Oh well, at least this one was close. Please drop Rankin, we don't owe him a place in the team just because he chose to play for England.
316 - it's good but I fancy Aus will chase it down, disappointing after such a good start. Thank goodness for Buttler's quick 71 or we might have been defending 270-280.
I don't believe that Umpires are 100% neutral in any sport, and always favour the home team. You see it time after time at all levels. Human nature dictates that in a 50/50 situation you will lean towards the most partisan section, which 99% of the time is the home side. Having said that I thought Bopara played like a new boy,and not a seasoned pro. He truly was awful.
Not a bad effort to get to 200, Bopara showing the top order how it's done. Root did quite well but swap Root for Pietersen and Bresnan for Stokes and we have a formidable looking batting lineup.
Bopara showing us what he is capable of,just wish he would do it more often, Not really convinced with Lumb or Bresnen.
Tredwell dropped instead of Dernbach who goes for 26 off the final over, another great selection decision there.
Aussie hit 13 x 6s and 12 x 4s England hit 3 x 6s and 10 x 4s Enough said. Dernbach 4.0 0 49 0 - Absolute garbage. And this was Aussies 2nd X1
Here's an England supporter admitting that he was urging Bailey to hit every Dernbach ball for six. They're both playing in the wrong team...
South Africa with 4 first innings wickets remaining still trail Australia by 257 runs South Africa 140 for 6 (de Villiers 53*, Johnson 4-52) - Australia 397 (Marsh 148, Smith 100, Steyn 4-78) Maybe we were not that bad!!
