Para?noid on 22/11/2006 at 12:18
Any Brits and Aussies who want to join in some hearty game discussion, come into #thief. I think 5 Live coverage begins at 11:30 pm for the brits- Paz, I expect you to be still with me at 5:30 am!
Jakeyboy on 24/11/2006 at 03:26
finally Ponting goes for 196. Hopefully we can pick up our performance from here!
edit: hoggard is owning australia in #thief
Para?noid on 24/11/2006 at 04:17
Well, Hoggy had a good over - a bitter victory considering the two wickets were won off Pontings greed and manipulating Gilchrist. But we'll take anything we can get at this point.
Harmy finally woke up and took Warne down, too. Fun stuff regardless!
Matthew on 24/11/2006 at 09:31
Sadly McGrath had a good day as well.
Paz on 24/11/2006 at 11:54
STEVEN HARMISON HAS TAKEN A WICKET!!!!!!!!!
This is getting serious guys, I think we need to break out some WW2 propaganda dialogue.
If it gets really bad we'll step it up to Henry V.
Para?noid on 25/11/2006 at 13:07
well isn't this shit
at least bell is living up to expectations
Paz on 25/11/2006 at 15:14
The decision not to enforce a follow-on seems a little bizarre. I know there are two whole days left, but the more time Ponting spends dicking around collecting unnecessary runs, the less time England need to bat to get a draw.
It only raises the chance from "no chance at all" to "extremely remote," but why bother opening that door at all? I guess he fancied giving the bowlers a bit of a rest.
Jakeyboy on 25/11/2006 at 15:43
Why? It's not like they've had a particularly vigorous workout.
Rubbing salt into the wound I think. Still, would be funny if they set England a target of 1000 to win or something, times like this you can only laugh at yourself!
SD on 25/11/2006 at 15:47
I figured that it was just that the Aussie batsmen felt like boosting their batting averages against a thoroughly demoralised team.
Paz on 27/11/2006 at 02:31
Hey hey, we made day five!
Right, well, we got precisely what we deserved from that game. Rather a lot of improvement is needed if we want to get anywhere, and I think we'd all agree that this series will be better if it's at least competative.
Strauss - look Andy, Tresco isn't here, you're just going to have to cope without him. Stop playing a shitty hook shot and getting out cheaply.
Cook - did alright in the second innings, he's young and should improve. The tour will hopefully provide good experience.
Bell - possibly our only vaguely successful story from this match. No longer looks like a terrified child when facing the bowling. Slightly unlucky in the 2nd.
Collingwood - showed what he should be doing in the 2nd innings (trying to forget the 1st as much as possible, to be honest), sticking in with a partner and staying there.
Pietersen - kerrrrrazy kev. He'll do a bunch of exciting stuff and then be out stupidly. Or just be out stupidly. THIS IS THE WAY OF THE PIETERSEN.
Flintoff - our only interested bowler during the 1st innings. Terrible batting, looks horribly out of form and practise (mostly because he is).
Jones - didn't screw up in his wicket keeping capacity, managed to be reasonably steady across both innings in the batting. Fair doos.
Giles - EL MONARCH ESPAINIA. Well, he did ok really. Decent batting, decent - if unspectacular and unthreatening - bowling (but hardly the worst offender there). I really want Monty to have a go, but it's not like Giles did anything worthy of being dropped .. and I can't see us playing two spinners unless any of the pitches demand it. Sooo .. probably Gilo to get the nod again next time.
Hoggard - pretty poor bowling, aside from the over where he got Ponting and Gilchrist. Never seemed to find any swing. MUST DO BETTER.
Harmison - Steve, what the fucking hell was that?
Anderson - expensive and not up to it. Not his fault, he's probably the best backup for Simon Jones we have at the moment (unless that's Mahmood, but he ain't all that either). Maybe we should give one of our other no-mark bowlers a run out next time.
Eeee, it's gonna be grim. But all I ask is that the chaps put in a performance resembling something near their best. This game was most certainly not it. There were glimpses in the 2nd innings, but little more. Let's have a bit of pride and spirit in the second test, eh?
