Reynard

It is probably going to be Tremlett in for Bresnan then. No rest for Jimmy yet. Too bad for Bresnan actually as he did a good job when he has played so far. Tremlett should do OK though and he might ruffle the Aussies a bit. He probably isn't going to rip through their batting line up all the same, but if he is on song he is a big problem on fast bouncy wickets. England will be going in with quite a long tail though especially with Prior having done f**k all with the bat. He is due some runs though but he is way out of form and his keeping is fairly shit too anyway. I can understand why Geoffrey is calling on Bairstow to be given more wicket keeping duties in the near future with an eye on replacing Prior in due course. Bairstow coming in at seven makes a bit more sense than him coming in at six with his flawed technique and playing across the line all the time. As a destructive wicket keeper/batsman in the Prior type mould he will do for me actually. Bresnan has to put his body right through the mill in order to bowl at "test pace" and it is certainly going to take its toll on him if he plays many more tests. Its a shame as he is quite close to being a half decent all rounder type if he can manage to bat like he did in the last test, he is no mug as a batsman and should have shown it a lot more for England. Hopefully he can be fit enough to get in the tour party.

I dont think so. He will never sort out his LBW issue, but he can score runs up there no bother. He is in there for his bowling as much as anything anyway, he is a very important bowler to the Aussies, and the fact he can help build pressure by simply bowling maidens is worth a lot to them. Its actually a big part of their bowling plan in this series and he has made his contribution. I have no idea whether the tales of him being disruptive are true or not. I doubt it though as you simply cant have that on a long tour like this. Im sure not all players get on brilliantly with their team mates, thats pretty normal and in cricketing circles on long tours they know how to cope with these things, its not exactly unusual.

Amir did look like he would be an outstanding bowler. He had a good action, he was fast, he swung it and moved it around on surfaces ordinarly bowlers would struggle on. I felt quite gutted that were were going to be deprived of seeing that kid grow into a top quality bowler, maybe he can come back from this? A shame.

f**k off with the Americanisms

Easily. He came into this series really toiling for decent test form as well. Seems to have refound it! His century in this test was a really good one, he gave very few chances and he batted so fluently . As fro Australia, what have they found out in this series? I reckon they have been competitive, which I expected them to be anyway as its a bit like derby matches when teams can raise their games. They have probably found their openers for the series coming up. Watson is a walking LBW hazard but is a decent cricketer. Harris can be a top class test bolwer if he can stay healthy. Clarke is class but is being asked to shoulder a lot, although I think he is a very good captain. The bowling line up has been generally quite effective in this series so there is something to take into the next series for them providing they all stay fit. The batting line up looks better with he boxer opening, he is a class player actually and with a few tweaks here and there they might be competitive again. Confidence wise they must be finding things tough going no matter what they say in public. Two really heavy series losses in a row, although they have certainly competed in this one. But that collapse yesterday will prey on their minds and undid a lot of the good stuff from the previuous test match.

He actually did a job in this test by bowling fairly dry, and when it began to swing he was a handful himself. The pitches havent really helped guys like him in this series but he did his bit today.

Boycott is possibly correct. Unless the folk running the sport actually protect test cricket, its lilely to die simply because the money isnt there for the smaller cricket playing nations. Their best players will look to earn their living from 20-20 cricket. I expect Pietersen to ditch test cricket and go and collect his fortune in India too. You cant really blame players for doing this, test cricket is definitely a throwback to the colonial times and for players to be away from home for such a long time and not really be rewarded financially for it is a big ask. The attraction of 20-20 is blindingly obvious. Youd hope there would be some way of preserving test cricket as it is really the spirit and essence of the sport, but it will be down to money. India is a place where serious fortunes can be made for the players now, it cant be stopped and it shouldnt be, but test cricket should not be allowed to wither and die for it.

I thought ENngland were toiling with the new ball, the Aussie openers clearly decided to come at England and try to pressurise the bolwers, which they did very well indeed. Warner was excellent in the opening salvo. Once the ball began to reverse Australia were fucked though.

I wanted to bowl like Michael Holding when I was a kid. He had an absolutely beautiful run up and delivery and was just a brilliant athlete. I really hope they start unearthing fast bowlers like that again, cricket needs that.

I should really be apologising profusely to Mr Bresnan too. When the ball starts to swing he is decent and for once, his batting came good when it mattered. Depending on how Jimmy is feeling (and he looks like he needs a break) I dont see England changing the line up for the oval test.

BTW, Ive been harsh on Broad at times, but I think he has looked like he has finally become a big beast in test cricket. He has bowled pretty well the entire series even if he hasnt been getting the rewards for it. He CAN go through spells of genuine pace bowling like today, I'd like to see him be much more of a c**t to batsmen, really get in thei faces, stick the ball on the helmet a few times and generally be a bad b*****d. Show the lad some footage of Holding, Roberts, Marshall, Garner Lillee, and Thommo in their prime. They were all utter b*****ds, Broad has it in him to bowl really quick, he should be doing it more often.

