If you have all recovered from the hyperbole and shock of day one, it’s time to consider day two and provide comments below.
Three runs behind with seven wickets in hand is a massively strong platform on which to build but we know the Aussies will go hard. Root is the key one would think.
Again, as I’m still in the position where I need to work to pay the bills, I won’t get to watch much of the play so please keep me up to date with all that goes on.
Being Outside Cricket 
I’m working from home today. I won’t have the television on…………..
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Dale Steyn gets Tamim Iqbal and joins the 400 club with the 4th best average (behind Ambrose, McGrath and Hadlee):
http://goo.gl/lw6aWa
On an unrelated matter, anyone know what Virat Kohli is doing playing for India A?
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Not bad for an unskilful bowler…….
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My favourite cricketer in the world today.
Here’s one of those things that can be laid partly at Giles Clarke’s door, but which does not concern the Guardian in the slightest. I’m not even going to explain it; I trust people (especially SimonH) to work it out pretty quickly:
1. CEL Ambrose (WI) 20/98 (20.4%)
2. RJ Hadlee (NZ) 14/86 (16.3%)
3. CA Walsh (WI) 21/132 (15.9%)
4. Wasim Akram (Pak) 14/104 (13.5%)
5. GD McGrath (Aus) 14/124 (11.3%)
6. SM Pollock (SA) 8/108 (7.4%)
7. DW Steyn (SA) 5/80 (6.3%)
[1a. SR Watson (Aus) 11/59 (18.6%)]
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Tests played in England out of career Tests?
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Trent Boult’s figures aren’t going to be much better than Steyn’s (and certainly nothing like Hadlee’s) when he finishes the way things are going.
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Yep. Even without injury he’d only be on 8.8%. And in any case, Walsh and Hadlee are the only ones who didn’t miss a Test through injury.
He’s playing his fourth Test in Bangladesh, by the way, which is an interesting juxtaposition, eh Giles?
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What a brilliant bowler Steyn is and has been.
Look at the strike rate, it’s borderline ridiculous.
The best bowler of his generation.
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Yes, but he doesn’t play for one of the big 3, so he can be ignored by the cricket elite.
They will deny they do so, but increasingly if you don’t play for England, India, or Australia you are not that important. TV ratings are all that matters these days.
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Is India agreeing to a four Test series against SA a sign that that is changing though?
I’m very curious why the BCCI have agreed to this.
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I’m not curious at the BCCI agreeing to a four test series v SA Simon. £$££$£$£$
As I write Johnson has snared Bairstow with a brute of a bouncer.
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No side except England has agreed to a four Test series against SA for a decade – so why is it suddenly a money-maker now?
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Probably because the BCCI have woken up to the fact people might like to watch the likes of Amla, AB, Steyn and Morkel as they do so in the IPL?
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Simon maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that test series between the so called big 3 over the last 10’yearsnhave been very one sided. England VS Aus have thrown up very one sided contests. Two 5-0 to Aus. A 3-0 and a 3-1 to England. Englands last two series against India at home as ended 4-0 and 3-1. Aus /India series have followed a similar pattern.
Could it be that people want to see a contest? and the likes of South Africa (who most inconveniently for the big 3) have been the number 1 side in the world, and New Zealand are more attractive to providing a proper contest.
Variety is supposed to be the spice of life, and the big 3 have become very boring after a while. Let’s hope this marks a shift away from Giles Clarkes nightmare vision of hell.
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Start writing your kpateldf24 parodies!
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Honestly flabbergasted that Starc has been given another over.
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And that’s why I’m a keyboard warrior who never gambles.
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Want me to delete this?
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Noooo, keep it there, my self-esteem can handle it!
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Another example of Clarkes funky captaincy. No other captain in the world would have kept him on:)
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Honestly though (and everyone knows which captain I prefer), Cook would have been slated for bowling so little of Ali if he had 2 for 3 and two of his quick bowlers were going at around five an over in a low-scoring game.
Meanwhile, one for d’Arthez:
“Buttler went a bit too far across as Lyon flighted this one nicely on middle stump, it turned a bit and struck him right in front of middle and didn’t bounce as much as the previous ball.
…
Oh dear, Hawkeye says the ball that got Buttler was missing, bouncing and turning too much. Had hit him well outside the crease on the knee roll.”
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First of all, let me preface this by staying that I did not watch any of the action. Which is good in a sense, because Hawkeye and flawed decision making processes really infuriate me.
The predictive path is a joke. Until the software becomes public, and scrutinised by independent experts (for flawed code among other things), I would not put my trust in it. What people are describing are nothing short of inconsistent predictions.
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D’Arthez, I just saw it on Channel 5. Wretched. Laughable. Both Lyon balls clearing stumps by about as much as Katich’s infamous lbw at Trent Bridge in 2005. Allegedly.
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I didn’t believe the first one from Lyon to Buttler (DRS for a catch initially but closer to LBW) was going over the top of the stumps and now the replay shows the second one when Buttler was given out was as well (Buttler didn’t review it and everyone just thought it was plumb).
Hawkeye is wrong, the BCCI are right. Ouch.
And, as The Analyst predicted (but not a few others based on one warm-up match), Nathan Lyon is currently top wicket taker in the series.
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Predictive Hawkeye is a con. Hate it.
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And, with due predictability:
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Lyon’s obviously full of confidence and bowling well – but I’m struggling to think of any English wickets that have turned so much on Day Two. Maybe one or two at the Oval in the 1990s?
