Bloody Bell. Biggest test match in years and he produces a pair.
In the good old days he would be shown into a quiet room with a glass of whiskey and a loaded Webley and expected to do the right thing.
Printable View
Bloody Bell. Biggest test match in years and he produces a pair.
In the good old days he would be shown into a quiet room with a glass of whiskey and a loaded Webley and expected to do the right thing.
Arrgh - this test is brilliant - and I have to go play 5 a side tonight - my concentration is going to be so shot to pieces.
219-7 at tea, and about 50 overs left.
This is the crux. Hang on for another ten overs and say another 30 runs and it will be bowel shatteringly exciting as the Ozzies chase 260 or so off 40 overs. Tough but they could do it. Any fewer runs or give them more overs and I think they would do it. If we hang around much longer or post more runs it should be in the bag for us.
England should have it from here - would take something extremely special - so an unqualified congratulations for England (provided you guys don't collapse) on regaining the Ashes.
Pieterson's going beserk! I'm glad that of all the matches where he could have gotten his act together he chose this one.
OK so there's a lead of just over 300 with about 30 overs remaining. Not much chance of a result (hooray) so what would you do if you were Vaughan?
I reckon KP should be allowed to pile on as many as he can, just for his own figures, and then declare as soon as he goes. Not that there is a cat in hell's chance of getting Australia out of course (or them getting the runs I hope and trust) but it would give the spectators something to watch.
Bye bye Warney. You can bowl a bit, fair play to you.
To be honest, I would bat on for as long as I can. I know it would be an absolute freak, but toying with your oposition is never something I would do - to many times it comes back to bite you. Aside from that, it's just bad form.Quote:
Originally Posted by English assassin
Well, he could always have a word with Ponting and say it wasn't intended to be taking the p!ss. Nice to have all the lads on the field at the end of the match too. Although that's likely no matter what.
Anyway it looks as if he took your advice not mine.
Unbelievably Christopher Martin Jenkins on test match special was suggesting an early declaration when the rate required was about 6 an over in the hope of luring Australia into a run chase. Mad. Imagine being the smart alec England captain who lost the Ashes with a reckless declaration...
I still wouldn't have done it, even if you can convince Ponting that it's in a good nature (and I'm not sure if you would, or the Australian public for that matter given that we have been quite frustrated this series (not trying to weasle out, see my unqualified congratulations, just commenting on the situation)) - if I was in England's position, I would be doing absolutely everything possible to secure it - as you say, imagine being the captain who lost it because he declared to early.
Hooray, that's it, and ENGLAND WIN THE ASHES !!!!
Last time that happened I was 17. And to be perfectly honest the best I was hoping for at the start of the summer was a competitive series.
Annoyingly I now have an evening meeting until 10 pm and have to drive home after that so I can't celebrate in the appropriate style.
Well played the Ozzies, if Warne had held that one catch the match would probably have been lost, (there again cricket is full of ifs). That's what I call a close series.
To be honest, all through it we were scrambling - trying to survive the end of a test, scrambling to make runs, watching our tail try to hold up pathetic performances by the top order etc. I don't think we deserved it, so congratulations to the English. The last time this happened I would have been ~ 4 - I hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon though.Quote:
Originally Posted by English assassin
Yes, we may have saved it if Warne had held that catch (and why of all times did he have to choose now to drop the easiest catch of his life), but really, he dragged us into the game, so I'm not going to criticise him too much for it.
The guy I really feel sorry for is Brett Lee - he was really throwing everything into it.
Again, unreserved congratulations to England - you deserved it.
EDIT: Sorry if that's incoherent, it's 1:30am here and I am depressed.
Well played Aussies, thanks for an excellent series.
Woooh, we finally win at the Cricket!! Yay! Go England!
You put up a good challenge you ozzies, but in the end the best man won!
Hooray! Well played Aussies, that was probably the best series ever.
Congrats, 16 years is a long time between drinks... last time England won the ashes the Berlin wall was still standing. ~:cheers:
I don't think you would be saying that had the Aussies won.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcellus
But the poms did deserve to win. We played quite poorly throughout the series. Not up to our usual standard, thats for sure. I guess our poor performance made it a closely contested series though, so thats a bonus.
Well played England, and well played good ol' English weather.
