well.

England were looking comfortable at 197-4, two batsmen well set.  Aus bowling wide outside off stump as their only way of building some pressure (very negative imo).

Siddle then gets trown the ball in the middle of the Evening session and the bloke whose been bowling at 135-138 kph suddenly bowls at 142 kph and then a 145kph inswinging yorker to get rid of Broad - turned the whole game.

These two teams are very evenly matched so it'll take someone on either side to stand up and do what Siddle did here (similar to Broad at The Oval) to win Test Matches.

Over to the English bolwers - weather today is slightly more overcast, 27c, dry but a bit blustery (although we live on the Coast so it might not be as bad in Brissie). 

[olaftab]

Fair comments Andy but I can not accept  that Siddle   is a world ranked fast bowler because he is not. There was poor batting and yes you are right this incident like  Warne's ball to Gatting will ,unfortunatley ,colour the  series from now on.  Yes only those who can handle the pressure survive  and  there was Braod  getting caught  like a rabbit in headlights to a  straight full length ...not good enough.

[OzVilla]

To be fair to Broad, an inswinging yorker at 145 kph, on a hat trick ball in your First Test in Australia is about as tough as it gets for a lower order batman.

[Andy Poole]

To be fair to Broad, an inswinging yorker at 145 kph, on a hat trick ball in your First Test in Australia is about as tough as it gets for a lower order batman.

Or a birthday boy!

[Andy Poole]

I didn't watch it live. I get up for work at five. At 5.15 after my shower i turned the tv on to see us looking not to bad at about 180 for 4. Cook and Bell were fairly well set and looking patient and comfortable. I watched about 15 minutes of Bell and Cook shouldering arms to off side balls and then left for work at 5.30.
It takes me about 15/20 mins to get to work and i was listening to T.M.S.

Fuck me but by 5.50 am Siddle had ruined my day!

When Cook went i'm shouting at the radio..."Don't let it be get one get two" Then after Prior had gone, i was going potty shouting "don't you fucking dare let it be get 1 get 3"

I think we'll lose about half way through the fourth day, maybe before the end of the third. Happy to be proved wrong.

[Andy Poole]

And a quick word about the umpire Alim Dar. Four times he had his decisions referred and four times he was vindicated.

[PaulWinch again]

Aleem Dar and Taufel are comfortably the best umpires around.

[OzVilla]

And as if on cue, the skies are clearing and the Sun is coming out. 

Looks like a decent batting day to me.

[Desi]

I liked Siddle's honesty when asked after the day's play about his 'perfect' hat-trick ball to Broad.

 He said that he was intending to bowl one to hit the top of off but that with the crowd roaring and the situation, ''it just came out wrong''.

[Desi]

View from my seat up on the top tier.                                             



One strange thing about yesterday was the crowd, they kept saying on TV about the full house/all tickets sold but the pictures told a different story.