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By Will 2 years ago, at the end of November Leave a comment on this post
The fifth and final day from Brisbane. It looks as though the rain will hold off for Australia - late thunder is forecast, but that’s about all - so England will almost certainly enter the second Test on Friday 0-1 down. But all is not lost. Yesterday, they competed at last. Paul Collingwood - my secret tip for this series - looked increasingly fluent and combative in the afternoon, falling four short of a richly deserved hundred. And Kevin Pietersen batted with controlled mania for once, which was both exhilarating to watch and heartening for England’s cause; his duel against Shane Warne was not to be missed. Friends turned foes.
So let’s hope for everyone’s sake England can delay the inevitable and give Australia something to think about. Get chatting. I’m in work at 6 and will turn on TMS (for the first time in years, it seems) at about 5 to hear our fate…hopefully with Pietersen approaching 300 and England either scenting the most extraordinary win of all time, or a draw. Yes, quite.
Tags: ashes, australia, brisbane, england, england-in-australia, kevin-pietersen, test-cricket, the-ashes |
can anyone help me with getting some online commentary?
I am in stockholm and cannot get the links to work. All that happens on the penguin link is that a weird download happens.
England can do it. Up to Jones now. KP has it in him to get a huge score. Lets see what happens.
I would just love to stick one up ponting again. That guy has no class, apart from when he holds his bat that is!
We’ll limp into lunch and it will all look over until the Heavens open and we save the test 
You wait and see. It’ll happen…
i really need a link.
Any help?
It’s a warm, humid day here in Brisbane today … the kind of stuff we’ll be getting for the next 3 months. As I look out my window at work there’s a fair amount of cloud around, but I can’t see much rain in it. If we do get a storm, it would normally not arrive until at least the final session … some time after 4pm. England will need to bat for a long, long time if they want the weather to save them. I think you’re better off putting your faith in that Hollywood kid from South Africa.
i need a penguin radio one or something. The link attatched does not work.
I am so gutted to have to listen to some indian commentary. useless. They are just watching sky sports!
Now if only Collingwood and Flintoff had not given away their wickets yesterday..why Eng could have given Aus a run for their money…355 over a day is gettable….of course.. I have no idea what teh pitch is like today!
Pietersen gone in the first over. Fuck this, I’m off to bed.
hmm..guess it was fun while it lasted!
Good Night Will!
Have a good dream about the rest of the series! 
I only just got out of bed! 
England are still a chance; but they have to take some brave decisions, Panesar and Giles must both play; and please can someone find an excuse to take the captaincy off Fred.
The only excuse for a different captain is if Vaughn plays.
Do you think Geriant Jones has enjoyed his first test at his home ground?
And he just got bowled as i type. Probably won’t help the enjoyment factor.
I think Vaughan was always doing a lot of man management behind the scenes when he was in charge and that’s been missed.
I’m glad Harmy hit a couple of fours — he needs some fun in his life.
At least you can take heart in that England won Day 4, and batted extremely well in the 2nd innings.
They have batted alright but most of the english batsman threw there own wickets away in the 2nd innings.
Bear in mind, also, that Australia really didn’t have worry about containing the Poms. They wanted your boys to start swinging - in the hope that they’d play some dumb shots. Which many did. Still - it was good to see some better batting - I don’t think anyone believed that the first innings performance was really a true indication of your ability with the bat.
Phew. Just as well they didn’t do that in the first innings, eh?
So what are the odds of England bouncing back as they did last year. The big difference this time around is the relative lack of threat from their bowling lineup. The loss of Simon Jones looks more important. But would he have been able to extract the nasty swing in Australia that he could in England last year? His teammates haven’t really been able to.
There is already talk of the Aussies introducing both Watson and McGill for Adelaide at the expense of Clarke and Clark. Either of the latter would be unlucky, particularly Stuart Clark who hasn’t put a foot wrong in four Tests.
Also interesting to see how McGrath copes with his bruised heel without a lot of respite.
Already looking forward to Adelaide…
Also, where your resources are limited, or unreliable, you need a captain who can be clever and squeeze the best out of what you have in any situation that arises.
If worst comes to worst and we have to rest McGrath, at least we finally have someone who can go some way towards replacing him - Stuart Clark. So - it’d hurt, but losing McGrath probably wouldn’t be as catastrophic as last year. I feel - marginally - sorry for Flintoff. Too much too soon for him. Bowling, batting and captaining is too much, especially when everyone else is failing to fire. You ruined Botham by elevating him to captain.
