England v Australia, 3rd Test, Old Trafford, 1-5 August, 2013 (II)

taipan wrote:There is no such thing as a moral victory.

Symbolically there is. Remember we're the team which was going to lose 10-0, which has been much maligned and ridiculed in our press but more particularly in Fleet Street. Yet in two of the three tests we've been more than competitive. Here the weather has radically militated against our chances of victory.

Red wrote:

taipan wrote:There is no such thing as a moral victory.

Symbolically there is. Remember we're the team which was going to lose 10-0, which has been much maligned and ridiculed in our press but more particularly in Fleet Street. Yet in two of the three tests we've been more than competitive. Here the weather has radically militated against our chances of victory.

The sookometer is going crazy

(Lardy)

You should never use Red to calibrate the sookometer.

JGK wrote:(Lardy)

You should never use Red to calibrate the sookometer.

I am not calibrating. It is out of category to use a TdF term.

taipan wrote:

Red wrote:

taipan wrote:There is no such thing as a moral victory.

Symbolically there is. Remember we're the team which was going to lose 10-0, which has been much maligned and ridiculed in our press but more particularly in Fleet Street. Yet in two of the three tests we've been more than competitive. Here the weather has radically militated against our chances of victory.

The sookometer is going crazy

PMSL. If you want to celebrate a moral victory Red, that's fine. I'll celebrate retaining the Ashes.

Well at least if it's a draw, the record of the Poms never winning more than 4 tests in a row vs Australia remains.  

It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

Blackadder wrote:Well at least if it's a draw, the record of the Poms never winning more than 4 tests in a row vs Australia remains.  

True but in reality they were never going to make 300+ in a day to win. They bat too slowly.

taipan wrote:

JGK wrote:(Lardy)

You should never use Red to calibrate the sookometer.

I am not calibrating. It is out of category to use a TdF term.

How can you tell when Red is sooking?

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

You surprised even Australia's harshest critics at Lord's......with how bad you were. You fought well at Trent Bridge but weren't quite good enough. You've outplayed us here but the weather hasn't helped you. Overall England have still been better.

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

Claiming a moral victory has always been regarded with grave suspicion since C4 days.

On any given Monday you either win or you don't.

JGK wrote:

taipan wrote:

JGK wrote:(Lardy)

You should never use Red to calibrate the sookometer.

I am not calibrating. It is out of category to use a TdF term.

How can you tell when Red is soaking?

The machine is FUBAR?

Red wrote:

Blackadder wrote:Well at least if it's a draw, the record of the Poms never winning more than 4 tests in a row vs Australia remains.  

True but in reality they were never going to make 300+ in a day to win. They bat too slowly.

Aye, they make the Snoozers look like they bat at 20/20 pace for a test match.. 

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

You surprised even Australia's harshest critics at Lord's......with how bad you were. You fought well at Trent Bridge but weren't quite good enough. You've outplayed us here but the weather hasn't helped you. Overall England have still been better.

And not surprisingly given the predictions preceding the series but apart from Lord's the matches have been hard fought and we nearly got over the line at TB so it's been reasonably meritorious. I have much more confidence now for the home summer.

Blackadder wrote:

Red wrote:

Blackadder wrote:Well at least if it's a draw, the record of the Poms never winning more than 4 tests in a row vs Australia remains.  

True but in reality they were never going to make 300+ in a day to win. They bat too slowly.

Aye, they make the Snoozers look like they bat at 20/20 pace for a test match.. 

''

As mentioned previously, over the past few years the only team that bats slower than them in tests is the Bangers. Their top order is often funereal.

JGK wrote:

WideWally wrote:

QED

Who doesn't know Monty Python!

Red wrote:

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

You surprised even Australia's harshest critics at Lord's......with how bad you were. You fought well at Trent Bridge but weren't quite good enough. You've outplayed us here but the weather hasn't helped you. Overall England have still been better.

And not surprisingly given the predictions preceding the series but apart from Lord's the matches have been hard fought and we nearly got over the line at TB so it's been reasonably meritorious. I have much more confidence now for the home summer.

