"We've learnt lessons from that and we've got a little bit of momentum from that fifth day which we are looking to build on in the first couple of days in this Test match."
~~ Andrew Strauss
Can England seize the momentum for the Second Test? Form suggests not. Despite fine-tuning their Ashes campaign against an admittedly abysmal West Indies, in Cardiff their batting was sloppy, their fielding lacklustre, their bowling toothless.
On the other hand, Australia, despite a spasmodic lead-in, had the momentum but failed to capitalise on day five.
As a perpetually pessimistic Australian fan I loathe it when we fail to drive home the advantage. We should be 1-0 up. If we were, this series would be over - just the way I like it. But it's not over, far from it. England are still in the contest and any closing of the gap, wide as it was in Cardiff, will make it that much harder for Australia to win.
The question is: can England close the gap? In short: if Australia are, as they say at the track, "better for the run" (especially Johnson), no.
But. Missed chances haunt.
fuck
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:43 PM
That's a big huddle of embracement. Very wild dogs.
When are the English players going to shake Aussie hands?
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:44 PM
...ing great!
Posted by: TomL | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:44 PM
The difference was Studsy's overs of tripe and 4 wickets that shouldn't have been.
To still get as close as 115 runs indicates that with some selection changes and some decent umpiring Oz has the team to take the series.
Posted by: pat | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:47 PM
The bowling in the first session and the batting in the sixth. Crucial, rubbish cricket.
Pick your collective games up, Aus.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:51 PM
For Aus Studs has to go, this mornings knock notwithstanding.
England best hope their two stand out players are fit for the next test... Debbie and Rudi.
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:51 PM
How did we beat the Saffers? I forget now.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:54 PM
SA? How? We won the toss.
I hear on the grapevine that if Ponting wins the toss at Edgbaston he intends to send England in.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:56 PM
Yes - forgot about the batting in the sixth. That was crap.
Studsy, 4 wickets and batting in the 6th session. Change that and we win.
As for Debbie getting down on his knees with arms outstretched to be worshipped like some syphilis mad Ceasar drunk with vainglory and unrestrained hubris, gorging on peasantry on his Isle of Capris - I'll have none of it.
I'd make the Oz team watch those scenes over and over till the next Test. They'll be insane with rage and lusting for revenge.
I know I am.
Posted by: pat | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 09:57 PM
I see Rudi gets his trophy for MVP.
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Wait... did Magilla just complain about not being able to maintain pressure at both ends? Bloody hell, not that he's wrong mind, he's dead right, just to hear it coming from him.
Swings and roundabouts, both sides are horridly inconsistent. They escaped, we lost. We can easily win or at least draw the series with three games to come.
Posted by: Russ | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:01 PM
That's the stuff, Rick. You gots to laugh, and get 'em laughing with you.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Strauss says "we're not going to get carried away"
Better have a word with Debbie then.
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:04 PM
How come everyone talks about Flintoff in 2005 and here, but forgets he captained them to a 0-5 white-washed embarrassment?
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:08 PM
I'm surprised Debbie didn't just drop his strides and invite the crowd to come up one by one and kiss his ring. And I'm sure each and every pom would be falling over themselves at the opportunity.
Posted by: pat | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Strauss can feel a bit peeved i think.
Debbie gets man of the match for less than a sessions bowling, taking a few tail enders wickets. Whereas Strauss had a knock that set his team up for a win. Admittedly against some woeful bowing, but still it was his and Cooks opening stand that set them up for the win.
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Quite agree Throbber. As good as Deb was (he was gifted two wickets in that 5 by the umps), this surely was Strauss' game (as much as I hate him too).
Posted by: pat | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Almost time for Footy Classified. Anything is better than watching happy Poms.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:26 PM
Eels beat the Storm. Sigh, this cloud has a silver lining after all.
Posted by: pat | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Tone: Good call. Necessary call.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Who's the first lady of cricket?
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Harbhajan?
Posted by: Tony | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Eels may have beaten the Storm Pat... but the Sharks lost again the other night.... woe.
Posted by: Throbber | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 10:41 PM
First lady of cricket would be that blonde girly who plays for Australia, Ellyse Perry.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:16 PM
Options for Test 3. Very limited. Squad selection and injury decided that.
