England v Australia, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, 29 July - 3 August, 2015

Wish he had gotten to that review in time!

Pitch is flattening out, England not bowling so well second time around.....Aus will be 160-1 at stumps and it will be game and Ashes over. What a bunch of qunts. This was the day for them to take a stranglehold and they've instead handed Australia the test match and likely the urn as well.

Yeah, unfortunately this is filthy bowling (after the first six overs). Warner's tucking in like a fat bloke at an all you can eat buffet. At best, we'll winkle two more by the time they've hit parity. Can see them getting 350+, then it'll be ball-swallowing time again.

50 up in f*ck all time. We're now in disarray...

This is dreadful stuff. It's hard to believe how bad England can be at times.

Smith out-dreadfuls England.

England have got no composure. This is the real reason why the likes of Anderson, Bell, Broad and Cook have had their day. Their records are all decent, they've played a lot of Test Cricket, but for all their experience, they lack the ability to collectively calm down. England are ahead of this game, still, they just need to bowl dry for an hour and wait for the pressure to tell. Australia will have to bat far more sensibly than they have done so far to compile an unassailable lead. The problem is, our experienced players are so bad at managing matches that we'll make a meal out of any chase in excess of 100.

It says a lot when Ali and Root are two of the guys (batting-wise) that you trust most under-pressure. They're far less experienced than some of the others. Cook can grind it out as a batsman, when I say he's had his day, I mean as a captain.

Is Finn going to be Smith's nemesis?

Hope so - 'cos no-one else seems to frighten him.

Chivalry Augustus wrote:England have got no composure. This is the real reason why the likes of Anderson, Bell, Broad and Cook have had their day. Their records are all decent, they've played a lot of Test Cricket, but for all their experience, they lack the ability to collectively calm down. England are ahead of this game, still, they just need to bowl dry for an hour and wait for the pressure to tell. Australia will have to bat far more sensibly than they have done so far to compile an unassailable lead. The problem is, our experienced players are so bad at managing matches that we'll make a meal out of any chase in excess of 100.

It says a lot when Ali and Root are two of the guys (batting-wise) that you trust most under-pressure. They're far less experienced than some of the others. Cook can grind it out as a batsman, when I say he's had his day, I mean as a captain.

Think the lack of composure issue applies to both teams in general - and specifically in this match.

Not sure Cook needs to calm down - doesn't strike me as over-excitable. But I do agree with you that we should be putting the squeeze on here, especially on Warner.

This game is only in the 2nd day (and day 1 was massively rain affected) yet we're entering the back half of it. If the pitch had been explosive and the bowling lethal then it would make sense. But neither of those aspects seem to have been a constant. Some good bowling yes, but a lot of poor, poor shots by both sides.

Tell you what, apart from one over from Johnson and some tidy tweaks from Lyon, the bowling today's been shocking.

How much does Ponting sweat under studio lights.

He's got the pallor of a guy who's pumping out the previous night's 12 pinter.

One thing Lyth is good at is slips catching.

Finn on a hat-trick!!

Warner's playing Finn like he was a village dobber - everyone else like he is Curtly Ambrose.

Weird.

Think Moeen should get a bowl now.

Uh oh - hope that isn't the old intercostal muscle.

Who's the replacement if he misses out on the next one or two? Can't see them playing Broad, Finn, Wood as the seam trio. Has to be a "horses for courses" swinger for Trent Bridge...

Phil Neville showing some fight to take it into a third day... if they can scratch out a lead of 100 it could still be interesting.

Yeah, they're 23 ahead, 77 more out of their last three wickets and it could be a bit of a ducker.

They need someone to do a Botham and then someone else to do a Willis.

I don't necessarily think that's a good comparison... Starc has a 99, Hazlewood was averaging 30 at the start of the game, we've been bowled out cheaply once already, we soil ourselves at the sight of Mitchell Johnson, it's only 80 runs away from our 2nd innings score last Test... Yes, an England victory is most likely, but remember watching England in the past, remember what depths we can plumb. It's quite a depth. We can be quite a shambles.

beamer wrote:Who's the replacement if he misses out on the next one or two? Can't see them playing Broad, Finn, Wood as the seam trio. Has to be a "horses for courses" swinger for Trent Bridge...

Darren Pattinson's ears just pricked up...

Could do a lot worse than giving Sidearse a one-off emergency call... then go with the tall men or two spinners at the Oval.

Footitt started his career at Trent Bridge.

Just saying, like.

What Anderson's injury has highlighted in this game is that England basically have a three man bowling attack. Stokes hasn't looked like taking a wicket all series, and the difference between Moeen and Lyon as spinners is like night and day. He hasn't turned a thing, beaten the bat, nothing.

If Finn and Broad don't take the three wickets required tomorrow, no-one will.