Re the County Championship, I was answering the question posed by Oddy. It is my opinion, which is what I thought this forum was about sharing. If I had come on here before the game started and criticised Trevor Bayliss for not dropping Lyth as well as Ballance, the brain-dead numpties of Yorkshire would have been on this thread grumbling because they think that they are special. I would imagine that your complaint about “slagging off players who have a poor game” is a reference to Bairstow. How does one criticise them before they fail? I would not have picked him and I suspect that you would not have either. Which “early editions” are published at 11:43 in the morning?
Sorry for after-the-facting here, but it looks like normal service resumed by England – cannot polish off the tail. At least that means the punters that have packed Edgbaston will get to see the hosts bat for a while as the Aussie lead heads towards 100. Now all the discussion is about who will replace Jimmy at Trent Bridge...
I am a "my glass is empty and I may never be able to afford to fill it" type of chap. All I can think of is Headingley 81 right now In an ideal world Lyth and Cook will produce a scorching hour or so and put it to bed.
Tut Tut Chany....no sledging on this thread please! I read about Warner's "renaissance" in The Sunday Times pre series and found it rather innocuous..like Samson losing his hair actually.
121 is just big enough to make the batsmen nervous. Will they come out before lunch? I can see England limping to something like 36 for 4 before getting a grip and winning by 5 wickets.
Interesting that PP have England 5/6;Oz 10/11 in the win/regain the Ashes stakes. I can't see Australia winning another test on one these Jimmy Anderson friendly wickets. JA is bisto on a green seamer but as we saw in the second innings at Cardiff and the whole test at Lords where he went wicketless,he can't bowl on a flat track...thankfully he won't have to in this series.
They were speaking to an Aussie journalist on five live last night and she was raving about the pitch saying it was excellent and promoted exciting cricket. I hate that kind of attitude - makes it harder to gloat if we win
Almost a 2 day test day match! PP must have attracted some business..now 4/5 England winning the series. 4th test match betting; England 13/8 Australia 5/4 Draw 3/1.
Thank God we hold the Ashes. We just need to draw the series to get out of this. We'll come out of this 2-1 down, but we just need to win one of the last 2 games and draw the other. Finger's crossed.
Great biopic on Shane Warne on Sky. Athers said he's the best cricketer he's ever seen or played against...I'd go along with that..apart from Boycott (no laughing please) my all time fav. Hang on..show about "The Don" now who famously retired with a test average of 99.99...**** me..special.
How we get from Boycott to Ibiza trance I'm not sure but this weekend is the 20th anniversary of Radio 1's first broadcast from there. An evening of trance and techo..few big bottles of rioja and something to snort on a la warney. Hasta Trent Bridge!
Warne was quite simply unplayable. Unforgetable that first meeting between himself and Gatting. The guy won matches almost single handed.
England currently 21/10, Aussies 11/10 with the draw at 13/5... I think England are over priced for this next Test, not by much, but i wouldn't have em at just a shade over 2/1 after thier last performance. Are they basing it on the bounce back that these two teams seem to be doing recently as the results go WLWLWLW... It looks like another Test that will be very much decided by the opening toss and session...
The five-day weather forecast does not suggest any prospect of rain before Monday, so unless it is a flat batting track and both teams find some consistency with the bat the draw does not look much of a proposition. From the England point of view, the selection of a replacement for James Anderson on Thursday morning is going to be the key consideration. There is a general expectation that the Aussies will ring the changes with the batting line-up and there is a strong possibility that Mitchell Starc will be replaced with Peter Siddle. To win the match somebody has to take twenty wickets so I would not be rushing to put money on either side until Thursday 10:45. Presumably England have sent the Edgbaston groundsman to assist at Trent Bridge as victory would secure The Ashes for the hosts.