England are leading this series due to Australia's feeble batting in the first two Tests. That's it. Their own batting has been pretty dire, and the Aussie seamers have been a more consistently threatening unit than England's attack of Anderson and the third umpire.

Swann's been the more effective spinner, but I think Lyon's been hard done by this Test - I reckon he's bowled far better, for much less reward.

If Australia can just get their batting moderately solid, they're more than a match for England. Should be a good series in the winter.

Whilst Red mocking is always fun, she has a point about the Aussies being competitive in 1.75 matches. It's more than I expected

Red wrote:

taipan wrote:

Red wrote:Moral victory.

Oh dear.

If it was declared a draw now due to the Manchester murk of course it's a moral victory to us. We've been on top all test, have England on the ropes and yesterday were prepared to throw the bat and lost a lot of time due to the absence of summer.

The sun rose at about 0600, will set at about 2100 and it's about 20C. Summer.
In a maritime climate it will also rain every so often (in the case of the last couple of years for the whole of July and August) but we haven't done badly this year really.

Typical Red- The reality of an Australian series loss suddenly hits her and she scrambles through the twisted archives of her mind, desperate to point to some sort of moral high ground.

Fark it. Raining again.

I blame Lardy. And skully.

JGK wrote:Fark it. Raining again.

I blame Lardy.  And skully.

Lardy is the moral victor.

Dello wrote:

Red wrote:

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

You surprised even Australia's harshest critics at Lord's......with how bad you were. You fought well at Trent Bridge but weren't quite good enough. You've outplayed us here but the weather hasn't helped you. Overall England have still been better.

And not surprisingly given the predictions preceding the series but apart from Lord's the matches have been hard fought and we nearly got over the line at TB so it's been reasonably meritorious. I have much more confidence now for the home summer.

England are leading this series due to Australia's feeble batting in the first two Tests. That's it. Their own batting has been pretty dire, and the Aussie seamers have been a more consistently threatening unit than England's attack of Anderson and the third umpire.

Swann's been the more effective spinner, but I think Lyon's been hard done by this Test - I reckon he's bowled far better, for much less reward.

If Australia can just get their batting moderately solid, they're more than a match for England. Should be a good series in the winter.

England's batting has been only slightly less feeble. The truth is that until KP's first innings ton here, Ian Ronald Bell almost single-handedly kept the ship afloat. With a couple of useful contributions from Broad and the third ump.

I saw a stat the other day that said England have scored 400+ something like three times in their last 30 innings in tests. And I'm guessing they were all in India last Winter.

Am I being treacherous by wanting the Aussies to win this so we don't have to watch 2 dead rubbers over the rest of the summer?

Henry wrote:

Dello wrote:

Red wrote:

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:It's not sooking, it is making an observation. The weather has hampered our chances and let's face it we've surprised a lot of the pundits against a much more fancied opponent.

You surprised even Australia's harshest critics at Lord's......with how bad you were. You fought well at Trent Bridge but weren't quite good enough. You've outplayed us here but the weather hasn't helped you. Overall England have still been better.

And not surprisingly given the predictions preceding the series but apart from Lord's the matches have been hard fought and we nearly got over the line at TB so it's been reasonably meritorious. I have much more confidence now for the home summer.

England are leading this series due to Australia's feeble batting in the first two Tests. That's it. Their own batting has been pretty dire, and the Aussie seamers have been a more consistently threatening unit than England's attack of Anderson and the third umpire.

Swann's been the more effective spinner, but I think Lyon's been hard done by this Test - I reckon he's bowled far better, for much less reward.

If Australia can just get their batting moderately solid, they're more than a match for England. Should be a good series in the winter.

England's batting has been only slightly less feeble. The truth is that until KP's first innings ton here, Ian Ronald Bell almost single-handedly kept the ship afloat. With a couple of useful contributions from Broad and the third ump.

I saw a stat the other day that said England have scored 400+ something like three times in their last 30 innings in tests. And I'm guessing they were all in India last Winter.

They've scored 400 in the first innings 6 times in their last 23 Tests (from the beginning of 2012).

This from a team with a guy who averages 40+ at seven and a pretty strong tail.

Ordinary.