1st Test: England v Australia

[pcfan123]

There's somehting about Michael Clarke that annoys me and i'm just not sure what.

Agreed! Michael Clarke pisses me off. From what I hear, Punter does not like him too much either.

Anyhow, God Bless Wales and their ████ weather. Hoping for a washout tomorrow and a draw.

 

[Skater]

Chance of rain tomorrow is 90% - Cardiff-10-day Extended Weather Forecasts - weather.co.uk Nailed on basically.

Bowlers need to do their jobs better and batsmen need to value their wickets more on Thursday.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Australia is leading by 44 runs only. I was expecting a healthier lead at the way they were going yesterday.

This match could turn into a draw. Australia needs to score quick if they want to win this match, because rain is in the air.

 

[barmyarmy]

Missed the first 3 days and will confess to not reading all 110 pages of this thread before posting...

Seems to me that a lot of our predictions were spot on here. Aus with a weak bowling attack struggling to restrict England, English batsmen with their propensity to give away wickets and not be got out and Australian batsmen who are rock solid and are able to block the good balls and put away the bad.
I didn't think playing Panesar was the right decision. It seems like the groundstaff at Cardiff were so terrified of not getting all 5 days in due to their spinning wicket they totally killed it. If England can bat responsibly second time round it will be yet another 5-day run-fest on a bowler-hating pitch and if they can't, as has happened so often, Aus will be going 1-0 up.
If only there was a pitch in England that provided pace and bounce and turned too like Old Trafford. That would be a great place to have an Ashes test. Oh wait...

 

[evertonfan]

I know Colin. I'm sure there's a place exactly like Old Trafford somewhere in Manchester.

 

[pcfan123]

Missed the first 3 days and will confess to not reading all 110 pages of this thread before posting...

Seems to me that a lot of our predictions were spot on here. Aus with a weak bowling attack struggling to restrict England, English batsmen with their propensity to give away wickets and not be got out and Australian batsmen who are rock solid and are able to block the good balls and put away the bad.
I didn't think playing Panesar was the right decision. It seems like the groundstaff at Cardiff were so terrified of not getting all 5 days in due to their spinning wicket they totally killed it. If England can bat responsibly second time round it will be yet another 5-day run-fest on a bowler-hating pitch and if they can't, as has happened so often, Aus will be going 1-0 up.
If only there was a pitch in England that provided pace and bounce and turned too like Old Trafford. That would be a great place to have an Ashes test. Oh wait...

Boycs was spot on about the pitch. He said all this talk about a spinning wicket was nonsense, as soon as they had sold out the first 4 days the groundsman were going to make sure it lasted all 5 days

 

[Cricketdude]

Another great day for Australia. Australia will/want to make another 150 runs. If they can it would be great and then put England out to bat. I just hope it doesn't rain.

 

[pcfan123]

Another great day for Australia. Australia will/want to make another 150 runs. If they can it would be great and then put England out to bat. I just hope it doesn't rain.

Im doing my rain dance all night. :banana2

 

[nikhil_99]

Australia is leading by 44 runs only. I was expecting a healthier lead at the way they were going yesterday.

This match could turn into a draw. Australia needs to score quick if they want to win this match, because rain is in the air.

Yes,Aus need to score quickly,there are chances of rain,even i thought that they will get min 50-60+run lead,lets see how 4th day shapes out,it will be a draw if it rains...

 

[Raj_Aryan]

Yes,Eng will play ofr time if it rains,so Aus should score as fast as possible and then go for kill...

 

[bowser]

Australia will play as they should, accumulate runs, not loose wickets and continue to grind the too and froms into the ground. To just throw the bat at it would be a dangerous option, this is real cricket over 5 days not the pajama game limited to the attention span of the mindless masses. There is still 2 days to go and they want to ensure they have a good lead, 150 at least and preferably 200+ and won't be swinging away until they get over the 100 lead. Whatever the weather tomorrow this pitch will still be a threat on day 5, rain and it freshens and greens up and the quicks will have the ball going every where, no rain and it will spin like a top.

Australia want to leave Cardiff having shown england that even with their attempts to subvert tradition and setup home team friendly pitches that they are the are top dog still, not some lame puppy. This is a series and Australia mean to win it, and will do so by crushing the poms spirit and prove that 05 was just an aboration. They mean to win it and win it big time but will also ensure that england don't get so much as a sniff of escaping with a meaningful draw should rain intervene. They will want the poms scampering away with their tails well and truely between their legs, knowing that at Lords they have a miserable test record.

 

[Will_NA]

Don't have much of a record at Cardiff either...

 

[IloveGilly]

With two days left and more possible rain, the way the game looks may have shifted a balance. Even though Australia have been on top for the last 2 days, but theres nothing that really puts England out of the books...yet. I'd be expecting a draw to be much higher up the cards now.

 

[pcfan123]

With two days left and more possible rain, the way the game looks may have shifted a balance. Even though Australia have been on top for the last 2 days, but theres nothing that really puts England out of the books...yet. I'd be expecting a draw to be much higher up the cards now.

If Jerome Taylor can beat England in 1 session then Oz can probably do it in 2 or 3 overs.

 

[mattfb]

Missed the days play so I got a few questions:

I saw Anderson swung the ball when he got Katich out, did the ball swing anymore apart from that?

From the highlights it looked as if Clarke punished the spinners, did they actually bowl any good though?

And how is the pitch holding up?

I'll miss tonight's play as well.