Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:12 pm  

Andy Gilder wrote:

I'm amazed at the fickleness and short memories of some England fans - reading some of the comments on the BBC Sport blogs about how yesterday's bowling at the tail was "typical England" and "a disgrace" made me laugh out loud.

Yes. "Typical England" in this series has been wiping out the bulk of the Aussie top order for not much more than 100. We've now bowled them out seven times in a row without conceding more than 309. By contrast England have made the three largest totals of the series for a combined loss of just 16 wickets, while the Aussies have only bowled us out four times in the first four Tests.

Tailenders batting together tend to chase the sort of short or wide balls that top order batsmen just leave, and they tend to hit hard rather than looking to nudge singles, so if a couple of them get their eye in they end up scoring quickly off short balls, length balls, straight balls, wide balls etc., and it makes the bowler look like he's all over the place.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:49 pm  

I fancy Collingwood to call it quits from the Test side after this game after some of the things he's said recently. Hopefully he'll go out on a double high with runs to go with his catches and wickets AND the Ashes being retained.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:15 pm  

PAUL M wrote:

Sachin Tendulkar hits century no 51.

Really entertaining day's play. Seemed to have everything, a brilliant ton by Tendulkar, ball hitting wicket and not dislodging the bail, fluke run out (although Harris deserved credit for taking the ball on his shin) and a couple of late wickets to make the game extremely well balanced.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:07 pm  

If Cook completes his ton and there are runs from Bell and overdue runs from Colly we should be in a good position to win the match. Think Swann could have a lot of success in Australia's second innings.

However, Strauss is pretty negative and unless we're skittled out I expect him to bat Australia to death because he'll no doubt settle for a rain-affected draw.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:11 pm  

We're still in a good position but I found some of our field settings to Johnson and Hilfenhaus a bit odd, but Strauss is naturally a bit cautious so it wasn't that unexpected.

Need to dig in tonight, bat as long as possible - anything above 350 is good, but if we could somehow muster 400+ then I think that would be it. Cook and Collingwood are the key men, they could dig in and frustrate the Aussies.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:47 pm  

richardviking wrote:

However, Strauss is pretty negative and unless we're skittled out I expect him to bat Australia to death because he'll no doubt settle for a rain-affected draw.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if that happens. There's no point even giving them a sniff of a chance if we can bat long enough. They're the team who trundled along at not much more than 2 runs an over on the first day when the onus was on them to force a win and square the series.

[Durham Giant]

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:27 pm  

Are there any highlight programmes or radio bits with Geoff Boycott on. I love listening to him as he always says it as it is. I bet he is calling Peterson every idiot under the sun

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:30 pm  

Durham Giant wrote:

Are there any highlight programmes or radio bits with Geoff Boycott on. I love listening to him as he always says it as it is. I bet he is calling Peterson every idiot under the sun

I'm sure the Beeb do a TMS highlights special and PODcasts.

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:58 pm  

Durham Giant wrote:

Are there any highlight programmes or radio bits with Geoff Boycott on. I love listening to him as he always says it as it is. I bet he is calling Peterson every idiot under the sun

have you got a digital radio - 5 live sport xtra do kinda of rolling highlights / analysis after the end of play

Re: SUPER ENGLAND ASHES TOUR : Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:08 pm  

Boycott has been on the TMS daily podcast everytime I've downloaded it.