This is a placid pitch, Carberry's missed catch has made a huge difference. Johnson bowling at upwards of 93 mph has given us a big problem. I can see us being bowled out for 300. The best we can hope for out of this game is a draw. With Perth coming I can see the Ashes slipping away.
Had Cook won the toss and had batted first, who knows what might have happened. Would England have got 400+?
Fair play to the Aussies, they want this so bad this time around. Mitchell Johnson looks like a man possessed at the mo. The Aussies in my office at full of themselves this morning and rightly so.
Fuck me, what a catalogue of missed chances - you just cannot afford them at this level.
Root dropping Clarke and Carberry dropping Haddin probably cost the best part of 270 runs all up - the stuff of nightmares.
The Aussies only real danger is Johnson - the pitch is an absolute road so the rest should be respected but not feared.
To be honest with you something is not quite sitting right about this Mitchell Johnson "comeback" - blokes who will be 33 on their next birthday should not really be bowling 153Kmh - the likes of Brett Lee lost speed as they entered their 30's they sure as shit did not gain it.
I am sure this probably sounds like sour grapes - it probably is! - but something about this sudden Johnson renaissance seem very peculiar.
2 bright points so far .. (I am not quite clutching at straws) .. Root & Carberry sticking it out at the finish .. Kiwi Stokes looked a prospect as a bowler, he's young tough and aggressive as well as talented .. one negative note .. where is the next top class ENGLISH BORN & BRED player going to come from
2 bright points so far .. (I am not quite clutching at straws) .. Root & Carberry sticking it out at the finish ..
problem is, they're not going anywhere & are bogged down just like the 1st test. I realise they only had a few overs before close of play but I bet if the Aussies were in the same position they would be scoring at more than 1.5 runs an over.
2 bright points so far .. (I am not quite clutching at straws) .. Root & Carberry sticking it out at the finish ..
problem is, they're not going anywhere & are bogged down just like the 1st test. I realise they only had a few overs before close of play but I bet if the Aussies were in the same position they would be scoring at more than 1.5 runs an over.
Agreed to a certain extent .. we will see what happens tomorrow/tonight
Got to hand it to the Aussies , they are head and shoulders above us at the moment but you can't help but think that losing the tosses has been instrumental in our displays so far in Australia.
2 bright points so far .. (I am not quite clutching at straws) .. Root & Carberry sticking it out at the finish ..
problem is, they're not going anywhere & are bogged down just like the 1st test. I realise they only had a few overs before close of play but I bet if the Aussies were in the same position they would be scoring at more than 1.5 runs an over.
True but thats because they open with Warner who only knows one way to play regardless of the format he's playing in.
Fuck me, what a catalogue of missed chances - you just cannot afford them at this level.
Root dropping Clarke and Carberry dropping Haddin probably cost the best part of 270 runs all up - the stuff of nightmares.
The Aussies only real danger is Johnson - the pitch is an absolute road so the rest should be respected but not feared.
To be honest with you something is not quite sitting right about this Mitchell Johnson "comeback" - blokes who will be 33 on their next birthday should not really be bowling 153Kmh - the likes of Brett Lee lost speed as they entered their 30's they sure as shit did not gain it.
I am sure this probably sounds like sour grapes - it probably is! - but something about this sudden Johnson renaissance seem very peculiar.
2 bright points so far .. (I am not quite clutching at straws) .. Root & Carberry sticking it out at the finish .. Kiwi Stokes looked a prospect as a bowler, he's young tough and aggressive as well as talented .. one negative note .. where is the next top class ENGLISH BORN & BRED player going to come from
This is a problem even more so when you consider just how many of our current main men are past 30.
Carberry is only a short/shortish term solution. Trott might not come back. KP might decide to jack it in for IPL and the one day game. Prior has lost it and possibly might not get it back. Who is Swann/Monty's likely replacement? Can Jimmy maintain his very high standards for another two or three years? Bresnan has his fair amount of injuries and how much longer can he put his large unit through it?
That leaves Cook, Bell (soon 32 himself), Broad plus the inconsistent Finn and the likes of Root, Ballance, Bairstow, Buttler, Stokes, Hales etc etc who have all yet to conclusively prove themselves at Test level.
