[Black Wolf]

Anyone else been watching today? Any predictions for the rest of the series? We've seen day 1 now, 336/7 at stumps, and gotten a bit of a look at the two sides. Before I was tipping 3-1 Australia, but now I'm not so sure. The bowlers did well out of what was supposed to be a pretty ordinary pich, but a lot of English mistakes kind of take the shine off some of those wickets, and they had an ordinary day in the fied (Haddin's still no Gilly, that's for sure). On the Pommy side, nobody really stood up and got anywhere - Pietersen had potential, and then just got stupid and gave his wicjket away for no good reason.

Still early, of course, and we're yet to see the Pommy spinners or the Aussie batsmen (I really want to see Phil Hughes tackle the English pitches (I know we're in Wales, but  don't have to acknowledge it)), but for the sides we've seen so far I can see more potential for improvement from the English ver the next few weeks than I can the Aussies, which has defiitely given me pause. I'm thinking more than one draw now, and that could mean trouble for the Aussies. But we shall wait and see.

Incidentally, I know there are lots of people on this board who don't understand cricket, can't comprehend a 5 day game, whatever. We know. But please, if all you're going to do is wander in and say "Cricket is so weird, lol!" please, find another thread. We have plenty of superbowl and Soccer world cup activity, so now we have a thread for this, the most important, or at the very least, most followed series in the pure form of one of the most popular sports in the world, and I know we have plenty of Aussies and Poms for whom this is a pretty significant sporting event. It'll be fun

[Flipside]

We'll probably do the usual and end up buckling over time, we always tend to start off strong, but lack the endurance for the longer tests.

I've not been following the Ashes, but I do know the sports performance of my country, we are a nation of semi-finalists

[Ghostavo]

Cricket is so weird, lol!

Really, following the historic trend, I'd wager the ashes stay in Australia with no return voyage in sight.

[captain-custard]

the match was pretty even today ,there was no dominance at all , the batsman who got out more gave there wickets away than were taken  ( except for the last 2 ) this match will be a draw in my opinion , the wicket will start to fall apart a little on friday and as its then the weekend i think tat it will rain , ( having lived on the welsh boarders and in wales for many years i cant ever remeber 5 days without rain .....)

As for the future matches this isnt the most potent australian side ( if it was england would have been killed of not long after 97/3) i think the weather as always will play a factor within the ashes , i still believe the australians stand a better chance of winning , but after seing how flintoff was smiling and batting i cant wait to see him bowl .....

it was nice to see a little bit of swing coming into the bowling when the new ball was taken , so all in all whos going to win is going to be difficult to call but i hope that it goes to the wire and there is just a little more sledging from both sides ( what purpose does the wicket mike serve if not to here that ..)

anyway , good luck to the aussies and to us poms , lets hope whatever happens that we go to the last over and have a truly great "ashes" because at the end of the day it is the most important sporting tournament in the cricket world

[NGTM-1R]

No ultimate death robots were sighted today.

[Dark RevenantX]

No ultimate death robots were sighted today.

Is that so?  I counted 42 of them.

[General Battuta]

It's okay. We have Patriot missiles and the Airborne Laser standing by to intercept any off-trajectory balls.

[Black Wolf]

5/479 Australia at stumps day three, but with the weather forecast tomorrow, looks destined to be a draw, with a very slight chance for an Aussie victory. Poms are out of it I suspect though.

[Black Wolf]

Anyone who can call test cricket boring after that finish... I have no words. Bloody good last hour or so, even if it didn't go Australia's way. Lord's in 4 days, which is really short IMO, but I'm not exactly complaining.

[captain-custard]

that was nail biting from an england point of view , #10 and #11 batsmen hanging in there for 50 minutes and slowly squeezing the draw , not the best test match ever , englands top order didnt bat well at all ....;

i miss the good old days when there was a little more aggression and fight from both sides , i see this australian side winning the ashes but only if they win at lords which they should do as they havent lost an ashes match at lords for the last million years

lets hope the ball comes of the wicket there a little faster so when a fast bowler hits the batsman with a bouncer they need the physio
 not just 10 seconds to adjust there helmet

anyway great start , loads of tension  lets hope it does go down to the last ball of the last match

[Enigmatic Entity]

Australia should have won. Or they should've just kept batting until they got 1000. It's not like the English actually tried to win the game after the 674 dec...

edit: 2nd test starts tonight, and this time the pitch will not be so flat...[I think] I guess we'll see another wide to third slip from Harmison [or whatever he's called]...!

[Black Wolf]

Mitchell Johnson is getting smacked all over the park

[Darius]

Looks like England's remembered how to bat. Hope this one's a bit more of a contest than the first.

[Black Wolf]

[captain-custard]

at tha start of the day ( before the first ball was bowled ) i was impressed with englands batting from the day before , but as usual it fell apart shortly after that , but once again australia proved they do not have a great bowling line up and took forever to get rid of the tail enders ....

Wow , what a shock , englands bowlers went for the attack and got wickets ( ok the wrong call for ponting , but he was out any way lbw, even if he wasnt happy about it) so 2 wickets down and it looked like australia was going to get through it and started to bat better and sensibly , but then englands bowlers found a new life and started to atack and really put pressure on , they took some good wickets and kept the pressure on..

so we finish the day with australia needing 70+ to avoid following on , lets hope that england can get them out and force the follow on tomorrow , and lets hope the rain stays away

could this be the first time since 1938 that england beat australia at lords ,

i hope so

[Black Wolf]

Despite some fairly ordinary performances from the top order, and much, much more ordinary performances from the umpires, Clarke and Haddin have seen Australia through to day five. Whether Australia can survive a whole nother day with five wickets gone... who knows. Hell, with a nights rest, if they can get their eyes in, there's nothing stopping Clarke and Haddin going for the outright win

Still, any brits feel like doing a raindance for me? Just a little one...

[captain-custard]

YAY


75 years , finally at lords , and freddy got 5 ...................................




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[Black Wolf]

Bah. It was good bowling, no doubt. Full credit to Freddy and the like, but for me, Clarke and Haddin are still the heroes despite the loss. Never say die and all that. Also, Mitchell Johnson made 50 - not to o shabby for a guy who's supposed to be a full time bowler.

That said, he's bowled pretty poorly this test - maybe he and Phil Hughes should switch jobs

[Black Wolf]

Well well well. Hasn't this been a fun couple of days

[Enigmatic Entity]

Ha-haa! An innings and 88 runs! Now the Aussies have confidence, they should provide an interesting contest for the last test. Good to see Johnson finally get a good amount of wicket.

And it seems that Hilfenhaus is still the best bowler this series at the moment...and he comes from Tasmania!