I effing love Test cricket

Nuff said. 5 days of fantastic cricket from both sides. Nothing else comes close.

And you are one of those who has made it clear you would feel pretty much the same if the match had gone the other way, which is the strong point.

I agree.

But a shocker for the nerves, mind.

I'd still love test cricket if it had gone the other way..eventually..... but I'd be pretty devastated until at least tomorrow. The prospect of devastating defeat makes victory feel so good. Frankly, after today, I'm exhausted. I was younger in 2005 so I think my nerves held up better.

I think '05 was a tougher watch because it was the difference between having a chance to regain the Ashes after 16 years and a potential whitewash. Now we're a bit more used to beating them in live series matches, still not much in it though...

Nothing else in sport that can provide this sort of drama over 5 days. Wish the other eight cricketing nations would appreciate this a bit more!

This is a must-listen. Sums up the passion that test cricket brings out-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01cqspl

PeterCS wrote:And you are one of those who has made it clear you would feel pretty much the same if the match had gone the other way, which is the strong point.

I agree.

But a shocker for the nerves, mind.

In 2005 that glove from Kasprowicz was possibly the difference between 2-1 England and 4-1 or maybe even 5-0 Australia. We wouldn't have come back from such a crushing defeat.

Here it was tense, although an Aus win would have set the series up better. In some ways it would have been interesting to see if England could respond from 1-0 down.

PeterCS wrote:And you are one of those who has made it clear you would feel pretty much the same if the match had gone the other way, which is the strong point.

I agree.

But a shocker for the nerves, mind.

Indeed. I'd have been gutted, but the fact remains that the last 5 days have been a brilliant advert for test cricket, regardless of who won.

At the moment, I freaking hate it.

Well, the result was close.

But the standard of cricket played by both teams was poor. Anderson was the only bowler who could be happy with his performance. And most of the batting was very unconvincing. A lifeless pitch probably didn't help.

I agree with Wally for the most part. There was some pretty dire batting throughout and the bowling wasn't even that decent in parts.

But it made for a great Test match and underlines why such drama cannot be recreated in the hit and giggles.

Test cricket is my favourite thing in sport.

I'm certain I'd have been saying the same thing had England lost, but I'd have had to post from Heaven, because I'd have topped mesen.

Neil D wrote:Nuff said.   5 days of fantastic cricket from both sides.  Nothing else comes close.

Aye ND, 100% agree.

A close game is great but not when an umpire's howler decides the result.

WideWally wrote:Well, the result was close.

But the standard of cricket played by both teams was poor. Anderson was the only bowler who could be happy with his performance. And most of the batting was very unconvincing. A lifeless pitch probably didn't help.

Agree, great in terms of the competitiveness but the standard didn't rival that of O5.  Interestingly it is England which has arguably declined to bring the teams closer together because judging by our performances of late we expected them to dominate a lot more. It also showed again that lower scoring matches are often more absorbing.

Red wrote:

WideWally wrote:Well, the result was close.

But the standard of cricket played by both teams was poor. Anderson was the only bowler who could be happy with his performance. And most of the batting was very unconvincing. A lifeless pitch probably didn't help.

Agree, great in terms of the competitiveness but the standard didn't rival that of O5.  Interestingly it is England which has arguably declined to bring the teams closer together because judging by our performances of late we expected them to dominate a lot more.

Ever thought of using punctuation?

Big Dog wrote:A close game is great but not when an umpire's howler decides the result.

Erasmus giving the Agar stumping not out didn't affect the result THAT much.

 

"I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either." - Harold Pinter

Neil D wrote:

Big Dog wrote:A close game is great but not when an umpire's howler decides the result.

Erasmus giving the Agar stumping not out didn't affect the result THAT much.

 

Although Dar perving on people in the crowd when Broad snicked it to slip did.