Remember 2005? England leading the Ashes Series 2-1 as they arrived at The Oval. It was a batting track. On Day Five, the Aussies kept dropping Pietersen and he went on to score 158 and the match was batted out to a draw, winning England the Ashes. If England needed to win the final Test to win back The Ashes, Cook would have opted to bat. He gambled on another Aussie collapse and it has not happened (yet). The decision to bowl first is now not looking so clever with everyone except the outgoing Australian captain getting in the runs on a wicket that does not seem to be doing much for the bowlers. Australia had the best of Day One so England need wickets quickly or this will become a two result game and neither of them will be England victory. As the weather forecast for Sunday and Monday is very poor, it is little surprise that England are 10/1 to win, the draw is 7/4 and Australia are 20/19. If England look like getting a decent total when they bat, the draw will be odds-on tomorrow.
Yes, this is after-timing. It seems that with the Series already won, the England bowlers have gone demob happy and the captain is doing nothing to inspire any confidence that Australia will be bowled out twice. With Moeen Ali getting two wickets in the over before lunch, he is obviously going to win the Series against Pakistan single-handedly. Finn finally got his hundredth wicket at the 102nd attempt (Nevill no ball at Trent Bridge, Smith no ball at The Oval) thanks to Mitchell Marsh.
Well Australia did have a mini collapse before lunch but the rapid 50 from Starc kicked them on again to a good total. England have collapsed I'm afraid and we could be in for another three day test match. Well played Australia.
They blend good tea, I know that............. Oh, well played Australia, I'm not surprised quite honestly.
Just watching the test highlights Oddy and Yorkshire will be bolstered soon by the return of Lyth and Bairstow. A level too far for those two I'm afraid. Interesting that Butcher,Beefy and Athers referred to our inability to play on "good","proper" and "normal" test pitches. We are basically unbeatable with a duke ball on farcicle wickets with sideways movement..why we were such a great bet for this series. As a cricket fan...I don't like it.
The ECB deny this City. As for the Australian pitches,they are the same year in year out..especially the Gabba and the WACA..you know what you are going to get..except for the MCG perhaps which can vary since it is a drop in but is generally a good pitch. We change venues and wicket conditions to order. Even Sydney is reasonably predicable.
When Geoffrey Boycott described Joe Root as “the Number One batsman in the World”, I knew that Root and England were in trouble. If this Australia side can score 481 on it, The Oval wicket holds no fears except for batsmen playing stupid strokes. They should be following on soon and their only realistic prospect of salvaging a draw from this fiasco is to hope that most of Sunday and Monday are lost to rain.
If the batsmen currently at the crease rack up a partnership of 380 and we go on to win will it be known as a cook and bell story?
I don't really see the point in playing a 5th game when one team is already 3-1 infront, you don't see Roger Federer having to play the 4th and 5th set when he's 3-0 up
The Aussie lead is less than a hundred now. Can they knock off the two wickets they need to win before the rain arrives? The weather forecast has most of the afternoon lost on Sunday and virtually no prospect of play on Monday.
The rain has arrived at The Oval... will it save England? Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire Alex Hales b Wright 189 (28x4, 2x6) England v Australia Adam Lyth c Starc b Siddle 19 (4x4) Adam Lyth c Clarke b Siddle 10 (2x4) Which one should be opening for England?
Ive been shouting for Hales to be put into the Test side for many a time now, both on here and in my local. He is one of those pwer hitters that all sides seem to have, our last one was KP and we are still searching for the next one. Lyth and Balance before him have struggled at this level even after a few matches behind them. Seems strange to me that Aggers on the BBC website is suggesting that Moeen Ali could open up when we go to play Pakistan soon to make room for a 'proper' spinner. Get Hales in now to bed himself into the Test side so he feels at home when we come up to play SA soon and the next trip back down-under...
Professional sports are supposed to be about providing entertainment for the paying public, even if we think that in many cases the participants are overpaid prima donnas. In that respect, this has been an entertaining Ashes 2015 – certainly for followers of England, having already secured a Series victory. However, to draw a comparison with another sport, this has not been Chelsea versus Manchester City but more like Walsall versus Port Vale. Both teams have been shocking at times resulting in short Test matches. Fortunately the visitors have been the more profligate from an English point of view. One thing that this does appear to guarantee is some good opportunities this winter for sensible unpatriotic punting: 13-17 Oct 15 – Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Pakistan to beat England 22-26 Oct 15 – Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Pakistan to beat England 1-5 Nov 15 – Sharjah CA Stadium, Sharjah – Pakistan to beat England 26-30 Dec 15 – Kingsmead, Durban – South Africa to beat England 2-6 Jan 16 – Newlands, Capetown – South Africa to beat England 14-18 Jan 16 – New Wanderers, Johannesburg – South Africa to beat England 22-26 Jan 16 – Supersport Park, Centurion – South Africa to beat England The odds are just going to be really cramped by the end of October...
Chris Rodgers will be hard to replace for Oz as will Pup...legends. My favourite batter of all time (yes all time) retired today as well. Kumar Sangakkara..check out his stats...pure class... ...On and off the field.
Yes, do agree there. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: The public perception of sledging is to go out there and abuse someone in obscene language, questioning their parentage or sexual preferences. That kind of abuse does not belong on the field of play. Sledging, as coined and pioneered by the Australians, is a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders. —Kumara Sangakkara in 2004
Personally, as an avid Australian cricket fan, I think sledgers should shut the **** up. Bad manners are bad manners. P.S. Considering the "F" word, I just realised how hypocritical that comment was.
First post of 2016: Let me start with some Humble Pie... So I got that completely wrong; it is a funny old game. Who knows, I might get these wrong too: They may be the No. 1 team in cricket nominally but South Africa are in dreadful form and they were well and truly humbled by England, even with captain cautious Cook batting them completely out of the game in the third innings and risking them saving the game. The Proteas were rubbish against India, Hashim Amla is hopelessly out of form, Dale Steyn will miss the second Test at Newlands and AB de Villiers cannot carry the team on his own. Are there grounds for thinking that England should now be favourites to win this Series?
