*Official* Fifth Test at The Oval

[MW1304]

Looking very grey where I am a few miles away - have had to flee Reading due to the plague of the great unwashed

Not been raining in Reading all day.

[MW1304]

Sky have just done a brilliant piece on working a batsman out. Has basically confirmed how brilliantly Australia have bowled to Cook, he's scored three boundaries above the line of the stumps on the offside all series and every single one of his wickets have been from balls that are on/below the line of the bails. I'm not sure we can put any of Cook's failings specifically down to anything other than good bowling to good plans.

Edit: They've also bowled a perfect length to Root, who has seriously struggled to score any runs when it's in that good zone.

[fredfertang]

Yeah it's a bit ridiculous. I can't see Eng ever truly dominating if they keep up this mentality...it's like they are content with being good, but don't care for taking it to the next level.

What narks me most is the way they have played all summer with so little consideration for those who pay so much money to watch the bloody matches - at least Clarke has set out to entertain come what may, and much kudos to him and his team for that

[fredfertang]

Long may it stay that way - the thought of my younger son returning to my house tonight with a bunch of other drunken, bedraggled and rain-soaked festival goers fills me full of the worst sort of dread

[Ruckus]

What narks me most is the way they have played all summer with so little consideration for those who pay so much money to watch the bloody matches - at least Clarke has set out to entertain come what may, and much kudos to him and his team for that

Yeah I agree. I definitely think it's important in sport, especially cricket, that entertainment value is taken into consideration, as opposed to a completely cold, results-orientated mentality. At the end of the day sport is for the fans, so totally ignoring that component of it is really just disrespectful.

[Spark]

Sky have just done a brilliant piece on working a batsman out. Has basically confirmed how brilliantly Australia have bowled to Cook, he's scored three boundaries above the line of the stumps on the offside all series and every single one of his wickets have been from balls that are on/below the line of the bails. I'm not sure we can put any of Cook's failings specifically down to anything other than good bowling to good plans.

Edit: They've also bowled a perfect length to Root, who has seriously struggled to score any runs when it's in that good zone.

Really like this idea that Warne came up with to Bell as well, given that the boundary highlights package they came up with was mostly to balls with a bit of width. Think they need to bowl a fair bit straighter, get him playing at basically every ball.

[Furball]

Yeah I agree. I definitely think it's important in sport, especially cricket, that entertainment value is taken into consideration, as opposed to a completely cold, results-orientated mentality. At the end of the day sport is for the fans, so totally ignoring that component of it is really just disrespectful.

3-0 is entertainment enough cheers. Australia can feel free to entertain us by collapsing for 120 again if they want.

[Furball]

Yeah it's a bit ridiculous. I can't see Eng ever truly dominating if they keep up this mentality...it's like they are content with being good, but don't care for taking it to the next level.

Yeah let's just ignore everything KP and Root have said about the pitch, it's all England's feeble mentality.

They should take a leaf out of Australia's 'that's the way I play, deal with it' mentality that's been so successful for them this series.

[morgieb]

When should the rain subside?

And the chances of a result fades by the minute.

[Maximas]

3-0 is entertainment enough cheers. Australia can feel free to entertain us by collapsing for 120 again if they want.

we won't even get that chance at this rate

[Maximas]

England clearly have a more settled and generally better team to me, but they have not been helped by their mentality, the playing style of both teams hasn't been the difference. Ruckus has a point, England have never really driven home the initiative, even when on top. It's not just this series either, I remember Trott crawling to 11 off god knows how many balls against NZ when they had a massive lead, bull****ting around helps no one, crowd included

[social]

Sky have just done a brilliant piece on working a batsman out. Has basically confirmed how brilliantly Australia have bowled to Cook, he's scored three boundaries above the line of the stumps on the offside all series and every single one of his wickets have been from balls that are on/below the line of the bails. I'm not sure we can put any of Cook's failings specifically down to anything other than good bowling to good plans.

Edit: They've also bowled a perfect length to Root, who has seriously struggled to score any runs when it's in that good zone.

If Harris and Siddle stay fit for the nest Ashes, Cook will have some serious work to do before he becomes a threat again as they have completely worked him out

Whilst he is an excellent player, he is also extremely limited (by choice I hasten to add) and his current approach just isn't working

Gone are the days, thank ****, when he could just sit on the bowlers and wait for a legside ball or half-tracker to keep the score board ticking

As for Root, I doubt whether the Australians are terribly worried about him at all for the return bout as his technique is likely to yield slips catching practice on bouncier tracks

The outcome of the series down under will again lie in whether our dodgy batsmen can string together some scores rather than our ability to take 20 wickets at par or better as the latter is almost a given from what we have seen

[social]

3-0 is entertainment enough cheers. Australia can feel free to entertain us by collapsing for 120 again if they want.

That will leave us 250-300 ahead and even if it was a timeless test, England would still play for the draw when faced with that sort of challenge

[MW1304]

Really like this idea that Warne came up with to Bell as well, given that the boundary highlights package they came up with was mostly to balls with a bit of width. Think they need to bowl a fair bit straighter, get him playing at basically every ball.

I can understand the bowling to Bell, particularly at the start of the series, simply focusing on a good length just outside off stump considering the amount of times he's been feathering them through to the keeper when having a little poke, but they seem to have been suckered into it a bit. He's clearly tightened up a hell of a lot outside off stump, leading them to throw it out a bit wider, which plays into his strengths, so we see a lot of late cuts, cuts and drives. They don't seem to have had much of a plan B. So yeah, I think considering the way he's dealt with them this series, it wouldn't be a bad plan.

[GIMH]

Yes, it all rest on the Aussie bats. The England bowlers will be powerless to stop them.

It's not as though Swann will be all over Rogers, Clarke will get worked over by Broad and which ever tall seamer joins him, Watson will get out lbw because we know how to bowl to him etc etc

We will win the return series because we are more likely to bowl you out for sub par scores than the inverse