We'll get you next time. :charge:
Did a spaceship full robots from the planet Krikkit appear (Did it sound like a thousand people saying "wop" at the same time?), who then killed a lot of people and stole the ashes, because it is a part of the Wikkit Gate and it will release their planet from slo-time, so they can destroy the universe?
Sorry, that won't do. To win a test match you have to bowl the other side out twice. If you let them make 700 or so runs in their two innings you probably won't have time to do that, whoever you are and whatever the weather. OK, a lot of play was lost in the fifth test, but even with a full sixth day its not at all obvious there would have been an Aussie victory. They didn't manage a first innings lead, after all.Quote:
Well played England, and well played good ol' English weather.
And, there were only 14 overs played in day 3 at the Old Trafford test, and at the end of that test Australia were 50 odd runs short of their target with no wickets left and Lee and McGrath at the crease. Which is to say, even ten more overs, heck, even five, and they would have lost. So without good ol English weather the series would have been effectively over at 3:1 to England at the start of the fifth test.
Australia are still a very good side and they played as well as they could. England are also now a good side, and on their day either side could beat the other. Australia could certainly have tied the series and retained the Ashes. Weather, (unfair) bad luck, substitute fielders, had nothing to do with the result, that's what made it such a great series between two very closely matched teams.
'twas a great series. In terms of entertainment I can remember no better in the 15 years I have been watching the game seriously.
Australia were reduced to a one man band by England. Only Warne made any real inroads, none of the other bowlers (other than McGrath at Lords) had any meaningful impact and there were no batsmen that we feared.
It could have been a 4-1 win without rain. Do you reckon the Aussies could have got another 350 runs on that wicket yesterday even if they had another 100 overs to face?
It doesn't bode well for the Australian team. Without McGrath and Warne the bowling line up looks decidedly ordinary. And the batsmen are not only in poor form, but are too reaching the end of their careers.
Talking of end of careers - poor Richie Benaud being upstaged in his retirement speech by Kevin Peterson being bowled! 42 years and you would think he would have no end of dull moments to fill with his speech! Well done that man - you've been an institution.
The only sour note to the whole thing is this is possibly the high water mark of cricket in this country. It is now moving entirely to pay per view - which in the experience of all other sports has been the death knell.
Its like a scene from Apocalypse Now out my office window, there must be five or six news helicopters hovering over Trafalgar square for the victory parade.
As for the passing of Richie, well, what can you say? End of an era doesn't begin to cover it. A first class advert for cricket and for Australia. If they made Colin Cowdrey a lord they should make Richie a baron at least (can you make Australians peers?)
Er...of course I would have...Quote:
Originally Posted by Revelation
Yes, and there was a Chesterfield sofa with a couple of wierd people on it too (one was in a dressing gown).Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinus
Bet Warne is regretting dropping Pietersen...
~:eek: That was yesterday, so that means tomorrow the world will end. ~:eek:Quote:
Yes, and there was a Chesterfield sofa with a couple of wierd people on it too (one was in a dressing gown).
......And the reward for all you loyal cricket fans is that you will now have to pay to watch your game. Now that is what I call bad play
........Orda
~:eek: Quick, let's get out of here! Do you have an electronic sub-ether device?Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinus
I've never understood the logic of Sky putting up massive bids for sports and then putting them on pay-per-view. It's like they're paying to slash the viewing figures.Quote:
The only sour note to the whole thing is this is possibly the high water mark of cricket in this country. It is now moving entirely to pay per view - which in the experience of all other sports has been the death knell.
Sky if i may say so have not done any thing good for sport. They have basically got a monopoly on most sports and so is ruining sport and asking it away rom its roots. And as for pay-per-view its stupid but the funny thing is people will still play to watch sports! It's no longer like the good old days were sport was well sport. Theres now BIG money in sport. And i mean big.
Any way on a better note we won! A well deserved victory and a thrilling series at that! The most entertaining cricket event I have seen in my life time at least and also in my opinion the sporting event of the year (so far any way).
Heres to England! ~:cheers:
Perhaps the government should just claim that it's an instituition, refuse to let Sky buy the cricket rights, and then give them to the BBC.
Pretty illegal, but it would be rather cool.
Or at the very least allow C4 to keep it. Call it a national institution and the Government could probably force cricket to stay terrestrial.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax
No, but I have a Rubik's cube. If I can slove it I can unlease its mystic energies.Quote:
Quick, let's get out of here! Do you have an electronic sub-ether device?
Also I have 3 towels. ~:cheers: