Good start on that front – 5/0 after 5.4 at a rate of 0.88.

Thats it, play yourself in, see the new ball off and smack the bad ball when it comes. 😀

Cheers,
Jamie

What a tramsmash

Never mind, we’ve got Anderson at 11 haven’t we?

Err, yeah- scrub that nice boring innings!

Cheers,
Jamie

AAAAAAARGH!

WTACTUALF!

oh

And that will be tea. Starc will have to wait 20 minutes to attempt his hat-trick.

They need a Fergie-style hairdrying in the clubhouse….

Ouch. 😯

Who was it said England would win the test and one-day series 10-0?

Pressure seems to get to our guys something horrible.

#ShouldntHaveDroppedNick

Who was it said England would win the test and one-day series 10-0?

Botham said they’d whitewash back to back Ashes series. Just to get his name in the paper 🙄

In two days, the game has swung back and forth 4 times so far. I have had to explain to some colleagues why Test Cricket is the pinnacle of spectator sport, so this game is helping 🙂

And the morning result check shows not an entire shambles…

Might get some play on Saturday if we are lucky

oh Kevin

We need at least 2 centuries – shame about KP as he seemed to being sensible and that was only a slightly loose shot. Tinker needs a big one…..of hang on, damn, Cookie gone now

Assburgers.

Oh Alastair!

Cheers,
Jamie

😀 kind of saw that coming from the previous couple of deliveries, bit of inswing saw KP play a bit on the inside of the bat, not totally surprising to get a chop on in those circumstances…

And Ashton gets his first Test wicket, Alistair Cook no less, you beauty a! Excellent catch from Clarke as well 😀

A boring first hour has certainly been livened up now! 😀

Bell for 150, just you see…

Cheers,
Jamie

So what do we need to win? 300 would be good anything less very squeaky bum time

Anything over 220 will be tough, pitch is getting harder and harder to play, Anderson and Swann will be a challenge on it definitely…

Anything less that 250 will be very hard to defend. The period until the new ball arrives will decide this.

Early night for me here, looking forward to checking in in the morning… Night all 🙂

Aussies have never been great chasing low totals under pressure on wearing pitches. I reckon 200+ lead will make their bums squeaky, 240+ and it’ll be very interesting. Obviously I’d love about 700……

This one’s got a long way to go, but i think the next hour’s critical (as has every one of the previous 14 hours…..)

Night
hanging in for the start of the session after some TdF in the interval

In their last series, Australia made 380, 237/9d, 408 and 262 in their first innings, 241, 131, 223 and 164 in their second (none of which was the last innings of the match). That would suggest they’ll find anything over 200 tricky (though granted they didn’t have Agar in that series).

…will be more record setting required if the target is over 209 – that’s the most any visiting team has chased to win at TB. Australia have scored 335 in the 4th innings, but lost the match; their 2nd best 4th innings total was 202/6 (to draw).

The only certainty in this match is that the outcome from every session seems very uncertain. Can’t decide whether this is good “test match” stuff but compelling, if nerve-racking, viewing nonetheless.

C’mon B&B two big innings required here ie test match stuff not 20/20 knock arounds.

…all of which emphasises the general advantage of batting first (so not having to bat last), provided you don’t concede too big a first innings lead.

If you win the toss bat first.

If you win the toss, but the pitch / weather looks like it may be favourable to bowling. Consider bowling, then bat anyway.

If you win the toss, but the pitch / weather is extremely favourable to bowling: Consult your team mates, consider bowling, then bat anyway.

The batting first thing is an interesting one.

Personally I still think we should have bowled first. It was overcast and perfect for possibly the best exploiter of those conditions in world cricket. If you bowl the oppo out cheaply it changes the way they bowl to you in the first innings. If you can take a lead into the second innings the need to bat for long period last is nullified anyway. Cook choose to back his batters instead.

If you take weather conditions into account on choose on what’s above you at the time.

Played a lot of cricket over the years but have never really been able to tell how a pitch would play just by looking at it. Weather a bit more so, but even then…

Little walk to the middle, quick look, a few nods and shakes of the head, a long sigh…..walk back none the wiser! 😉

Current home ground has a “magic” spot just on a length – one of our medium bowlers has the knack of hitting the spot causing a lot of grief for visiting batsmen. Totally invisible though.

Comments on Derek Underwood on BBC site at the moment – I once faced him in the nets at Edgbaston when I was a teenager. Unbelievably quick and hostile and he was a spinner!!!!

Clearly England’s tactics were to wait for the new ball to score off.

200 (lead) up. Game on.

Lead now nearly 250. Balance swinging in our favour now.

Slooooow and steady does it – two days to play – England don’t need to do anything other than bat as long as they can.

Of course, then get 10 wickets 😉

englands to lose but far more interesting than anyone would have thought due to the young un in the Aussie team

englands to lose but far more interesting than anyone would have thought due to the young un in the Aussie team

Not yet I think. A good hour for the Aussies in the field tomorrow followed by a good hour with the bat and its back on.

Great stuff though, god I love test cricket, nothing else comes close.

I’m looking forward to what psychle has to say about Broad still being there at stumps 😉

Unless they knock England over cheaply tomorrow morning (which is always possible), Australia will be looking at an outright record chase at TB (current record is 284). Would already be the second highest successful chase by Australia in England (they did chase 404 at Headingly in 1948, but their second best effort is only 242).

Great game so far. Indeed JY – where would they be without his runs and wickets? 🙂

A top order of Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist failed to chase 282 fairly recently – though Lee and Kasprowicz got them close.

Missed the converge, so was Broad out and simply didn’t walk? Saw somewhere that there was no hotspot, is that correct?