England v Australia, 4th Test, Chester-Le-Street, 9-13 August, 2013 (II)

Basil wrote: If Watto has gone in the groin, this could be his last test.

Yes please.

Gary 111 wrote:Skuller, the pitch is still seaming and there is variable bounce and increasing turn. The ball continues to seam up until 35-40 overs then life gets a little easier.

200 is competitive, 300 should be enough, but I want to see Bell take us to 350+, then this really would be his Ashes.

On the other hand, if Aus get a similar start to England on Day 3 they could be hitting the winning runs just after tea.

Cheers Gaz.

England are on almost exactly the same score that Aust were the night before.

England came out strong in the morning and Aust crumbled.

Aust will need to do something similar tomorrow and even then anout 60 runs from England will surely be too much.

Basil wrote:Is it me or did Prior wince with pain when he caught Rogers - I'm assuming that's not serious as I can't find a mention of it anywhere.

And while I'm on the subject - If Watto has gone in the groin, this could be his last test.

Well, we all assumed Bresnan was a nightwatchman, but if Prior is injured he would be the next man in anyway... we've got a semi-regular keeper in Bairstow in the side anyway, though we do need some runs from Prior ideally.

There has to be a fair chance that TAYne POCson won't appear again this series... he seems such an integral part of the selectors thinking though that I'd be surprised if we don't see him as a Test player again. He has to do a lot wrong to get dropped from that side!

skully wrote:

Basil wrote: If Watto has gone in the groin, this could be his last test.

Yes please.

 glue factory.

lardbucket wrote:Time for bed. I can only see this getting ugly for the good guys.

We've got 4 Test class players - Clarke, Rogers, Siddle, and Harris.

Watson, Lyon, Smith, Agar, Starc and Haddin have played their part this series.

Bird has just arrived; a couple of wickets, he's had a null effect so far. Ditto Pattinson.

Frankly we'd have done better had Hughes, Cowan, Khawaja and Warner played for the opposition.

... picked that like a nose, thank F for that

Gary 111 wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:

Gary 111 wrote:
I haven't got any access to TV today, but this doesn't surprise me.

The 54 & 43 they added at Trent Bridge proved decisive in a tight game. The 144 at Lords saved England and trampled Oz in the dirt. Then the 66 run partnership here has brought England right into the game.

The knicker twins are averaging 76.75 when they bat together. All these runs have come at a crucial time and so Clarke's salty years are justified.

It's the knicker twin Ashes folks.

He's averaging 33 in the period you've pointed out. He's averaging 29 this series. Put whatever slant you want on that Gary, from Yorkshire, but he's not performing. He's a technical mash up. He's looked edgy throughout and he's fluked a score. He's looked consistently not up to it.

It's only when the two knickers are aligned that you get the full power. The Australians have been unable to penetrate until its much too late.

It's no good, PP is not looking. PM him that post if you want to get him back.

Brass Monkey wrote:Regarding Watson, Mickey Arthur is looking like a genius ATM - Lehmann sticks him up to open and he does shit, he has some batting success at #6. Lehmann allows him to bowl again and he breaks down.

Mickey Arthur was a genius in getting him wandering off out of the team for a break so his body could heal from all the gym abuse?

...if there are clouds in the sky and England are a chance of losing. :tinfoilhat:

Hmmm, well, yeah, hmmm well, the break only hurt the batsmen's concentration innit.


Conspiracy to rest Harris that little bit extra!

I don't think it is a conspiracy, I don't think it has (on the whole) favoured one team rather than another.

It just wastes precious time.

The nature of human optics and meteorology have not changed so much in ten years that you now need to clear the field because of fairly ordinary late afternoon light conditions ...

The bad light thing is a farce. Being in the ground you notice just how light it is. From 100m away I was sighting the ball fine when they went off.

Apologies for coming over all Geoff Boycott, but us league cricketers face 70-80mph bowlers, often on uncovered pitches where some grounds don't have sight screens and the matches routinely finish at 7.30pm. When I played in the juniors (and you can get some quick 17 year olds) the matches didn't start until 6.30pm.

They talk about 'danger' to the batsmen, if it wasn't dangerous then the bowlers are doing something wrong. Bad light should just be a factor like variable bounce or swing that the batsmen have to get on with.

There was even talk on TMS about it being dangerous to the umpires!

FFS - well they can wear helmets and chest pads for all I care. When you've paid 80 quid they should man up and get on with it.

wi'a stick a rooobaaaab, laak in 't olt dayyyz.

er a matchsteeck.

Gary 111 wrote:There was even talk on TMS about it being dangerous to the umpires!

FFS - well they can wear helmets and chest pads for all I care. When you've paid 80 quid they should man up and get on with it.

You say that, my friend, as if 'twere a bad thing.

But it is true. At OT they were taken off in palpably unthreatening light. I saw it.

So .........

Agnew seems to think England are well on top and may already have enough to win.

Boycott immediately countered: "Whoa, whoa ...!"


I agreed 100% with Boyks even before he said it (so to speak).

It is within the bounds of possibility that Oz will subside for 200 or less. But any batting lineup with Clarke in it, plus a couple of other sound batsmen, and a few "chances", on a less than ideal but terror-free batting strip means it is also an insane calculation for confidence.

250 lead MINIMUM starts to establish some sort of tipping of the scales towards England. But they need a 300 lead before they can justifiably start to feel confident. And it is not at all obvious that they will get that far.

"We'll see" - one of the best watchwords in the erratic game of cricket.

Gary 111 wrote:There was even talk on TMS about it being dangerous to the umpires!

FFS - well they can wear helmets and chest pads for all I care. When you've paid 80 quid they should man up and get on with it.

Test Match Sofa? Didn't realise anyone here listened to it. Do you enjoy their coverage?

Cook will want a 500 lead, you'd probably get 300 and anything more takes the game well out of Australia's reach.

baggygreen wrote:Cook will want a 500 lead, you'd probably get 300 and anything more takes the game well out of Australia's reach.

I agree with that. We are incapable of chasing down anything over 300. England can bat on for another day & still bowl us out on the final day with time to spare.

baggygreen wrote:

Gary 111 wrote:There was even talk on TMS about it being dangerous to the umpires!

FFS - well they can wear helmets and chest pads for all I care. When you've paid 80 quid they should man up and get on with it.

Test Match Sofa? Didn't realise anyone here listened to it. Do you enjoy their coverage?

the real tms

Big Dog wrote:

baggygreen wrote:Cook will want a 500 lead, you'd probably get 300 and anything more takes the game well out of Australia's reach.

I agree with that. We are incapable of chasing down anything over 300. England can bat on for another day & still bowl us out on the final day with time to spare.

more like 150 as our limit

Weather forecast is dreadful for Durham today. Might not be a great deal of play.

Rain might save England again.

The forecast is not quite "dreadful." Some showers throughout the afternoon, but no big bands of steady rain around.

So, Australians don't think they can chase 150 while we're not confident about defending 300...

beamer wrote:So, Australians don't think they can chase 150 while we're not confident about defending 300...

Looks like it.

Should all add up to lots of handwringing on the forum today although I reckon England are a chance of really going on with it this morning. Harris bowled a stupid amount of overs yesterday, Waty can't bowl, Bird is still learning and Siddle is way off his game here.