First Test farce
Does the Herald Sun have a Pommie Editor? That heading should read, "England stumbles & stalls its way to a draw while Ponting refuses to bring out his big guns."
“Epic fightback” my arse. What saved England from a humiliating innings defeat (after making over 400 in its first innings) was Australia’s lack of a killer attack, the absence of Brett Lee (injured) and Ponting’s poor captaincy in the final overs when he kept the ‘pie chuckers’ on instead of trying to blast the last batsman out with fast bowling.
For the record, England crawled its way to all out for 435 in the first innings, Australia then made a reasonably fast 6-674 before declaring and sending England back in on the 4th day. Rain & slow play intervened while England crawled to 9-250. They even stopped play by sending a fat physio onto the ground when he wasn’t needed.
And yes, I stupidly stayed up late to watch what should have been Australia’s “epic fightback” and victory. Where is Shane Warne when you need him?
Contact: ray@grevilleagardens.com
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Ray, the king of sms is busy.
Who?
I stayed up too Ray, and I’m feeling it right now having had to get yp at 7.30.
I was amazed Ponting brought on North – however he had the clock to beat and bringing on a quick meant far fewer balls could have been bowled before the clock struck 6.40pm – hence his anger at the fat physio.
I wonder why he never bowled the left-handed Katich, or Clarke who has done well in these circumstances before?
I reckon he should have settled Johnson down and let him rip at the two left-hand bunnies, especially Panesar. Johnson often takes wickets after bowling a few wide balls. And Hilfenhaus never got a chance to bowl at them.
I agree that Brett Lee’s experience would have been gold at that stage.
On the whole I think Ponting’s captaincy was brilliant. He led from the front with 150, he was always attacking in the field and made that very sporting declaration. Don’t forget we lost two sessions due to rain so we were robbed of a lot of time.
In the end, the Poms making 250 was no huge feat – they just made it look very hard. Paul Collingwood is a star!
Of course the argument against getting a slow bowler to bowl more deliveries at them to widen the chances of a wicket is that a better bowler might have wrapped things up in just a few delieveries.
Oh and one final thing – that pitch offered bugger all to the fast bowlers who did bloody well under the circumstances. And credit to Hauritz too.
Ray, you wanted to know where Warny was?
Yeah you’re right, Wah, I was just disappointed with those last 10 or 12 overs when I thought Ponting had to roll the dice and try and blast them out. He didn’t. I guess we’re spoiled from having the likes of McGrath & Warne come along in those situations and wrap it all up.
The English crowd really gave me the shits though. You’d reckon England had won something other than a lucky draw.
JR .. I should’ve guessed. Actually, I think he’s in Las Vegas playing poker.
Hauritz did get very close. Actually I’m pretty sure there was a tickle not given which saved the Test for England. Hot spot seemed to show a faint glow on the edge of the bat. I also thought Ponting’s captaincy was much improved.
Extremely flat track – 25 wickets in nearly five days.
Yes, in hindsight Ponting & Australia did very well to nearly pull off an unlikely victory.
“Epic fightback” my arse
That says it all… The Aussies should have been up 1-0.
With all the noise that the English made about their last Ashes series victory in England..all those matches were close and could have gone either way..in contrast they got walloped in Oz..
Warne and McGrath retired almost three years ago – we, the commentators and cricket journos really need to move on.
Compared to the English bowlers who only managed five wickets and all conceded 100 runs in one innings (apart from Collingwood) who only bowled 10 overs) our boys did a great job. Remember this was the pitch that was meant to give the Poms their best chance of winning.
Hauritz was seen as inferior to Swann and Panesar (by me included) but he out bowled them – remember too with the mositure and lost sessions that was behaving more like a fourth day pitch than a fifth day track.
Let a test get by that we never should have been in the hunt for.
After losing the toss in the first innings, the test was always most likely to be a draw or won by England. Its a wonderful effort we got so close and really should have won it.
England may try to look at this as a bit of a win, but….
1) They moved the Test away from Lords to try and get one up in the series early.
2) They won the toss and had the best of conditions.
3) They went in with two spinners on a turning pitch.
4) They couldn’t get out out ‘newbies’ cheeply (North, Haddin, Hughes, Katich all made runs).
5) They couldn’t take 10 wickets and we nearly bowled them out twice without Warne and McGrath.
Sure they hung on for a good draw and we shouldn’t have even been a position to win, but I think we have a lot more positives than they do going into the next test at Lords.
