And another one! Glad to see Haddin and Johnson go, two pricks of the highest order and that's by Australian standards.
So Aussie 44/5 in 75 minutes this morning Come on Cook and Lyth, hang in there and make the excellent bowling display count for something
Well that'll be that then. Lead in excess of 100. Was not expecting this when we were 40-3 and Root had been dropped on 0. Let's hope the Aussie attack is equally wayward in the second innings and that our batters knuckle down and don't give them anything to get their teeth into - I don't want us to be relying on another Root wonder innings and the lower order wagging.
The openers need to have a good innings, just a good steady afternoon of batting, no Hollywood shots just keep it simple.
FFS Cromer don't get ahead of yourself, this is England we're talking about it could all go 'Pete Tong' quite easily
So far so good. Lost three wickets, but nearing 250 lead and the pitch seems to be deteriorating rapidly. 300 could well be enough.
No way will we declare around 300. Given that there are still two full days left in the match I honestly can't see Cook declaring much earlier than lunch tomorrow (assuming that we are not skittled out before then) just to ensure that the Aussies don't have sufficient time to knock off whatever we have. That said if England stay in for much longer then we will have a massive score as we are scoring remarkably quickly and have Buttler and Ali to come who are not exactly blockers.
I don't think there will be a declaration. We'll be out before a declaration becomes an option/necessary.
What do we all reckon then? 412 would be the Aussies highest ever chase in the Ashes, and the pitch is favouring us. But with no need to score quickly, I can certainly see the likes of Smith putting a dent in that total.
I reckon on a wearing, unpredictable pitch, Moeen Ali and Jimmy Anderson will have a big part to play in the Aussies second innings. Forecast not too smart for Sunday - if it gets that far, Aus will have batted / battled well Impetus England, and no doubt about it.
Was in a bar with several Aussies last night when the tv was switched to the ashes. Oh, sweet revenge for their reaction to the last series.
And Smith has gone, 6th ball after lunch- ****ing get in there- Please wipe the arrogant smile off their smug faces, come on England
All these predictions of how the Aussies are too good for us (all by them). Oh yeah? We smashed them. Take the arrogant barstewards down lads.
Well that went well. Didn't expect us to play that well. Joe Root is just superb. Frankly we were never going to be as bad in England, Australia have brought several players with good reputations who have struggled in England. It is however only 1 test, clearly there's a contest on here but Australia will get used to the conditions, it's important to capitalise at lords before they can regroup.
