struggling

Now that I have 3 children, I didn't think it would be this difficult to stay awake all night. Managed to get up at 2.45 am to watch the final day. I slurred my way through Sunday and have spoken gibberish at work for most of the today. All without a drink. Looking forward to Adelaide already...

Summing up from Brisbane...

Luke has got the cricket nailed in the post below but there are a few questions which still need answering:

1. Where were all the fans? Those painted chairs didn't fool me, if it wasn't for the Barmy Army the place would have been deserted!
2. Who is Michael Clark kidding, his career is slipping through his fingers and he's struggling badly, somebody might have to have a word
3. Ponting's field placings were a bit off the pace - has he lost it?
4. Johnson was talking himself up big time before the series, I think he'd be better off out of it so he doesn't embarrass himself any more
5. Does anybody feel like 2005 when we saw the back of Gillespie and Martyn after woeful performances early on in the series?

The 1st Test so far......

OK. I have been watching intensely the competition for the last 4 days and here are my thoughts.

England 1st Innings.
I thought England's first innings whilst was not great I do not think their performance was too bad. The Australian bowling was poor with the exception of Siddle, Doherty and Watson. Both Hilfeneus and Mitchell Johnson were very poor. Without the dazzling display from Siddle it could of been very different.

Australian 1st Innings
The Australian innings looked a little shaky at first, in particular with Michael Clarke stratching around for some runs. If England had a little more luck with the decisions then it could of been a different story with Australia only having a slender lead. The England players all bowled without luck (maybe Broad was too short in his deliveries?) and at no point did they get their heads down. Equally whilst the bowling was good both Haddin and Hussey played well.

I wrote to my brother in law after the end of the 3rd day saying to him that England were still in this purely because I felt England mentally were the better side. This was proved yesterday. Whilst Australia played on inspiration, the England players felt they could get back into the game.

England 2nd Innings - so far
I thought Strauss lead from the front and some of his shots were top class. Outside of the catch M Johnson put down he did not do much wrong. Equally Cook just knocked the ball around until he decided to put the accelerator down.

The Australian fast bowling yesterday was some of the worst I have seen in a long time. It was not accurate, it was too short and they paid for this. Before the test match started I felt the batting was fairly equal however it was going to be down to the bowling. There is no doubt that Australia's bowling is not as strong as England's bowling now we have seen the attacks.

Mitchell Johnson needs to unfortunately be dropped as he has lost all confidence.

So all in all today is going to be a fantastic day of cricket. If England can declare at lunch and then have a good bowl in the afternoon, then they may further dent the Australian confidence. My prediction now is that I believe Australia will struggle to retain the Ashes - and I think Ricky Ponting knows this. I think they need to spend the rest of the Ashes ensuring they blood new players for the next generation since the side is in transition right now, whilst England are an excellent unit.......

Anyway that is my obserrvation from an Australian perspective.

Stats so far...

Just to keep up to date in a test match which appears to have been dominated by Australia, it's interesting to see that Engalnd havent done that much wrong. If we look at it by sessions then it tells a slightly different story:

Day 1
Morning Eng 86/2
Afternoon Eng 86/2
Evening Eng 88/6 Aus 25/0

Day 2
Morning Aus 71/1
Afternoon Aus 72/4
Evening Aus 52/0

Day 3
Morning Aus 109/0
Afternoon Aus 107/0
Evening Aus 45/5 Eng 19/0

Day 4
Morning Eng 114/0
Afternoon Eng 103/1
Evening Eng 71/1

Using the usual (for me) way of deciding if a session is won by the batting side getting 90 runs or the bowling side getting 3 or more wickets. On that basis the score so far is Eng 5 Aus 4 Halved 3.

For my reference there have been 10 referrals so far.

morale swings our way

If the Aussies lose a few wickets on the final afternoon, I would think the England and South Africa team would claim to have the morale in their favour. Personally, I hope England bat on for as long as possible giving the Aussies a dismal final day moping around the Gabba like bored chimps in a zoo. The Aussie bowling looked a bit limp last night - how rubbish is Mitchell Johnson? He looks like a potato chucker. Where was the 'intimidating atmosphere' that we are used to from your fans? Can the Australian crowd not get behind their own team?

It was hard trying to stay awake all night, but the brilliant batting of Cook and Strauss kept me going. After four days, both teams are looking like the sides they were on paper coming into this series. Adelaide beckons and Australia will need to lift their spirits to get anything out of the game. Ha'way the lads...

Much better from England...

Well if the Aussies least in form batsman (Hussey) can get 195 on this pitch you really would hope that your team could post some runs and much to our relief that's what we've done. The draw is now favourite with an outside chance of a win for either team on the final day, the run rate is probably too low for that though. England had to bat 4 sessions and it looks they will do that, with a declaration after lunch on day 5 a possibility, although nicking the draw will be a moral victory with Australia dominating the first three days.

An interesting point to note is that the so called bowling all-rounders on each team, Broad and Johnson, have yet to get a wicket or a run between them!

Phew!