Yes the batting was better but still bloody reckless. Can you imagine 2 aussies batsman giving their wickets away in the ’90’s trying to save a test?? I think not. Can you imagine the aussies skipper chucking away his wicket like Flintoff? I think not.
Despite the big win, Australia will take some nerves into Adelaide for the following reasons:
1) They’ll be terrified of the complacency trap they fell into between Lords and Edgbaston last year. And there are some parallels between the Gabba and Lords: fairly inept performance by England punctuated by passages of breathtaking aggression; similar losing margin; and Flintoff didn’t get any runs then either.
2) Monty’s an unknown quantity — the devil you don’t know is always the worst.
3) Dad’s Army have still got what it takes but their older bodies are more vulnerable — witness Ponting and McGrath.
4) Despite a position of huge advantage, Warnie still lost it. Call me shallow but his contretemps with Pietersen was great sporting theatre, and it wasn’t KP who looked the fool.
5) They have more pressure on them as everyone expects them to win.
6) Looked at in one light, the England players can’t bat or bowl, but Australia will never know when one of them might.
I don’t think it’s as bad as all that Kathy. A lot of what you say makes sense, but I don’t think it will have a huge impact. The difference with lst year is that we lost McGrath, and had no-one to replace him. We do now, so that’s a big relief. Monty will be a factor - if the Pommy selectors pick him. I know we all think they should, but they are exhibiting all the signs of insanity. There’s a huge amount of pressure on Flintoff now. It’s really too much for him if the rest don’t fire. Considering the amount of work Punter and Pigeon did, a few minor aches are to be expected, but I’d be surprised if they are persistent.
The Warnie v. Jaapie thing was entertaining, but no big deal. I suspect Warnie was perhaps trying to make a point: that their friendship wouldn’t stop him from doing his job. And can you lose it too much when you are winning?
It will be interesting here. I reckon many locals would be unsurprised by a draw here, which should relieve pressure on our boys. Certainly wouldn’t shock me - if the Poms get their act together.
Oh dear … oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. For those - like me - in need of cheering up, I can only suggest a glance at http://asadodo.blogspot.com/2006/11/englands-hopes-of-retaining-ashes-2005.html which at least gave me a couple of bitter laughs amid the tears.
Slips, my big problem with England is that they have the wrong captain and I have been arguing this ever since Strauss proved himself in the Pakistan series. You do not put your champion in charge, you put your brain in charge. Freddie can inspire the troops just as well without the captaincy burden. And most of all, come back Michael Vaughan. Please.
I think that Warnie, who wasn’t bowling particularly well in parts of that 4th day, didn’t like being carted round the ground and that’s why he lost it. If you’re winning you don’t need to lose it.
Kathy, regrding the captaincy: absolutely. I don’t know many people who wouldn’t have given the gig to Strauss. He’s as boring as buggery, but is a thinker (it appears, God knows what he was thinking on Saturday and Sunday!). Flintoff should only be leading by his actions - like I said, he’s been given too much to do, and it will eventually hamper his performance overall (generously assuming that at least one of his wickets here was just legitmate bad luck, as any batsman can have). I think Flintoff highlights what appears to be a serious selection problem for the Poms - both he a Fattie Fletcher seem to be far too close to the squad to be making the selections and decisions that they do. For starters, I gather Flintoff and Harmless are ‘great mates’. Is that why Harmless didn’t get his arse kicked by his captain? Fletcher certainly appears to be favouring the Gang of 2005, regardless of their suitability for the specific job. Will, for example, Panesar play here in Adelaide - sans-MBE (btw, an MBE for winning a cricket series is pathetic)? You’d have to think so now, after the selection cockups in Brissie, but who knows. Why is there ever a debate? And if you wanted to talk about the impact of confidence, what has Fletcher done to poor Read?
Warnie acts like that in district cricket. He’s a great bowler, but the man’s a pig. Had his talent gone undiscovered, he’d have finished his life on the factory floor with the rest of the yobs, playing B-C- or D-Grade footy and getting written off every weekend for the rest of his like.
I’d love to write off England, Flintoff and Fletcher too. But I’m too frit! 
Come next Tuesday it could be 1-1 and Australia with it all to do again.
Carts and horses.
If a couple more England bats come to the party then the Aussie attack could struggle to dismiss them twice. Certainly Australia looked pretty good but it wouldn’t take an enormous amount of change to close the gap.
The fat lady is nowhere to be seen just yet….
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