2013 Ashes Part I

[light]

Jeez, our batting in the second innings has been nothing short of dreadful. Smith has every right to be angry about that run out, that was an easy two Clarke just simply wasn't paying attention. He nearly ran himself out a few overs ago just by being careless maybe that's a sign that his mind is elsewhere.

Other than Warner and Smith we have been disappointing.

Lead by 296 and it is raining. 5 wickets down.


Oh, and we are off. Early tea and suddenly the draw is looking very good odds.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

A shame, because Smith was batting pretty well. Depending on how quickly this rain moves on it may or may not hurt our chances. Clarke has a bit to think about in the dressing sheds at tea.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Nice knock from Warner but have to wonder if that blow to the neck effected him a bit after that. Hitting it to Root was summed up well by my Ma "You can't make this shit up".

Everyone is chipping in with the batting thus far (collectively speaking, individually there is a bit lacking).

Steve Smith well & truly screwed over by Clarke - poor running. 19 off 19 balls Smith was looking good.

Raining now. I hope it doesn't screw us over.

I'd say somewhere close to 350 for us if we move it.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

350 is very gettable after tea, AS, so long as we bat sensibly.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Need to hit boundaries to cancel out Englands delaying tactics.

Haddin had the right idea but pretty good change up by Anderson.

Michael Clarke not happy. I wouldnt be either. If it aint the weather its the light. There is friggen floodlights on FFS. It may be in the laws but it is BS that this has to stop play.

 

[No4918]

Lead is 331. That is enough so would like to see a declaration tonight. A draw loses the Ashes anyway so give the bowlers every chance to bowl them out and let England think they could make the runs.

 

[Scotty]

England have shown no inclination that they want to win this game. They will bat for a draw from the outset.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yep, declare overnight and let the chips fall where they may. Time is the issue and not runs.

 

[light]

331 is a very gettable total for England so Clarke should probably declare and give his bowlers a chance of winning the game. That's enough of a carrot to entice the English batsman to play a few shots early which gives us a great chance.

Still thinking it will be a draw.

 

[Pfitzy]

Time to rough a few blokes up with some short bowling and verbal. If they want to be unsporting pricks with over rates, let's show them the good old days and see if they like it.

Fuck this nice guy bullshit.

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I hate autocorrect ...

 

[light]

Yeah England are truly bad sports when it comes to delaying the game and wasting time. Even when we were dominating world cricket it was rare to see us employing similar tactics just to get through days 4 and 5. It has never been what we are about and guys like Warne ensured that we never settled for a draw, let alone stooped low enough to delay the game in that way.

Stay aggressive and lets just see what happens. I like your thinking Pfitzy, give them plenty of short stuff and rush through the overs!

Would love to see the fielding rules changed. It is complete bullshit that batsman are no longer allowed runners and yet a bowler can bowl his overs then casually walk off the field and go shower and freshen up. Umpires are doing a horrible job of policing this and the English bowlers are taking full advantage of the new rules (within their rights but it really looks shocking). Atherton (i think it was him, may have been Lloyd) was having a real go at the English bowlers for leaving the field every 5 overs. There have been substitute fielders everywhere but it doesn't appear to be happening too much when Australia bowls.

 

[Pfitzy]

Yep but they've got young county cricketers to call on - funny how most of their subs are middle/lower order bats with uncanny speed...

There is a simple rule change to fix this: fielding player leaves the field of play must be injured. Therefore they are transported at cost to the nearest hospital for examination by the first available A&E intern before being discharged.

They miss double the minutes they were absent from the field, including breaks in play.

If I was out there batting I'd be giving Broad a huge pile of shit every time he came back on

"Had your rest dearie? Feel OK to bowl again? Have a good cry after the last three boundaries I hit off you? Shower in the back with your husband cheer you up did it?"


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I hate autocorrect ...

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Would love to see the fielding rules changed. It is complete bullshit that batsman are no longer allowed runners and yet a bowler can bowl his overs then casually walk off the field and go shower and freshen up. Umpires are doing a horrible job of policing this and the English bowlers are taking full advantage of the new rules (within their rights but it really looks shocking). Atherton (i think it was him, may have been Lloyd) was having a real go at the English bowlers for leaving the field every 5 overs. There have been substitute fielders everywhere but it doesn't appear to be happening too much when Australia bowls.

Beefy got stuck in last night about this and had a bit to say. I liked his solution too: no subs for the first 15 minutes when a player goes off. Let's call it 10 and you've got yourself a deal.

 

[Fowi]

Would love to see the fielding rules changed. It is complete bullshit that batsman are no longer allowed runners and yet a bowler can bowl his overs then casually walk off the field and go shower and freshen up. Umpires are doing a horrible job of policing this and the English bowlers are taking full advantage of the new rules (within their rights but it really looks shocking). Atherton (i think it was him, may have been Lloyd) was having a real go at the English bowlers for leaving the field every 5 overs. There have been substitute fielders everywhere but it doesn't appear to be happening too much when Australia bowls.

I think this whole discussion started off with Gower and Botham of all people. They were both having a bit of a go at the English bowlers including Swann. Botham in particular was saying that when he was playing the only way he would leave the field was if he couldn't walk anymore.

Every pair of commentators after those two got stuck into them as well. Except for Strauss which is understandable having only recently retired.

 

[Scotty]

Strauss didn't get stuck in because he and Vaughnan came up with the system!

 

[mark_s]

Rain in Manchester, bugger. The words "localised flooding" appear in the BBC forecast. It don't look good.

 

[No4918]

1-0. Time to believe, weather looks reasonable.

 

[light]

Early wicket, Cook gone and wastes a review on the way.

Trott and Root at the crease and looking shaky. Another wicket right now will be gold, we need to expose Pietersen to the new ball.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

We simply have to throw everything at England today. They aren't chasing the runs and frankly why would they?

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Between the sloppy between wicket running & now the dropped catch I reckon Clarke needs some "No Doz", "Red Bull", electrodes to his nipples - or something.......WAKE UP!

To be fair though that ball was going bloody quick.

Well now KP knows how Agar & Khawaja felt.