*Official Third Test at Edgbaston

[Top_Cat]

In all seriousness, and it'll be bloody tough to resist going for broke trying for wickets (especially after what we just saw) but I think the appropriate response to this has to be some good solid pressure bowling. It's why I think the Aussies will have it right if Hilf and Siddle open.

I have a very ugly feeling that Ponting will hit the panic button and bowl Johnson first, though......

 

[Craig]

Going to be very interesting to see England bat. I will back Hilfenhaus to do well and if the conditions stay the same, then you would have to think this is the place where Johnson can not only land it on the cut strip, but look dangerous as well. Same for Siddle. I bet McDonald would have done well on this wicket as well.

*2nd.

Tipping Hilf to do damage, though. Only if Johnson manages to throttle back and do a job, though.

So it won't happen. haha

 

[Ikki]

Hot tip: Watson to impress with the bowling.

 

[Top_Cat]

IMO Hilf is worse when there's a lot of swing around. When there's a hint he's harder to play because not every ball swings and it's a touch of surprise, when there's heaps he just bowls the same easily sighted delivery over and over.

Yeah agree. As I said in the edit, if he gets some pressure from the other end, though.... It'll be a problem when he has to be the attacking bowler if the others are pedestrian. He strikes me as more of a guy to capitalise on good bowling from others by hitting an area and sticking to it like crazy glue.

 

[Pigeon]

Among all the carnage :

SCJ Broad 9-0-36-0 4.00 50 wickets@ 40.76

Booking his place in the next test due to others' performances.

 

[Adamc]

Maybe England bowled better than I thought they did, or maybe Australia did bat as poorly as I thought they did. Maybe both, or neither. Really pisses me off though that any attempt at discussion in CC tends to degenerate into 'I'm right, you're wrong, deal with it' crap. Possibly why I've avoided the place for two or three years.

 

[Goughy]

Just woke up and checked, good to see.

Interesting that, according to cricinfo) Broad hit 98.5 mph and Anderson 95.5 mph. Cant be right surely?

 

[pasag]

I'd like to apologise for suggesting that Australia should have been able to get through that session without losing seven wickets. Clearly wasn't possible.

 

[Son Of Coco]

There seems to be a broad believe that Australia's problem is Johnson's defect radar. I won't argue he was bowling fine the 1st two tests, but when comparing all bowlers, one cannot say he is the problem (Johnson 8 @ 41, Siddle 7 @ 44, Flintoff now 7 @ 43).

At the moment we have two problems. One is we've batted not brilliantly in the first innings of the past two matches. Lords was terrible. Today we've been shot out by some good bowling, but there's been some poor performances too. Lords was far worse.

Johnson is also a problem, we've been carrying a strike bowler for the first two tests. And it's not just that he's not really getting the wickets...he's getting smashed too. Batting well in the 1st test we almost got away with it. Batting poorly at Lords we had no chance. His figures look ok, but if you want to try to argue he's been more effective than Flintoff or Siddle I think you'd be drawing a long bow. Flintoff has been a far far better bowler than Johnson in this series up until now, regardless of what the stats say.

 

[Craig]

Watson to do his back in whilst putting on his bowling boots.

 

[Jakester1288]

I'm over this.

I'm going to bed.

 

[irfan]

Hot tip: Johnson and Siddle to be gunbarrell straight all day, Hilfenhaus to swing every ball exactly the same and be pedestrian, Watto to go at > 5 an over and do a hammy running in in his 7th over.

Haha, I can so see this happening. Expect Ponting to bowl Hilf to the ground in a desperate attempt to keep things quiet when that task would be so much easier if they picked Clark

 

[Richard]

Maybe England bowled better than I thought they did, or maybe Australia did bat as poorly as I thought they did. Maybe both, or neither. Really pisses me off though that any attempt at discussion in CC tends to degenerate into 'I'm right, you're wrong, deal with it' crap. Possibly why I've avoided the place for two or three years.

If one person believes they're right and another person is wrong, it's kinda inevitable that another person is going to believe they're right and the other person is wrong.

IMO, England destroyed Australia with brilliant bowling; IYO, they capitulated. There's not that much more as can be said.

And an in-match thread is hardly the place for an in-depth discussion. One-liners dominate.

 

[Burgey]

Seems real top-quality swing has been so rare of late that many people have forgotten just how realistically unplayable it is when it comes along.

As for Watson, decked back sharply on him for mine. And while North could have survived the ball that got him out, if you keep bowling like that at any batsman, you've a pretty good chance of dismissing them sooner or later.

SMC mate.

Seems your head is so far up your own arse that when someone disagrees with you about your take on two of seven dismissals you resort to the sort of crap comment we come to expect from, well, Richard frankly.

 

[Son Of Coco]

It has done a decent amount in England for the last three summers. Finally it seems England is back to being the swing-friendly place it should be almost all the time, after stopping swinging almost completely 2001-2006.

It is good to see, even if Australia are on the receiving end.

 

[pup11]

Missed almost whole of the first session, came back home and immediately checked the score, for a moment thought that they were showing highlights from the Lord's test, but then it was time for some reality check.

Shocked to see our current predicament, its almost surreal that we are 8 down by lunch after being 126-1 yesterday, I'm sure English would have bowled well, but still this is pretty ****in' ridiculous.

EDIT: The most annoying thing was, that one of the best players of seam and swing bowling (Prince) in the Australian side was sitting on the bench.

 

[Richard]

Among all the carnage :

SCJ Broad 9-0-36-0 4.00 50 wickets@ 40.76

Booking his place in the next test due to others' performances.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if he got at least one of the last couple of wickets TBH.

 

[Stapel]

At the moment we have two problems. One is we've batted not brilliantly in the first innings of the past two matches. Lords was terrible. Today we've been shot out by some good bowling, but there's been some poor performances too. Lords was far worse.

Johnson is also a problem, we've been carrying a strike bowler for the first two tests. And it's not just that he's not really getting the wickets...he's getting smashed too. Batting well in the 1st test we almost got away with it. Batting poorly at Lords we had no chance. His figures look ok, but if you want to try to argue he's been more effective than Flintoff or Siddle I think you'd be drawing a long bow. Flintoff has been a far far better bowler than Johnson in this series up until now, regardless of what the stats say.

I wasn't trying to argue that Johnson is as good as Flintoff or Siddle! Surely not!
I was just pointing out that Johnson's poor bowling form seems to cloud the fact (or rather my strong opinion) that the Aussie batting is way below par!

 

[Richard]

SMC mate.

Seems your head is so far up your own arse that when someone disagrees with you about your take on two of seven dismissals you resort to the sort of crap comment we come to expect from, well, Richard frankly.

Yeah, I say again how things happened... what a crap comment.

 

[Top_Cat]

It is good to see, even if Australia are on the receiving end.

Haha, spoken like a true pace bowler. For the record, I completely agree. I can't put into words how much I love seeing the ball zipping all the place and making these ****ing batsmen look stupid.

The Aussie technique against swing needs further examination, though. I wrote an article on the site years ago essentially saying I thought if a decent swing bowler came along, he'd dominate because no-one bloody plays swing well any more. If more pitches around the world moved, reckon bowlers like Jimmeh would totally clean up.