Reynard

So, as suspected, Australia were not really as far in control as some were saying yesterday. And if England can get a lead of around a couple of hundred on a wicket like that, its going to take a bit of getting for the Aussies. England wont be too upset about the lead Australia have got either, that was a reasonably good bating effort by the aussies on that surface. Runs should be tougher to get as this drags on.

Will Jimmy get Siddle again? four wickets for four runs to Siddle in this series

Liked the wee coaching session with Warne yesterday on SKY.

The third seamer needs to be a wicket taker as well. Bresnan just isn't. I think they may risk Tremlett for the oval test depending on wht happens here right enough, but most folk reckon Onions should have been starting this one, and I agree Bairstow needs to be out of the side and being made to work on his technique a bit more. I think in due course he COULD be a test player, but not yet. We have seen plenty of better players than him being twatted out the side fairly swiftly when they failed. BUT, the English batting hasn't been dominating bowling attacks for a while now. We keep hearing about the depth of bowling out there, but none of them ever play. Another thing in Australias favour a bit is that Clark is a far far better captain than Cook is at the moment. Thats worth a lot to a test side. Should be a good days play.

Today is the crucial day in terms of deciding which way the test is likely to go I reckon. Australia are one wicket away from a longer tail than normal and the new ball will do something on that wicket. Brilliant century from the old boy in really difficult batting conditions, the poor sod was neary breaking down in interviews afterwards. He did his job brilliantly well with good support from Watson. Broad bowled beautifully with the new ball, and will need to do it again to get rid of the tail as cheaply as possible here. Any Aussie lead under a hundred or ideally around the fifty mark will suit England fine. That wicket will be REALLY horrible to bat on last, its going to turn and its going to be bouncing up and down too. This isn't quite as in Australias favour as some might think either, it really does depend how they do this morning and how England bowl to them. These low scoring tests are often really good stuff towards the end. I still think playing Bresnan is a mistake, he isn't good enough for test cricket.

You have to look at Cooks performances as well and wonder if he might have been happy with a grinder at the other end seeing off the new ball at very least. The fact Root has failed so often has also put pressure on Trott at times and he has been confronted with quite a few times when he was going in with an early wicket and a brand new ball to face. I didn't really see the problem with letting Root carry on up the order for a couple of series and then look to drop him in as an opener. Or even letting him do it in dead rubbers or something. Anyway, he did make one big score opening, and he does have it in him, but he is going to be confronted with justifying his selection quite soon, folk are already wondering about it now. Englands top order hasn't worked at all really so far, it has been a slight problem for them at times because they were really sticking 4-450 on the board quite often in recent series past but not for a while really. They have been getting away with it a bit. Cook will come good, but Australia are rightly making life very difficult for him and his opening partner has failed more often than not which has stuck him under even more pressure to score the runs. He has got out to one or two ropey attempts to score. Trott has too actually, although it has more to do with his lack of feet movement early on in his innings when he is a bit vulnerable to playing round his pads and pushing at balls to score runs early. It will be interesting to see how the pair of them get on in the afternoon session, any juice there was forthe bowlers has pretty much gone now, it looks like a good batting track and England have pretty obviously set themselves up to be batting all day long if they can.

quite an opening over from Bird there. Its doing a bit this morning so England will need to be careful or they will be doing their usual 20-3 job.

No, they drew it. Well, thats arguable. England are a good side, Australia are rebuilding theirs. They have a reasonably effective bowling line up (if it stays fit) but their batting is erratic. The last test was one of those matches where the toss was crucial to win. This one coming up might not be such a big deal. But the wickets are almost sub continent in this series and you simply dont want to be batting last, ever, on those things. The problem with your analysis is that Australia aren't going to improve radically in three months time. It will be the same bunch of plodders, with the class act that is Clark shining like a beacon. The wickets down there will have pace, that will suit the likes of Tremlett and Finn, and possibly even Broad if he is ruffled about something. This England side hasn't performed at all yet, yet it is two nil up after three tests here.

I still wouldn't pick Bresnan he just doesn't have the basic weapons to be a good test bowler. And a bit like his old mate Frontbottom, he has to try and bowl that little bit faster than his body is built to withstand to try and be effective. His strike rate is fucking shit too. I'd get Finn or Tremlett in for this one, maybe even Onions although I'm not sure about him either. It might be a wicket that suits him though, but England don't seem to pick horses for courses. Who knows. As for Australia, is Harris OK? If he is, its a bit of a miracle that he will have lasted three tests in a row. If he plays it will surely be his last test until the next series, assuming he hasn't fallen to bits. He's a good bowler and has contributed to nullifying the likes of Cook in particular. In fact the Aussie bowling has been decent this series to their target batsmen, they have bowled with good discipline to Cook, Trott and Pietersen who they have targeted as being the top boys for England. The bowling to Cook in particular has impressed me, fifth stump and full has stopped him getting away and scoring in his favourite places. He is a class batsman though and will work out how to counter this but it has been good stuff from the Aussie bowlers. Anway, for this one, England to win by an innings and about three hundred runs by sunday.

