Ashes 2010/11

[usav]

Sometimes you get stands like that at the end no matter what you bowl, and I don't think England bowled that badly. In a few cases they bowled too well if that makes sense, the Aussie tail-enders weren't good enough to get a nick!

Actually they did bowl that badly.   They only bowled 3 balls at the stumps to Johnson, one of those was the one that got him out.

[KevinGage]

There was a bit of an opening there to skittle them out for under 200 and build a big first innings lead, possibly not having to bat again if we'd posted 400-450 and got Swann to nail them.

As it is, England will have to almost certainly bat last. Not ideal on a wicket that could turn. As well as the soft runs conceded, you'd feel any chance of getting a really big innings lead depended on Trott and KP playing a decent first innings knock.

In most Test matches you'd still class this as a good position, but it never pays to let the opposition off the hook when you have them down.

Big effort required from Cook, Collingwood and Bell tomorrow. Shouldn't really expect more from Cook. he's played his part throughout the series and then some. Collingwood looked woefully out of knick in Melbourne, when he's poor he's very, very poor. Bell - much as he's improved in the past 12-18 months- is still not someone you'd bet the house on if you're up against it.

That said, if he walks to the crease with England about par or better than Australia's 280, he has enough dash to take the game away from them.

Not sure of the logic that says because a batsmen is in form we shouldn't expect  much from him. Cook and Bell have both played extremely well on this tour and I see no reason to expect that to change. I agree that Collingwood is out of touch but Prior, Bresnan and Swann are all capable of chipping in with useful runs so we're still handily placed.

By that I simply mean that he's played decent knocks in most of the games so far.  When you look back at the end of a five game series it's rare for even one of the top  performers to have done well in every game, particularly batsmen. Statistically the odds are against it.

He had a bit of a wobble in Perth though, so hopefully that's him covered.

[Dave Cooper please]

Sometimes you get stands like that at the end no matter what you bowl, and I don't think England bowled that badly. In a few cases they bowled too well if that makes sense, the Aussie tail-enders weren't good enough to get a nick!

Actually they did bowl that badly.   They only bowled 3 balls at the stumps to Johnson, one of those was the one that got him out.

Oh, okay, I was mainly dozing by that time!

[TopDeck113]

We need 200 runs from Cook, Collingwood and Bell, plus another 50 from the rest.  If we do that I'd still be confident of a win.

[Rotterdam]

I reckon a draw. We will bat out a draw on day 5.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

A draw would suit me.

Lose and you can legitimately say that there is very little between the 2 sides.

Despite the hype, bluster and bullshit.

I fully expect us to win.

When the Aussies were the best in the world, which is where we're trying to get to, they would never let up and crush the opposition despite winning a series.

There's a lot at stake.
Win the series and beat India and we can say we're the best in the world.

[TheTimVilla]

Sometimes you get stands like that at the end no matter what you bowl, and I don't think England bowled that badly. In a few cases they bowled too well if that makes sense, the Aussie tail-enders weren't good enough to get a nick!

Actually they did bowl that badly.   They only bowled 3 balls at the stumps to Johnson, one of those was the one that got him out.

So we must have bowled badly when we had them all out for 98 at Melbourne? Not one of those would have hit the stumps.

[Dave Cooper please]

Win the series and beat India and we can say we're the best in the world.

Close. We should beat India in the summer, they won't like our conditions.
Still need to beat India in their own back yard and on pitches they have prepared for their batsmen for that I reckon, but we're getting there.

[Shrek]

I think we will lose now, this is Perth all over again.

We let the tail/Johnson wag, he then has confidence an knocks our top order over,

We have to get too lunch will at least Cook or Bell still there, because we will get skittled on day 5 if they have a big lead.

[b23]

What a cheat ! That bounced !

[gerags]

The new ball seemed to work in our favour with Bell picking up the pace a bit.
3 runs behind at lunch with Cook on 130 & Bell on 20.

[taylorsworkrate]

Win the series and beat India and we can say we're the best in the world.

Close. We should beat India in the summer, they won't like our conditions.
Still need to beat India in their own back yard and on pitches they have prepared for their batsmen for that I reckon, but we're getting there.

Surely thats part of the reason that India are so high in the rankings in the first place?  Don't think India have beaten any of the top 5/6 in the World away from home in the last 5 years. (could be wrong on that) Obviously that could change against South Africa.

The disparity is not as big as Sri Lanka, (who have been massively flattered by the rankings) but theres still something in that for me.

[taylorsworkrate]

Getting back to the cricket,

A pretty good session all in all.  To only lose two wickets, one of which was a nightwatchmen, (don't get me started on that joke of an idea) and to get as good as level is good going.

Cook looks imperious.  He is even immune to cheating little pricks like Phil Hughes.  Bell looks in very nice touch as well.

Still plenty of batting to come, with both Bresnan and Swann more than capable of knocking 40 or 50.

[Monty]

Cook, aged 26 has 16 Test hundreds. The England record currently stands at 22 (Boycott and Hammond joint), and might just be higher by the time Strauss is done but not much. Cook will surely eclipse this figure, he just looks immovable at his best. Doesn't seem to be a lot in the pitch without the cloud cover though, despite the talk of grass on the wicket, so the seamers may have to be very disciplined indeed and hope it breaks up for Swann.

[taylorsworkrate]

Great Middle session,

Really ramming home the huge gulf in class between the sides.