Ashes: First Test

First topic message reminder :

It's weird...no thread on T1 yet
Ashton Agar will play is the breaking news.

Cook obviously doesn't want to let young Agar settle ...nice strike wide of mid on. Not your typical Cook shot but his feet moved nicely.

Oh no.

KP gone

Well batted from our best player though. He has done the job we needed him to do.

Will we finally see a good innings from Bell? If he goes early cheaply, he should be dropped for Compton or Taylor IMO.

the score looks a little closer to par now. I'd say with this pitch today even 100-2 might be closer to par though.

Impossible to know in this crazy match.

Agar really turned this match into a contest. Horror for England fans but perfect for the neutral.

That's what happens when you try to be who your are not( read responsible) and restrain your natural game...instead of a 125 off 150 balls.......he gets merely a 60 odd from same no. of deliveries

A wicket out of nowhere ! KP drags Pattinson on...

Pity. Was looking forward to watching him in full flight after lunch. He played pretty well , but that wicket has put Australia back on top , just as things were starting to move the home team's way.

Would be a good day for Bell to recover some form.

Sterling effort from Pietersen. Reined himself in. Looked to ease up the gears, only to unluckily chop on. Still, England are manoeuvring themselves into a good position. Come on Ian Bell!

oh ffs.

England can't just bat to plan and see a day out can they.

now all the pressure is on them and they are once again way behind plan.

so a decent innings from KP but no, not great. He didn't hang around and bat Aussie out, he's put the pressure back on.

KP_fan wrote:That's what happens when you try to be who your are not( read responsible) and restrain your natural game...instead of a 125 off 150 balls.......he gets merely a 60 odd from same no. of deliveries

Never would have happened on this pitch, it's far too slow.

50 for Captain Fantastic, now Bell's off the mark with a sweet drive.

Hard to judge just where this match is , eh , trebs ?

Batting generally looks easy enough , ball doesn't seem to do much ...and yet apart from that crazy last wicket stand yesterday nobody has really dominated the bowlers at any stage...and wickets fall when you least expect.

So I have no idea what sort of lead would give England confidence . Two hundred might be plenty , three hundred not enough , depending on the weather and how the pitch develops.

Think I will just watch with an open mind.

Fifty for the Chef  

Pattinson is getting a bit of reverse shape in to RHB ......he needs to control it better.....and start from off stump instead of middle line

someone has to bat a big ton or aussie will be waltzing their matilda's in the isles tonight.

Cook gone.

Game over.

Two new batsmen now. This could be a huge turning point.

Cook gone for 50

Now im scared, really scared.

Cook gone. Trouble for England - we really don't make this easy do we?

Bell, Bairstow, and Prior. It's all down to them, with a minimum of 133 runs to get.

OMG...Eng 66-4....one end is spinning from the rouhg and the otehr is reversing...and the procession has started.

Hope they can set atleast 150 chase to give their 3 bowlers a chance

Eng 0 - Aus 1

I'd put my mortgage on it.

pathetic. just pathetic.

it's true they simple aren't good enough to play proper test innings against a good bowling side and win are they.

1-0 aussie. probably on the way to a stuffing.

Lucky we have a deep batting line-up. We're going to need it!

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Lucky we have a deep batting line-up. We're going to need it!

do we?

who is in form?

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:That's what happens when you try to be who your are not( read responsible) and restrain your natural game...instead of a 125 off 150 balls.......he gets merely a 60 odd from same no. of deliveries

Never would have happened on this pitch, it's far too slow.

they needed him to try and take the game away...this blocking at 2rpo ain't gonna build the lead fast enouhg

Oh dear, the knee-jerkers are off again. With the exception of Trebbs, of course. Long way to go in this game yet.

Oh dear...Cook out  

Agar has his first wicket. My fears of last night are not being soothed...still a lot of cricket to be played but I think this is Australia's match to lose...and I just can't see England finding a way out of it somehow. Every time they appear to be getting back into the game , things go wrong again...

We do have a deep batting line-up. Regardless of form, all it takes is one innings from one of them and we're fine. Any of Bell, Bairstow and Prior is capable of a century, and Broad and Swann are capable of a 50. They just need to do it now more than ever!

The England players look like they need more County Championship games.

Yeah!! £20 on Australia, at 4/1... Thank you BetFair!!



A little early, but i can see it now... New tyres for Papa! New new steering wheel, new sound!

but aussie have super agar. the world best cricketing toddler.

trebellbobaggins wrote:

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Lucky we have a deep batting line-up. We're going to need it!

do we?

who is in form?

Only takes one knock, and on what is a good pitch for batting the next three could all get runs.

I will give you 8/1 now if you want no limit!

he's got his line right Pattinson....needs to consistently get the length right......pitch it up whihc he didn't do for 5 balls in the over.

if he does.....he will get one within a couple of overs

I do admire the optimism, I really do.

With the king of swing, James Anderson, reversing it, and Swann turning it heavily on this pitch, I would say a target of 180 for the Aussies would make it 50/50. Anything above 220, and England have got it in the bag.

Lead up to 70 now. Bat and bat and bat.

agar could get 180 on his own in a few overs Duty.

I don't doubt it Trebbs!  

Bells playing for his Test career imo, can he pull something out of the bag?

Not sure about anyone else but I like this rev meter they've got. Agar seems to give it more of a rip but gets less turn than Swann.

Any target over 200 will make this a game. 250 makes it England's imo.

In 20 years time, after another 5 Aussie series wins on the bounce, they will be talking of Agar as the greatest Aussie in living memory.

And I shall probably have tied of the depression of decades more England failure.

I won't even get to enjoy my retirement because of Agar, the selfish Bar Steward.

Makes me wonder... What were the odds on a 150 run tenth wicket partnership yesterday? At least 50/1 surely?

Wow, talk about counting your chooks. Half of one game and he's Shane Warne 2.0

trebellbobaggins wrote:In 20 years time, after another 5 Aussie series wins on the bounce, they will be talking of Agar as the greatest Aussie in living memory.

And I shall probably have tied of the depression of decades more England failure.

I won't even get to enjoy my retirement because of Agar, the selfish Bar Steward.

You'd probably be happier supporting Bangladesh you know! Then you have a right to be miserable.  

Hampo are you sure.

It looks as though agar is at least 200 revs down on swan on average

kingraf wrote:Makes me wonder... What were the odds on a 150 run tenth wicket partnership  yesterday? At  least 50/1 surely?

 err - more like 200/1 minimum

Duty281 wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:In 20 years time, after another 5 Aussie series wins on the bounce, they will be talking of Agar as the greatest Aussie in living memory.

And I shall probably have tied of the depression of decades more England failure.

I won't even get to enjoy my retirement because of Agar, the selfish Bar Steward.

You'd probably be happier supporting Bangladesh you know! Then you have a right to be miserable.  

no, they meet their expectations.

England keep getting expectations well beyond their ability and that creates nothing but disappointment.

the bbc commentary always gets more positive when England struggle.  are they basically run by aussies?

Fordyce really can sod off. he was one of the ones talking England up and now he's delighting in ripping them apart.

Bairstow and Bell have started in a positive vein. 30 minutes till lunch, you can be certain the Australians have one eye on England's evolving lead.

Great position for bell and bairstow to try and hold on to there places..

A couple of steady half-centuries from these two, followed by aggression from Prior/Broad/Swann, and then we're laughing.

1 nil England, give us the urn now!