Why's that then? Maybe if they don't lose this one by the third test. Oops!

I don't know about THAT, but anyone that knows anything about the sport knows that England are a better side and they have just retained the Ashes, which proves it. Your dribbling on about ifs and ands is irrelevant. Test cricket never lies, and in the recently drawn test match there is absolute no way you can say with any certainty that England would have lost that. They have lost the top three for f**k all fairly regularly in this series so far after all and were still going in to that test with two wins under their belt. suck it up

Yes, it is a pumping. The ashes were retained in 14 days of cricket. Australia lost the first two tests, the second by a fucking mile. And failed to keep the series alive by winning at Old Trafford, thus failing to win the ashes.. There were signs of hope in most of the tests for Australia of course. But the facts are there. The rain simply helped them to avoid a series whitewash, England were playing for the draw as soon as they lost the toss anyway. Maybe Australia will win a test in England this series? But I doubt it, they are shit.

You seem oblivious to quite a lot regarding cricket. Ashes retained in three tests. That's a pumping.

Good to see that you are taking your pumping so well.

250 in the last innings is still a tall order. Not too many sides actually manage it at the best of times, the pitch is worn to f**k,if anyone has actually had a look at the state of a last day wicket they will understand why runs are normally hard to come by. There are basically craters where the bowlers feet land and run off. There are cracks big enough to lose a fucking pet dog down and the surface becomes loose like a loose paving slab. The bounce of the ball is therefore " a little bit erratic".. 250-280 would have been plenty. The trouble with yesterday is that the overhead conditions were probably the best of the test match for bowling, but they also led to the game being ended early... cricket is a right b*****d sport for that sort of thing. Anyway, get it right fucking up you, you whingeing b*****d Aussies. Your team is shite.

Prohibition solved nothing. Ever.

10 wickets in near enough 100 overs, assuming they get a full days play. Its gettable if the pressure builds.

That didn't help, I really thought they'd have gone for a 20-20 type slog before tea if it was runs on the board that they were wanting. They still have enough, more than enough, to win it, but it's down to time and the weather now. It was quite an interesting bit of the match today simply because the draw was LIKELY and that was obviously no use to Australia but they needed to take a risk with the declaration I think and back their bowlers to keep it tight like they have done as well as get the wickets. They may still do it of course, but I think there is a bit less chance now. I'm sure he weighed it up all the same, but if there was a time to take the risk then it was this afternoon I reckon. Time will tell, but I think 250, although gettable probably wasn't on. I don't think England were looking to do anything other than take a draw out of this after they lost the toss on a total road of a wicket. It certainly played nice for batting for the Aussies. It was a toss they needed to win and from there on it it was simply a case of stacking the runs and hoping the pressure got to England. I think England just about held it together enough. England dont need to make the runs, they need the top three to simply block like f**k tomorrow,

I think Clarke has blown it. He should have stuck England back in at 280-300 runs needed. There's no way England would have got it and frankly, in the context of the series, it wouldn't matter a f**k if they had. Australia absolutely HAVE to win this one or thats the ashes gone for them and they should have declared earlier. Its not been Clarkes style to be too conservative in his captaincy, but this time, I reckon he has been and it will cost him a chance at winning the test. He needed to gamble I reckon. There is a chance they could knock England over tomorrow, but looking at the weather, it's not likely.

England need to bat all day tomorrow and till have wickets left into sunday. There is meant to be a risk of rain soo that may help them out a bit. WTF was Bresnan doing walking to that? If he cant tell the difference between his arse and the bat then he should chuck it. Root got a decent ball to shift him and although England were not attempting to score runs in that session, the Aussie bowlers did bowl a good line, which they will have to do tomorrow. And why the f**k was Lyons not picked for the first two tests? He is streets ahead of Agar as a bowler and will cause England big problems on that wicket I reckon. Good to see Clark show his undoubted class, I like the guy and its good he got into form, great knock on a helpful wicket, but he did it and got his team into a good position. We will see tomorrow how it goes, but England have struggled to pile up runs the past couple of series and they really need to in this innings.

And why would his captain, standing at the other end let him waste a review like that? Fucking stupid cricket all round.

Australia should be able to bat themselves out of sight today if they knuckle down. The pitch is good for batting on but its going to get harder to bat as the match trundles on so if the Aussies get a big enough total they can at least rule out the England win today I reckon. The pressure then turns right on to England and we will see what happens from there. Batting on the fourth and fifth day will be really tough I reckon and if the aussies can get another couple of hundred today or better then they are in a great position to push for the win, their bowlers can do the business

Looks like a good toss to have won though. The Aussies need to stack the runs here and get some pressure on properly.

That was dreadful.