Yes cricket isn't quite like football as players do play 'til their mid 30's at the top but, as the Aussies found, when a whole team gets old at the same time you do tend to go backwards.
^^^ I agree with this .. a perceptive, accurate and worrying point of view ... Though Stokes, Buttler and who is the left arm Essex quickie (there are 2, Topley Jnr and the guy whose name I have forgotten) look very promising, Buttler, if he can adapt to test cricket could be a new Hayden/Pietersen .. trouble is Flower will keep his old guard until they drop from old age or exhaustion.
For many years England were criticised for inconsistent selection and not giving people a chance. Central contracts went a long way to stop this but in my opinion but Flower and his predecessor both one, Fletcher took continuity to too high a level. I am fed up with hearing that Test players don't lose their skills overnight, of course they don't, but they do over time.
It's a shame cook is a useless tosser. Who knows whether it would have made any difference but it must be psychologically challenging to be chasing down huge totals all the time rather than having a crack first on these pitches.
It's a shame cook is a useless tosser. Who knows whether it would have made any difference but it must be psychologically challenging to be chasing down huge totals all the time rather than having a crack first on these pitches.
Useless tosser? Hang about!
Not much he could do about losing the toss twice either?!
It's a shame cook is a useless tosser. Who knows whether it would have made any difference but it must be psychologically challenging to be chasing down huge totals all the time rather than having a crack first on these pitches.
Your living up to your name. If you know anything about cricket you will know Cooke is far from useless and if we had won the toss we wouldn't have been chasing these totals .
This is not a very good Aussie side, they are over performing and we are underperforming. I think that Clarke, Harris and Johnson are the only players that would get in the England side.
This is not a very good Aussie side, they are over performing and we are underperforming. I think that Clarke, Harris and Johnson are the only players that would get in the England side.
This is not a very good Aussie side, they are over performing and we are underperforming. I think that Clarke, Harris and Johnson are the only players that would get in the England side.
You'd pick Prior over Haddin?????
prior has a better test match record than Haddin, but he is not on form at all right now.
Comments
Or more likely all out for 250 and 230 and lose by an innings
Most definitely the former!
Would England have got 400+?
Fair play to the Aussies, they want this so bad this time around. Mitchell Johnson looks like a man possessed at the mo. The Aussies in my office at full of themselves this morning and rightly so.
Root dropping Clarke and Carberry dropping Haddin probably cost the best part of 270 runs all up - the stuff of nightmares.
The Aussies only real danger is Johnson - the pitch is an absolute road so the rest should be respected but not feared.
To be honest with you something is not quite sitting right about this Mitchell Johnson "comeback" - blokes who will be 33 on their next birthday should not really be bowling 153Kmh - the likes of Brett Lee lost speed as they entered their 30's they sure as shit did not gain it.
I am sure this probably sounds like sour grapes - it probably is! - but something about this sudden Johnson renaissance seem very peculiar.
True but thats because they open with Warner who only knows one way to play regardless of the format he's playing in.
Git !
Carberry is only a short/shortish term solution.
Trott might not come back.
KP might decide to jack it in for IPL and the one day game.
Prior has lost it and possibly might not get it back.
Who is Swann/Monty's likely replacement?
Can Jimmy maintain his very high standards for another two or three years?
Bresnan has his fair amount of injuries and how much longer can he put his large unit through it?
That leaves Cook, Bell (soon 32 himself), Broad plus the inconsistent Finn and the likes of Root, Ballance, Bairstow, Buttler, Stokes, Hales etc etc who have all yet to conclusively prove themselves at Test level.
Yes cricket isn't quite like football as players do play 'til their mid 30's at the top but, as the Aussies found, when a whole team gets old at the same time you do tend to go backwards.
I am fed up with hearing that Test players don't lose their skills overnight, of course they don't, but they do over time.
You are thinking of Tymal Mills - very quick bowler and apparently being considered for Perth.
People here in Brisbane who saw him bowl at the game at Alan Border Field say that he is seriously, seriously quick.
Not much he could do about losing the toss twice either?!
i doubt it though cos the captains don't do the coin tossing themselves. its a third party who does it. so if anything he's a useless guesser.