England v Australia: 3rd Test, Edgbaston

England:
A Lyth, AN Cook*, IR Bell, JE Root, JM Bairstow, BA Stokes, JC Buttler†, MM Ali, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, ST Finn

Australia:
CJL Rogers, DA Warner, SPD Smith, MJ Clarke*, AC Voges, MR Marsh, PM Nevill†, MG Johnson, MA Starc, JR Hazlewood, NM Lyon

Australia to bat first. England's chances greatly diminished by that news. Best hope is for an in-and-out day with the weather and better batting conditions later.
People say Finn is expensive but his 90-odd wickets have come at less than 30. His inclusion could be good for England.

You reap what you sow....applies to Eng...they have made these sugar coated true pitches......that hand a huge advantage to the side winning the toss and offcourse batting first.

Unless Eng seamers can bundle them for less than 250 and get a 120+ first innings lead.

I don't like a reduced pace Finn......the bearded right arm pacer, aged about 30 who could bowl at 90mph and played against India( name eludes me) was their best bet as a replacement for Wood.

surprised to see Rogers play...lets hope he can surprise us with his continued golden run with the bat in his last series

Those clouds look fairly loaded!

It will be interesting to see how well Broad, Anderson and Finn get stuck into the Australian top order.

Australia have won the toss and have elected to bat first. England make two changes with Bairstow in for Ballance and Finn coming in for Wood who is not quite over his ankle injury.

My road map for the day for Australia on what looks a good batting strip is for them to reach lunch on 120 for 1, tea on 250 for 2 and close around 375 for 5. England's road map for day one will be to have Australia at around 110 for 3 at lunch, 230 for 5 at tea and reducing Australia to around 350 for 8 at close.

CaledonianCraig wrote: reducing Australia to around 350 for 8 at close.

Tch Tch....so even your best case scenario is a potentially game losing scenario for Eng.

Naah....Anderson and broad have to swing their magic and bowl em out for 250 or under is the best case for Eng

KP_fan wrote:

I don't like a reduced pace Finn......the bearded right arm pacer, aged about 30 who could bowl at 90mph and played against India( name eludes me) was their best bet as a replacement for Wood.

Am not sure who you mean - which India series are you referring to? Do you mean Tim Bresnan?

I looked up the score cards and Plunkett I meant,
bresnan 90 mph ?

KP_fan wrote:I looked up the score cards and Plunkett I meant,
bresnan 90 mph ?

Got you - I don't remember him playing the India series last year but he may have done. That's why I came up with Bresnan, as he was bowling high 80's in the 2011 series against India and was very effective, was of course a while ago.

Warner reviewing it. 

What an opening 10 minutes

Nice waste of a review by Warner. A great delivery there from Jimmy.

Listened to first over. Crowd really up for it already. England need to use that and get some momentum going.

Nice start, but not getting carried away as Warner has been in poor form. Really need to make inroads into Rogers/Smith/Clarke then see what the middle order is like under pressure

Warner reviewing it. 

What an opening 10 minutes

Smith goes for 7 by Finn

Aus 18-2

10 overs bowled in an hour

KP_fan wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:  reducing Australia to around 350 for 8 at close.

Tch Tch....so even your best case scenario is a potentially game losing scenario for Eng.

Naah....Anderson and broad have to swing their magic and bowl em out for 250 or under is the best case for Eng

The road map is not about best case scenario but more about the sort of thing they'd settle for as a minimum.

Aus 34-3

Finn takes Clarke.

What a start from Finn!

Rain stops play

Classic English Weather

It looks a great wicket to bowl on. This rain could spice it up even further when plays resumes.
England and in particular Finn, has bowled very well indeed. Australia in deep trouble early on.

Finn

Don't want to blow my own trumpet, but this morning I did suggest on the other thread that Finn in for the injured wood could be a blessing in disguise. Hopefully they can continue to make inroads into the aussie lineup.

Nice to see Finn starting as if he means to grab this opportunity!

Some good bowling to get Smith and Clarke ...we know the man can bowl , it is about doing it with consistency

Hope he is still in this form when they get back on ...

We need to get Rogers out. An absolute bogey player for England, seems to get at least a 50 every innings!

See Finn has been up as high as 89 mph today. Not Johnson pace ; and not as quick as he has bowled at times in the past ; but with the bounce from his height that is plenty to work with.
Get it in the right places and he'll give the batsmen plenty to think about...

VTR wrote:We need to get Rogers out. An absolute bogey player for England, seems to get at least a 50 every innings!

Seconded !

He has been Australia's "wall" against England recently.  Think they need to be a bit patient bowling to him : look to get him caught in the cordon but don't be giving him too many half volleys to drive... Keep that difficult length.

I like the field they've set for him.

Ah Finn, do exceed my expectations.

Decent start for England.

England need a wicket quickly.

Rogers and Voges have done well to get through to lunch. Wasn't easy from the look of it.
England would have liked one more after that start. But they'll think if they can grab a break quickly after the interval they can still get into the later order .
72/3 from 19 . Plenty of action !

Hoggy_Bear wrote:England need a wicket quickly.

Really? Lost the toss and got them 3 down at lunch, surely that's way ahead of expectations.

Think that's a pretty even session in the end tbh

Thrilled to see my man Finn doing so well on test return!!!I wasn't expecting him to be picked, and after all that he went through with England, I wasn't thinking he could make it count so early itself. Hope this will give him further confidence and help him get closer to his best, there is still quite some way to reach his peak levels yet.......

One of those sessions where the winner is the team that lost the toss, really. In other words, even Stevens.

Looking at Clarke's dismissal, rather worrying to lose lose your middle stump like that. Hints to serious technical flaws. No player really should be losing their middle stump on the outside edge playing forward defence.

Olly wrote:Think that's a pretty even session in the end tbh

Well another wicket would be nice, but two more wickets fairly soon and the Aussies are in real trouble. Anything from 100-5, 150-5 doesn't look too clever so I think England are ahead at this stage

Olly wrote:Think that's a pretty even session in the end tbh

Three top bats out early makes it England's pretty clearly I'd have thought . Yes these two played well after the rain but one wicket too many to call it even , surely ?

100% England's session.

NickisBHAFC wrote:100% England's session.

Tru dat

Delay after lunch. 

Stupid rain.

Olly wrote:Think that's a pretty even session in the end tbh

Deserves a

23 tests Finn was left out for? What a comeback!

Good over to resume ...rather spoiled by a gift boundary off the last ball. Pleased to see Finn was annoyed with himself - as he should be.
He has always been a wicket taker ; but it is his habit of donating too many free runs in between that has held him back.
He needs to be patient when he's on top.

Adam Voges in need of a big innings before they all start talking. If he can play a big one here, they'll certainly talk about it for some time.......

Just when he was starting to look settled, Voges goes.......

Anderson strikes !

Voges - rather tamely - departs and 77/4

Jimmy!!!!!

Rogers is playing really well in the midst of all the carnage : eight boundaries ; he hasn't missed scoring opportunities.
Been beaten outside off a few times ; but he just doesn't worry about it " I'm still there - I'll play the next one ". Reminiscent of John Edrich...

Rogers is playing really well in the midst of all the carnage : eight boundaries ; he hasn't missed scoring opportunities.
Been beaten outside off a few times ; but he just doesn't worry about it " I'm still there - I'll play the next one ". Reminiscent of John Edrich...

And Marsh goes ! Duck : and three for Jimmy

Ah wonderful to see England exerting their superiority. My main worry was over their mental state - looks like they are just fine, though! I underrated them; I certainly underrated Finn.

Anderson has been joyous, and has saved his one good test a series for the most pivotal match. Great timing!

All this reminding me of Melbourne 2010 - England rolling out Australia for 98 after getting hammered at Perth; not too different this time!

England must be clinical now. Don't let the holders get to 200. Don't give Australia something to bowl at.

Jimmy A slashing through the Australian order. 5 wickets before tea on Day 1.