The Ashes 2013

[amateur51]

Anderson on fire 5-39, Australia 114-8

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well played young man! a new hero eh? Aus 280 all out lead of 65

[amateur51]

well played young man! a new hero eh? Aus 280 all out lead of 65

Just got back in to find this, well done indeed.

Sadly I am reminded of the tragic figure of Ben Hollioake. Let's hope that their exploits in extreme youth are the only similarities.

[eighthobstruction]

"That is Ian Bell's 18th Test 100, his second against Australia, his first against Australia in England. It took 237 balls with 13 fours."

Eng 344-6 (lead by 279)

The wagon wheel graph of Ian Bell's innings (showing where he has scored his runs) is amazing. Not one run has been scored in the 'V' between mid off and mid on. Everything has come in the two thirds of the ground from extra cover around to mid-wicket. So often has he late cut to third man or worked on the leg side. On a pitch as slow as this, Bell has had to be so patient.....(quote)

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

a geometry of a most timely delight eh?

[do wish Aggers would stfu about Broad not walking, i am with Sir Geoffrey B on this]

[amateur51]

"That is Ian Bell's 18th Test 100, his second against Australia, his first against Australia in England. It took 237 balls with 13 fours."

Eng 344-6 (lead by 279)

The wagon wheel graph of Ian Bell's innings (showing where he has scored his runs) is amazing. Not one run has been scored in the 'V' between mid off and mid on. Everything has come in the two thirds of the ground from extra cover around to mid-wicket. So often has he late cut to third man or worked on the leg side. On a pitch as slow as this, Bell has had to be so patient.....(quote)

I'm very pleased for him. He has had his ups and downs as even the classiest player will have, but he has shown several times now that he can 'do it' in tough circumstances.

[amateur51]

a geometry of a most timely delight eh?

[do wish Aggers would stfu about Broad not walking, i am with Sir Geoffrey B on this]

Over the last couple of seasons, Aggers has stopped being a commentator and has tended towards becoming a journalist with copy to file. I understand that his job requires that he should be both but at different times. When the microphone is on he should stick with commentating on the game in hand. "Think CMJ" would be my advice to Aggers, were I his producer.

[eighthobstruction]

I'm very pleased for him. He has had his ups and downs as even the classiest player will have, but he has shown several times now that he can 'do it' in tough circumstances.

I certainly would have dropped him for this game/series....lets see what happens when he is in a free scoring game??....though they are promising this sort of wicket for all Tests except Lords....

[gurnemanz]

a geometry of a most timely delight eh?

[do wish Aggers would stfu about Broad not walking, i am with Sir Geoffrey B on this]

I agree with Aggers not Boycs. Obviously, the aim is to win, but it must surely be more satisfactory to win and have been honest and honourable. I believe England will win and would still have won if Broad had done the decent thing and walked. Now, any win will be slightly tainted and in the unlikely event of the Aussies managing to win, England will have lost both morally and on the field of play.

[amateur51]

I agree with Aggers not Boycs. Obviously, the aim is to win, but it must surely be more satisfactory to win and have been honest and honourable. I believe England will win and would still have won if Broad had done the decent thing and walked. Now, any win will be slightly tainted and in the unlikely event of the Aussies managing to win, England will have lost both morally and on the field of play.

If the match had been played at any time up to the mid-1970s I would agree with you gurney. But things have changed a lot in the world of cricket, not for the better in many ways, and this is one of them. In part, however, this has been down to the injection of money into the game and with it the very hard-boiled attitude of Australian cricketers with the advent of sledging, which is now apparently universal.

On this occasion the umpire was in error and Broad accepted that because that's what you do and also because it suited him. The Australians got themselves into a technical fix because the evidence was there but they had run out of appeals. A right old mess I agree and I suspect that no-one was going to have come out of it well. A very 'professional' approach to sportsmanship.

[antongould]

If the match had been played at any time up to the mid-1970s I would agree with you gurney. But things have changed a lot in the world of cricket, not for the better in many ways, and this is one of them. In part, however, this has been down to the injection of money into the game and with it the very hard-boiled attitude of Australian cricketers with the advent of sledging, which is now apparently universal.

On this occasion the umpire was in error and Broad accepted that because that's what you do and also because it suited him. The Australians got themselves into a technical fix because the evidence was there but they had run out of appeals. A right old mess I agree and I suspect that no-one was going to have come out of it well. A very 'professional' approach to sportsmanship.

Of course the great Sir Don Bradman famously didn't walk in a post war match against the MCC which upset Sir Walter Hammond a little........

[amateur51]

Of course the great Sir Don Bradman famously didn't walk in a post war match against the MCC which upset Sir Walter Hammond a little........

He'd have been grateful for the knighthood I'm sure anton but alas it never came.

[amateur51]

A day of high excitement (well as much excitement as Test cricket affords) in prospect, England have to get the last three wickets before Australia get the final 137 runs. Given that one of those wickets belongs to Ashton Agar I guess nothing is certain but we'll get a chance to see if his first innings 98 was a fluke or if he's the real deal. He was clearly a brilliant selection.Wouldn't it be good if Joe Root gets another spell and suggests that he could be the new D'Oliveira, a reliable batsman capable of great things plus a handy partnership-breaking bowler

[gurnemanz]

If the match had been played at any time up to the mid-1970s I would agree with you gurney. But things have changed a lot in the world of cricket, not for the better in many ways, and this is one of them. In part, however, this has been down to the injection of money into the game and with it the very hard-boiled attitude of Australian cricketers with the advent of sledging, which is now apparently universal.

I think you're right. I don't play cricket but I do play tennis and the same is true there. It sometimes happens that the player touches a ball before it goes out, but so slightly that the umpire doesn't notice. He should lose the point but the umpire cannot call it. The player always knows exactly (as in cricket) and has to decide whether to be honest or not. At my level, people tend to admit it but there was a famous case where Fernando Gonzales got to the Beijing Olympics Final in this way. Link

I find myself in the bizarre position of hoping England win (obviously, against Oz) but hoping Broad loses.

[amateur51]

Australia have been making excellent progress but England have just taken the new ball and Anderson has induced a tough of wildness from Agar and Cook took a very good catch.

Australia 207-7 so just over one hundred needed but Haddin is still in and could well take them on to victory

Come on England!

Oooooh Anderson's done it again- Starc gone, caught at first slip by Cook, Australia now 211-8