Lee, Watson - risky. What if Bruised Toenail is injured in session 1, day 1? He cannot be risked. Lee for Stud makes a bit of sense but he must play in the tour game, look dangerous and get wickets.
Boiled, Manou - they haven't seen a centre wicket therefore surely cannot be considered. Unless something magical happens in the tour game. if they're even picked for that that is.
Clark - has missed the boat due to Hilf. Hilf's been great, so Stu unfortunately stays sidelined.
Tour game still a relevant pointer but can't see any change at this stage.
Ian Chappell said on radio "For pure technique I cannot recall seeing an uglier opening pair than Hughes and Katich". Someone else said "Johnson's action is almost resembling Malinga's". Chappell interestingly raised Clint McKay's name in dispatches.
What's Troy Cooley doing? He's like a MI5 plant.
Prior's keeping has improved, he was crap early daze, why the f*ck hasn't Haddin's? Neilsen's an ex-keeper too?!
Can't beat ourselves up too much, as the Poms have looked less than impressive bar brilliant Freddie and Strauss cameos.
We have to show something this series (ie win it) as a Windies / Paki test series at home, NZ away tour is hardly mouthwatering redemption. The Ashes '10/11 would be a long, festering wait.
Posted by: RT | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 12:02 PM
If Studsy doesn't deliver in the tour match, bring Clark in - he surely can't be any worse than the pie-chucking effort Studsy is serving up.
Posted by: Vindicate | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Take the punt on Lee, he scares the shit out of the Poms.
Posted by: Throbber | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 06:59 PM
He scares the shit out of me.
Posted by: Tony | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 08:22 PM
Also and probably more pertinent... what other choice do we have?
Clark I guess... but......
Posted by: Throbber | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 09:52 PM
We could leave the attack as is?
This might seem an odd statement, but they didn't do that badly. Oh sure, they leaked runs, they failed to attain control of the scoring or the game, and they failed to take 20 wickets. BUT in spite of arguably the worst performance of their short careers they also rolled England for just over 400, and had them 6/300 in the second dig - despite some horrid fielding/catching by their more experienced team-mates. That is not that bad. A little improvement and they are competitive.
The bowlers were bad - horrid actually - but they didn't lose Australia the game. The batsmen did that. Two top-order collapses is shite, umpiring errors or no. All out for just over 200 is shite. Making 400 is alright, but we could have made a lot more - enough to win, actually. You can't win tests if you are bowled out in less than 2 days. Not unless the pitch is questionable, and your bowling on fire.
The bowlers are underdone, that's for sure. Nielsen and Ponting need kicking for under-bowling Studs in the warmups. But if the same team rolled out at Edgbaston, I wouldn't complain. As much as I'd like to see Clark (and probably more-so McDonald) playing, unless there is no turn on offer, in which case ditch Ritz, the alternative isn't necessarily better.
And we certainly can't shorten the batting. Not after their efforts in the last test. Re-ordering though, well, that is a different story... I'd still like to see Hussey and Hughes open with Krab at three... good luck moving the captain though.
Posted by: Russ | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 10:12 PM
You make some very good points Russ.
My thoughts re Studs tho are that unless he can get it back to 100% in the upcoming tour game, its in his best interests to not play in the next test.
More thrashing and crook bowling may well hurt him for good - both in terms of reputation but moreso in his head. he's clearly struggling at the moment but underneath that is a damn fine bowler - as we saw in SA.
I do think it's in his interest to go away and work it out, on tour games and back in the Sheild. The cauldron that is an Ashes test in a tight series in England is no place for him to work on his bowling.
Other players have had a spell and come back much better for the break - I think Studs would benefit from it at this point.
Who knows a couple of tour games and he may sort it - and come back to bowl Aus to victory at Headingly or the Oval.
As for the batsmen - they all need a good long spell in the room of mirrors. Every one of them - Pup and Haddin included.
Posted by: Throbber | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 10:35 PM
I'd never seen Johnson bowl b4 this series, and had the same "Malinga" flash as someone here. Does he always have his arm so low? He's kinda bowling across the line - like a batsman hitting across the line but even more difficult.
Posted by: sid smith | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Sid, no, he is always "slingy" and jerky (he's an ugly bowler to watch at the best of times), but his arm has generally been higher. If you jump on youtube and look at footage from South Africa you'll see Studs arm was quite high, which also meant he was getting surprising bounce, and therefore able to rip through defences when he bowled fuller.