So 260 is not looking so bad now, with the Aussies at 143-5 England would have been hoping for a first innings lead. If the weather holds it looks like the draw is out of the question so we're off and running with a result in the first test and probably a tense finish. Test match cricket delivers yet again! Highlights for England would be the figures of Anderson and Broad only going for 2 an over - that is superb bowling. Great for Finn to pick up wickets too.

England need a good start tomorrow to get Australia out for less than 300 and then set it up for Swanny in the last innings.

It could have been worse...

When I woke up this morning I thought about how bad the first day could be and then I saw the BBC headline: "Australia rip through England", and I saw 'all out for 150' or worse in my mind. Many real England fans will remember what we're capable of and be quite relieved by that performance. As notorious slow starters this is not as bad as it could have been. The two low points are obviously Strauss and the hat trick but there are some reasonable performances to go against that. And as Geoffrey always says: "you dont know what's par until both sides have batted."

The only regret is that whatever psychological edge England had built up by their great start to the tour has been completely wiped out in the first day. I'd still back us to come good even if we lose this first test. Hopefully better things to come tomorrow.

Aussie Spinners...

Dropping Nathan Hauritz for an unheard of lefty came as a shock to me, then when I read more on the BBC it appears that the Aussies have brought him in to target England's right handed middle order. So that means the Aussies are worried about Ian Bell, it cant be true! I don't remember them having ever selected a bowler because of the opposition batters let alone against England, they would normally only replace someone in extreme playing conditions or injury. They might be trying to deal a psychological blow to Pietersen by playing on one of his demons, but honestly so what, England have to accept that Pietersen can get out for 3 or 300 and it makes the other guys play too which is no bad thing. It will be good for England if the Aussies focus on KPs batting and select their side on that basis.

Clint McKay

There is no doubt that Clint McKay should be in the Australian test squad. He bowled accurately, beat the bat on more than a dozen occasions and can hold up one end. He is just the type of bowler Australia need at present to keep a lid on things.

This guy is just getting better a better and need to be picked into the squad.

OK. I am a little biased since Clint grew up in my suburb in Victoria and I played basketball with Clint and his father when I was younger.

Kevin Peterson - what to do with him

Again we saw Peterson lose his way yesterday to the left arm spinner. I am not sure whether it is the spin or his mental approach to seeing through an innings.

If he is not hitting fours and sixes then he does not seem to have the patience to see off a bowler.

He is Englands main problem right now.

Jonathan Trott.......

My thoughts on Jonathan Trott......
Very strong player, great mental strength and anything you bowl onto the middle to leg stump he hits to the boundary.

Where I think he has a problem is the rising bowl on his off stump to wide of off stump. Australia need to keep bowling only in this area.

Just an observation however Australia need to be very discipled in their bowling to him as I think he is a touch vunerable.

Mr Cricket is back......

Mike Hussey is back.........lovely century yesterday for WA.

http://cricket.com.au/news-display/Mr-Cricket-returns/22743

Australia have backed themselves into a little bit of a corner now though since Uzman and Ferguson have now failed with Australia A so they limited other batting options.

For me I would of picked Cameron White and Phil Hughes also into the squad.......lets watch this space to see how it all unravels.

Mitch Johnson Smashes Hundred for Western Australia

Ok. Some great news here. Mitchell Johnson smashed a hundred a day ago for WA to keep an even keel in matching the batting of Chris Broad lower down the order. This is going to be a really important battle as I see it as both Australia and England middle order can be fragile at times.

http://cricket.com.au/news-display/Mitch-ton-fires-Warriors/22714

The real area of importance for Australia is who do they pick as their spinner. The left arm spin of Xavier Doherty maybe a great option since Peterson looked completely messed up by the left arm bowler in Australia A side Okeefe. The other alternative is to go for Steve Smith who I believe will be a great bowler in the next few years however would be picked more for his batting strength.

Smart thinking by England...

OK, this is getting weird, we're playing good cricket and even the management are making good decisions, the way the tour has been planned and this last decision of resting the first string bowlers looks inspired. Tremlett and Shahzad have done themselves no harm at all especially with Shahzad getting the old ball to swing yesterday.

Cooky's in the runs...

Following a better batting effort from Alistair Cook in the warm up match today I'll stick my neck out now and say that if Cook gets runs in all the test matches England will win the series, not so much because he is a talisman for the team but it will show that the Aussie bowlers are not on their 'A' game. In that event we'll get enough runs in every test to allow our 4 bowlers to get the wickets we need and win the series.

A good start to the tour...

Looks like all the batsman have started to get some runs under their belt, Trott, Cook and Prior need some more time in the middle but Collingwood has come to the party today. Bowlers all look good so avoiding injury must be the priority. According to the BBC the Aussies are already planning changes for the second test to cover for 1 or 2 players who they expect
to fail!

The Ashes 2010/11

Well, it seems like an awful long time since we started this blog, the excitement of 2005 was completely justified as we saw one of the all time great Ashes series. Th drama was nail-biting and the outcome, from an English perspective, was sensational. So we didn't blog much about the following series, in fact none at all which is the same the number of test series the England won. The 2009 series in England was another classic for a whole lot of new reasons so we thought with predictions for this time around on a knife edge we'd start again, let battle commence...