JB
They moved the Test away from Lords to try and get one up in the series early
I wondered why it was being played in Cardiff (Wales). Have they ever played a Test match there before? Anyway I liked the quaint ground & surrounds – it was like playing a Test match at some small country town like Bright, Wang, Ballarat or … Adelaide.
Or Hobart. We have a great little cricket ground.
They have taken away the Manchester test and one other that I can’t remember.
I don’t know the exact ins and outs about why they played in Cardiff. But I heard that the UK governement paid the ECC 3 million pounds to make the move happen.
And a great little footy ground in Launceston, Rox, where it never rains … it just hails.
JB, the English grounds are fantastic though, don’t you think? Apart from Hobart and Adelaide, our grounds are like sterile colloseums. I hate what they’ve done to the MCG and I never want to go back to that concrete jungle. It’s lost its soul.
(But if I get a ticket to this year’s GF and if the Saints are there, I might change my mind !!)
I completley agree. It was a lovely ground in Cardiff and had a great atmosphere for only 15,000 fans. \
The MCG is a wonderful venue for football, but it really dosn’t have a lot of soul anymore, especially for cricket. But the worst ground these days I would think is the Gabba which is now like a little MCG instead of the lovely ground it was years ago.
I am afraid to say that I fear for Adelaide oval. They have pulled down the main stands and are looking to boost the grounds capacity to around 50,000. Hopefully they keep the charm of the place. The old scoreboard wont go anywhere and there should be a bit of hill left!.
(this years GF your team could be up against the Crows? Nah dreaming there, but very happy with how we are going. Looking forward to taking on the St’s soon to see how good we really are).
We’re on the wrong topic for AFL, JB, but I reckon this Sunday’s game will be a beauty and that the Saints are no certainties. Adelaide are going very well and might win it – but you won’t beat us in the finals!
Btw, maybe Adelaide should play at Adelaide Oval?
Nah, too small for the Crows who sell Footy Park out every game (the members don’t aways turn up which is why the crowds are usually below a sell out – but they have bought a ticket).
Adelaide oval would work for Port though who don’t have a strong following and footy in the city could help their crowds quite a bit.
Back on topic, can’t wait for the next Test!
Me neither. Wonder if Lee will be fit – oops, no he won’t. Damn.
Bring back Warnie. Sorry, Wah, he’d still be taking wickets over there.
And make him captain.
He’s gone. I miss him too.
No need to make him captain, just give him the ball on the last day.
I think Cardiff was a successful venue – I heard Jim Maxwell say on ABC Radio last summer that Old Trafford at Manchester is an awful cricket stadium and no one ill miss it.
It’s worth remembering that 2005 was the only time in ages that Lords hosted the 1st Ashes Test, so they are not really breaking convention
Ray if I may – I have elaborated more about the positives for Australia to come out of that Test at http://captainsinning.wordpress.com
And another positive about last night, Wah, is that it’s taken the spotlight off Geelong’s ‘losing streak’ (of two).
Only Geelong supporters need worry about that. At the end of the day we’re still second and hopefuly a couple of hours players are better for niot having to make the trip to Brisbane.
This test match summed up the different attitudes in the two nation’s team for the last 70 years.
England celebrated because they didn’t lose, and Australia were pissed off they didn’t win.
I’m tipping the poms are going to get flogged at Lords
Yeah, I reckon you’re right, BLL. The great thing is it starts this Thursday, so the Aussies will still be spitting chips and fired up. I hope the Poms win the toss and we blast them out for 150.
If I were the pom selectors I’d drop KP and Fliintoff. Their attitude was pathetic for professional cricketers.
Massive egos and poor performances.
Who would they put in?
http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/2009/07/16/cricket-speech-presented-at-lords-14th-july-2009/
Have you seen this Ray? It’s Stephen Fry’s address to the combined teams at the MCC. I’m sorry to tell you I got it from Twitter, but it’s well worth a read.
Aw mate, I got into the first few sentences and thought, “this is just so full of puff & wind and over-use of words I simply cannot bear it”.
Sorry, Rox, I prefer people who get to the point and don’t fill their pieces with a lot of self-important pomposity.
People like me!
Thanks anyway.
Ingrate.
Don’t get me wrong, Rox. I liked Fry in BlackAdder and in some interviews I’ve seen. But let’s face it, he’s a waffler.
Yes, but he does it so well!