1st Test: England v Australia

[King Cricket]

Picking Monty was just dumb.

Maybe. But he was the second most economical bowler today.

 

[Themer]

Monty bowled decently really, I though at times he was out bowling Swann who kept over pitching it. Probably Swann's poorest performance in an England shirt thus far.

 

[Will_NA]

I was busy today and I'm glad I was. I knew Simon Katich would fearsome tweak us over. He's like a mix between Hussey and Chanderpaul. We can't get players who only play square out!

 

[Mercules]

We need an Aussie collapse of English proportions.

 

[Skater]

It's not all bad. One or two wickets first session tomorrow and we are right back in it. If Ponting and Katich bat for the first hour at a fair rate, we'll struggle to draw though. England absolutely must not lose this game - the Cardiff Test was the one that should be at worst a draw.

 

[aussie1st]

Great second day. I could feel Ponting was going to get a big one and Katich was steady as always. The English bowling didn't have much venom especially when Flintoff went off. Swann was good to Katich but Ponting picked him off easily and Monty wasn't much of a threat.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

We bowled too short all the time. We didn't pitch the ball up and give it a chance to swing, what little swing there was. Well played today though, this has got all the hallmarks of a very close-fought series. We did well to get the total to 435 (not a total we usually get on the first day and a bit of an Ashes series) and now we need an equally good session tomorrow morning to get the momentum going our way again. This series is going to be fun...

 

[Owzat]

I'm not too surprised the aussies are making more of the conditions than our batsmen did, we gave too many wickets away and none of the SEVEN batsmen who reached 30 went on to make 100 - in fact none reached 70.

On a positive note, the aussies had a similarly strong start at the Oval in the 5th Test in 2005 and we fought back to take a minimal 1st innings lead.

Ashes 2005 5th Test (Oval)

England 1st Inns - 373
Strauss 129, Flintoff 72

Australia 1st Inns - 367*
Langer 105, Hayden 138

England 2nd Inns - 335
Pietersen 158, Giles 59

Australia 2nd Inns - 4/0w

MATCH DRAWN

*Australia were 185/0w after 52.4 overs, 264/2w after 72.2 overs and then England took the last eight wickets for 103 runs. Flintoff took 5/78 and Hoggard 4/97. Once England had removed Ponting the innings went downhill, maybe not a massive collapse, but you might expect a bit more than 103 runs from a batting order reading Martyn, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist, Warne, Lee, McGrath and Tait - after Ponting noone scored more than 25.

 

[Biggy]

Thanks for the History lesson...

 

[RoboRocks]

Although this is similar to 2005, we must remember that this England attack is not as potent as 2005. The spinners are looking ineffective and both Broad and Anderson have poorly today and will have to improve if England are to get near triggering a collapse.

 

[Sureshot]

I think the weather will dictate this as a draw anyway. Saturday should be a washout, Sunday doesn't look great.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I think the weather will dictate this as a draw anyway. Saturday should be a washout, Sunday doesn't look great.

The weather sticks its oar in - yet again.

 

[pcfan123]

Bloody Broad Bastard. What a puss, I cant watch anymore. No way we can win from here. Lets hope for a draw. All of this is so much more painful to watch when they keep showing Simon Jones sitting in the crowd. Monty looked good in his last spell, he needs to focus on the Johnson/Siddle footmarks. Monty have you ever heard of going round the wicket!?

 

[nikhil_99]

Aus have fought back hard here,they are 249/1,and both the batsman Katich and Ponting have reached 100,so both are well settelled,lets see how they carry from here,they would certainly like to get some good lead from this stage.

 

[pcfan123]

Aus have fought back hard here,they are 249/1,and both the batsman Katich and Ponting have reached 100,so both are well settelled,lets see how they carry from here,they would certainly like to get some good lead from this stage.

Thank you for stating what everyone and their mum already know.