f**k knows what was in Broads cucumber snadwiches at tea but he was inspired. Cook did well with the bowlers actually, as soon as he saw Anderson starting to get reverse swing going he binned Swann immediately and let the two fast boys rip Australia to pieces. Its incredible how fast the collapses can happen in test matches once the tone is set there's very little that can be done to stop it happening. I expected England to win once they got to roughly 300 ahead, but wasn't expecting that. E3specially after they had set themselves up with a good start. But we see this sort of thing happen a lot in the last innings, it is very difficult to get a stack of runs. In spite of players being able to do it in 20-20 cricket and one day stuff, in test cricket it is just so different, largely down to the way the bowlers work on the ball and the lenght of time it gets used. It was another good game though and it went through spells when both teams had the upper hand. Thats the absolute beauty of test cricket, there just isnt another sport remotely like it. I had the chance to go today as a last minute replacement for one of my friends but I had to be somewhere this afternoon. Thats twice in this series Ive had to knock back tickets or a chance to go. Hopefully the oval test gives another win to England, I really want to see utter depression reigning over Australian cricket for a while. And I want to see them being fucking gubbed in front of their mouthy fans in their own back yard again. Thats always sweet.

Harris was tremendous this morning, what a good bowler that bloke is. Career best figures which he utterly deservedtoo. 299 is a tall order for Australia, they will need to see off this new ball and probably another one down the line as well if they are going to win this, it's gettable, but it will be a fantastic effort to do it.

Trott is the best number 3 England have had in about thirty years. There's absolutely no chance he will be dumped. Hisis simply a form issue and not a technical thing. Players will tend to be dropped when theres a technical thing gpoing on thats being exploited. Bairstow actually got a good ball this time and was looking like he had been working on his issues. Root plays off the back foot and his issues now are playing back on slow wickets with the ball doing a bit or swinging. He could do a lot better in Australai where the wickets are quicker and you actually need to be good rocking back. Bresnan isnt good enough to be a thrid seamer in my opinion. He isnt naturally quick enough to do it and his strike rate is pish. Once Finn sorts his run up he will be back in as his strike rate is up there with the better guys. Cook is struggling with form, nothing else. Root has some issues, but after shoving him in to open I dont see them dumping him at this stage. Bairstow is the most likely guy to be dropped for the likes of Taylor and Bresnan shouldnt have played as he isnt good enough. Depending on the result here youmight get two changes, its likely that there will only be one and it might not be Bairstow, possibly just Bresnan.

The one day stuff can be good fun too, but test cricket really sorts out the players abilities. Any weaknesses at all are nagged away at by the opposition bowlers if they are good enough. It was good listening to Warne trying to describe how he would operate as a bowler, taking a bit of time to work out what the ball was doing on a particular wicket, and what speed to bowl att, where to bowl to each batsman, They all have a plan for each guy batting. They know where they like to score runs and what they are not happy doing. It can really break a batsmans heart when a bowler has his number. The TV coverage now is really helpful to people who are wanting to try and understand whats going on. The stats and the computer diagrams and stuff are light years ahead of what my age group ever had. Id love to be a kid learning to play now as half the coaching we got back in the day was trying to describe what the cameras can now pick up easily.

This is in English conditions. It changes depending on which part of the world you are playing. The pitches all vary so much. It used to be even worse back in the day before drop in pitches in some of the parts of the world where you got some really difficult wickets. The days when in the west indies they had that pace attack with some incredibly dangerous up and down wickets, Australais were fast and bouncy generally, the sub continent were just patches of earth with barely a blade of grass on them. NZ and their seaming greeners...

It tends to be difficult for the side batting last to get a reasonable total. There are reasons why teams find it very difficult to get scores of 200 plus in last innnings of tests. The pressure of the game itself, the natural wearing of the pitch means that the ball is hitting cracks or plates of earth that are loose. The surface is breaking up sometimes which means the ball grips and spins as well as bouncing up and down randomly. Its very difficult for batsmen to score runs in those conditions ordinarily never mind at the business end of a match. To be on the safe side England will simply want to bat two sessions and get as many runs as they can on the board. BUT if you look at the history of fourth innings run chases through the history of the sport, youll see that England are already in a decent position now. But the runs can still be knocked off by the Aussies test cricket is a bit like that.

No. If England bat another session and a bit they should have ll the runs they are going to need to win. I cant see Australia getting the runs required in these conditions. Anything over 250 is safety and there will be no declaration either. Cook will be wanting to bat as long as possible, the series win is also there for the taking with a draw, so simply batting as long as possible is the way to go. Both teams tails have collapsed pretty cheaply in this test so far, and it could happen again easily enough. Having a 200 run lead with half the wickets left is fine. even getting a couple of hundred batting last in a test can be tough work, its more than competitive asit stands now but it will be added to in the morning.

It will be a fourth innings with a chance for both sides. What more could you ask for in test cricket? It looks like it will be good bowling conditions again tomorrow.

Bairstow got a good ball this time and he was batting well enough. It bounced on him from nowhere. 200 will be hard to chase down, anything near 250 will be a put the mortgage on it job.

That was a brilliant innings from Bell.He has got his runs in a series that has looked difficult for batsmen. A couple of hundred ahead is a decent position, possibly enough to win it especially as the bounce is getting a bit more erratic and one or two have spun. England can bat as long as they can now tomorrow, and take this match well away from Australia. With the pressure on Aussie I still think the crumble is possible from them.

It was bollocks

He looks to play off the back foot, on a pitch thats moving about a bit. Thats why. Its why he got bowled there too. Its encouraging when you see a batsman doing that on a wicket thats doing a bit.

32 lead doesnt actually sound much, but it is on that wicket

220 lead would be a tough chase on that.