England v Australia, 1st Test, Cardiff, 8-12 July, 2015

We can't have lost the series before Trent Bridge, which is great to see... when I realised it was the fourth, thought I might be going when the Aussies already had the Ashes checked into their homeward luggage!

Well done to Moeen Ali on his Test. His first innings batting added the runs that put England's first innings out of Aus's reach, and his bowling in each innings saw valuable wickets.

Joe Root of course was deserved MoM. Class innings. If only Haddit...

So, will Phil Neville and Marsh #3 (or Mitchell #3) get the nod for Lord's? And Siddle perhaps?

I think Starc's ankle will rule him out of Lords so Siddle comes in. Marsh for Twatson, but Haddit will be retained.

skully wrote:I think Starc's ankle will rule him out of Lords so Siddle comes in. Marsh for Twatson, but Haddit will be retained.

FWIW - Clarke (in his Sky interview) was optimistic about Starc playing at Lord's,
Shame if he doesn't, because Starc was the one outstanding Aussie bowler at Cardiff,
and I think the slope at Lord's will favour his out-swingers (to left handers) bowling from the pavilion end.

I hope Pup is right, Merls.

Pretty excellent performance by England. I had my doubts when they went on the attack so early on Day 1.

However it seems to have paid dividends by achieving what Australia couldn't. England played freely and took risks to put the aussie bowlers under pressure when they could.

Backed by Root, Ali with cameo's from Bell, Stokes & Wood in the second innings, it was out of the Australia's reach with both bat and ball.

It's just a shame 12th man Cosker didn't run out Clarke or Watson. Would have added double pleasure to the game.

Not suprised to wake up to this result. Hopefully the selectors will now get their heads out of their arses & drop Twatto & Haddit.

The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Leave Jacques Kallis alone.

DJ_Smerk wrote:

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

Michael Clarke.

I didn't see any of today's play, have to catch the highlights later.

Always a pleasant surprise to check the scores and find out things have gone way better than feared.

My prediction of 3-0 to Australia is looking a bit shaky. I'm still backing it, though.

Dello wrote:I didn't see any of today's play, have to catch the highlights later.

Always a pleasant surprise to check the scores and find out things have gone way better than feared.

My prediction of 3-0 to Australia is looking a bit shaky. I'm still backing it, though.

It will be 3-1 so you are basically right.

taipan wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

Michael Clarke.

...obvious, but he won't be dropped.

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

Michael Clarke.

...obvious, but he won't be dropped.

Any chance he'll do a Kim Hughes?

taipan wrote:

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

Michael Clarke.

...obvious, but he won't be dropped.

Any chance he'll do a Kim Hughes?

A snowflakes chance in hell.

taipan wrote:

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:

taipan wrote:The noise around Watson and Haddin is camouflaging the elephant in the room.

Warner/Johnson?

Michael Clarke.

...obvious, but he won't be dropped.

Any chance he'll do a Kim Hughes?

Maybe if they go 3-0 down...

Henry wrote:Well I'm going to cal it- that is England's best test win since Trent Bridge 2005. Why? Because no one predicted they would win.

Yes they did. And we were labelled 'deluded woofers'.

For the Lords Test, I think there WILL be 3 changes for Australia:

Watson out, Mitch Marsh in
Starc out, Siddle in
Haddin out, Nevill in

It is possible that Shaun Marsh might come in for Voges, too.

I think the only Australian players who can hold their heads high after that debacle are Rogers, Hazlewood, Lyon, and maybe Starc.

Haddin's drop of Root changed the game irrevocably.

Is Agar still a thing?

Agar is still playing, but isn't even in the squad - kept out by Fawad Ahmed.

lardbucket wrote:Agar is still playing, but isn't even in the squad - kept out by Fawad Ahmed.

What will need to happen for Fawad to play in this series?

Injury or loss of form for Lyon?

A dry pitch at the Oval would do it. He'll have to bowl well in a tour game as well, maybe v Derbyshire or Northamptonshire.

So, was away in the depths of Scotland at a family funeral for the last couple of days - come back to see we've only gone and won a match.

Bugger me - that is a big surprise.

Sets the series up nicely. If Aus had won here then it would have probably seen them pull away with relative ease.

Lord's could be interesting - Hazlewood to do a McGrath a la 2005?