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Have to say, this is looking a lot like what I feared would happen.
We’ll bowl with a lead of about a 100, but Aus will be confident of winning the match from here.
With the pitch taking this kind of bounce ball, they would reckon even a lead of 150 would do.
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I don’t see any result other than an England win. 4 wickets at the closest.
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I don’t do optimism before Day 4. Just one of my little superstitions.
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This stand, and the last 20 minutes especially, has removed all doubt.
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Lead is 145.
Crucial session with the ball coming up.
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Warner looks quite up for it.
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Dangerous customer, can take the game away if he stays for a couple of session, especially in a low scoring match. His 2nd innings record is rather good I believe. I’m also quite surprised how lightly Bell was let off for his horrendous brain-fart last night. Think we have missed a chance to bat Aus out of this match. Wouldn’t like to be chasing much more than 150-ish on this
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About that last one, Simon. Selfish innings, wasn’t it?
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“It’s the way I play!”
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All in the second innings I think so easy runs that don’t really count.
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Ha, wandering round at lunch time Mike Gatting was doing a Q & A. After some anodyne questions someone asks
‘Mike, in retrospect was going on the rebel tour a bad thing for English cricket?’
‘Well that would take a long time to answer’
‘That’s allright Mike I’ve got the time’
‘Young family bla bla, coached youngsters yada yada’
There were a few jeers and it was good to see that people still remember and won’t let them forget
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GOOD.
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Was that a ‘relevant question?’
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He didn’t want to answer, but the insouciance of the questioners response ‘I’ve got all day’ forced him to answer.
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‘Paging Mr Saker, and Mr Selvey, paging Mr Saker and Mr Selvey’
Finn gets rid of both Smith and Clarke.
My dear old friend…………Blah blah blah
Finns on a hat trick now…….f*** you Selvey!
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Too many more matches like this and Dmitri will have to introduce ‘Fifty Watch’
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Finn’s ER currently is just way too high…..
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I think English cricket is very bad at understanding the importance of SR in Tests…
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Yes but his leg does stick out in a funny way, it’s only a matter of time until he knocks the bails off.
And we can’t have that can we?
George was talking about Loughborough last night. He calls it Bluffborough. Apparently they have bowlers speeds on the wall, and one bowler has a top speed of 92. But that was his first visit to Bluffborough, and his speeds have gone down since they started messing about with him. Yet they keep boasting about his 92 miles per hour best ball.
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Completely different game being played by Warner to everyone else. Yes one or two of those edges could have ended up in the slip cordon early on, but he backs his instincts.
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It’s the way he plays!
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If he can get Marsh to stay with him, he’ll make a game of it.
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Ha, they are abject , marsh essayed a ridiculous pull shot about 3 balls before he was bowled. Their concentration/ticker for test cricket appears lacking if the top 3 don’t score heavily
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Uh – ok – let’s try that again.
If he can get Nevill to stay with him, he’ll make a game of it.
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I think that counts as some kind of uncanny jinxing… Warner out, surprised by a short ball from Anderson.
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Keep going Meta, I am hoping to see a complete test match in my 2 days at Edgbaston 😀
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Johnson is a dangerous customer – he could hit out and Nevill drop anchor – and they could make a game of it…
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Next stat – has anyone retained the Ashes from 2-1 down? Australia in 36/37 did it I think – has it happened since?
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Actually, was that not the series in which Australia went 2-0 down, and still managed to win it? The only time that a team went 2-0 down and still won the series?
I missed most of the action, but I assume that the English press has lauded Cook for his brilliant captaincy, i.e. losing the toss.
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Anderson off mid-over with a side strain.
Fourth England bowler (that I can remember) to have a side strain in the last six months (Woakes, Ali and Jordan the others).
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Are they doing something strange in training? All too likely…
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Woakes took over three months to come back from his and Jordan’s initial estimate was six weeks out.
The one good thing about Anderson’s injury was he seemed to stop bowling very quickly after the injury became noticeable so hopefully it wasn’t exacerbated. On the other hand, it could indicate the initial injury was so bad Anderson couldn’t go on.
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Given age/workload/fragility issues with England’s best bowlers, this win with small workload is absolutely huge. At this stage Anderson would be perfectly sensible to go off for the most minor discomfort.
Australia’s openers have scored 139, for an average of 34.75.
Australia’s 3,4,5,6 have scored 50 for an average of 6.25.
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It’s Anderson’s birthday today and he gets a side strain. Bet he’ll be in a major sulk about that.
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Honestly, this Aussie lot are one of the worst Test sides I’ve ever seen in adversity. England in the 90s fought harder against much better sides. Really embarrassing.
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As bad as England 2013/14, or worse? Remember Sydney….
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Can’t wait for Selfey’s report tonight, the utter arsehole.
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So ‘Beefy’ Nevill and ‘Picca’ Starc to “give it some humpty” tomorrow morning?
If Starc needs any additional motivation Warne (who has previous here) has been banging on about dropping Starc for the next Test (for Cummins).
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Draft email:
Dear Nottinghamshire,
Remember that pitch you served up last year for the India game last year? Another one of those please for next week. In fact, it helped the bowlers too much. If I see any lateral movement in five days you won’t be seeing another Test in a hurry. Delete this after reading and give press interviews saying you’ve had no directives from the ECB.
Yours etc.
Not Andrew Strauss.
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