Studs is frightening on his day, but he was never going to be the day in day out wicket-taker. He'll once or twice rip England to shreds and win the game for us though. But, to do that he needs overs, bucketloads of them, and he hasn't had them. Not least because of the daft plan to get Lee into the side, and not play Studs in the tour games.
Siddle is the bigger worry, he has been far more expensive than normal. He won't rip through a side, and he needs to stop trying and concentrate on keeping the pressure on.
Posted by: Russ | Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 08:20 AM
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/415827.html
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/415835.html
'I didn't see it'
'The players make it hard'
'We should use the technology'
I can't believe that Rudi thinks these thoughts exonerate him.
The sooner he goes the better.
Posted by: nick | Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 04:56 PM
Sounds like he was determined not to give the Aussies a break at all and is now busy justifying it to all and sundry.
Home town decisions and all.
He's a goose - retire him.
Why can't we have Daryl Hair in every test. At least he tries to enforce the laws.
Posted by: Throbber | Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 08:12 PM
Pieterson out for rest of the series. A shock - but we won at Lord's without him doing anything special.
Bell's been going great guns at country level and will be the replacement, I'm sure, with the handy side-effect of Bopara getting pushed down the order. And Bell's a far better fielder than KP.
A shock, yes, but I'm actually kind of interested to see how Bell goes.
Posted by: sid smith | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 02:49 AM
Oops. For 'country' read 'county'.
Posted by: sid smith | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 02:50 AM
You wanna know something for nothin?
I'll tell you anyway.
Freddie bowled well, right.
Hardly a bad ball. Sustained aggression. Good bounce. Over 90.
Love it.
However.
He got a five-for that included two shockers, the keeper, and two of the tail.
He cleaned up an innings.
Yet he, and his fans, celebrated like he had bagged a triple hat-trick on a dead pitch to bundle out Australia who had been chasing 50 in a Test that everyone had, up until his "inspired" burst, considered lost.
In fact: apropos amazing deeds. There was more than the isolated comparison to Headingly in 1981. That was an amazing win.
Cleaning up a tail, with a new ball, on a last morning, of a Test that was already won, was not.
Infredible? I think not.
Posted by: Tony | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 10:45 AM
I guess it was much better than our bowlers could do on the last day at Cardiff.
That's the difference.
Posted by: Adsy | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 01:31 PM
The Watson to open "and I can probably bowl 12-15 overs in a day" idea does have some merit. Hughes will surely get another chance but he really is under scrutiny. Those pair of 100's in Durban must seem like a dream. If Watson bruises a delicate digit bowling at least he can pull on the pads, hopefully without further injuring himself. His batting technique is reasonably sound and he did open for Qld on various occasions.
Posted by: RT | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 04:18 PM
Tony, I agree completely about Freddie.
Yes he bowled well but it was the worst five for ever, and what's worse is it was only his third ..... ever.
Yes he's not a bad player at all.
However - He is overrated.
Posted by: Throbber | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 07:34 PM
Watson... purlease!!!!
Pick him and he'll pull a muscle combing his hair before play.
He's a waste of space.
Posted by: Throbber | Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 07:35 PM
Pieterson has really done rock all for the poms so far, my reaction was less "oh goody now we have a chance", to "Shit, I hope Bell can't do any better". As I recall Bell did three fifths of fvck all in '07 - mind you the same could be said for most of the england side in that tour.
Posted by: Vindicate | Friday, July 24, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Big piece in the London Evening Standard about what's (allegedly) wrong with yer man Johnson - women. Sorry if this is old news to you Aussies.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23723147-details/Aussie+reduced+to+Ashes+by+mother%27s+clash+with+girlfriend/article.do
(How do I do proper embedded links then?)
Posted by: sid smith | Friday, July 24, 2009 at 08:17 AM
Sid, the Johnson family saga is providing much in the way of headlines.
Regarding linkage: look here.
Posted by: Tony | Friday, July 24, 2009 at 01:30 PM
Dear me. I do hope our lads in the slip cordon don't say anything to upset the poor fellow.
Mum's the word!
Posted by: sid smith | Friday, July 24, 2009 at 04:38 PM