2nd Test: England v Australia at Lord's

[aussie1st]

Will Eng declare after getting lead of 521? or will they play for another 10-20 overs and add few more runs as fast as possible and thus put more pressure on Aus?

I'd love them to declare overnight, still gives us a small sniff at winning and we can finally set the highest run chase in the 4th inns.

 

[Hooper]

We are going to lose this Test now, unless Ponting scores a triple hundred in the final innings.

Not good going 0-1 down in a series over in England. With the combo of rain/defensive playing, the series could end that way.

Oh and just a sidenote...

Bring back Stuey Clark! The Englishman can't play him ffs! He is a gun, I don't buy into this "Hes too similar to Hilfenhaus to play him in the same team". I cannot believe people say that! Doesn't anyone remember a bloke called McGrath? McGrath and Clark are pretty much identical in playing styles yet Clark got the more Ashes wickets last time. I can't believe he isn't in the team. So what if his first tour game back from injury wasn't great, surely he can't be bowling any worse then Mitchell "Do I bowl it on the right or left side of the batsman?" Johnson. Johnson has lost the plot and he knows it. It would be hard dropping him after 2 Tests, but with him in our XI, we won't win. Clark is the answer to all our problems. Oh and Hauritz? Lee is more likely to get a 5-fer then him, and with Lee, Clark and Hilfenhaus I think we have an attack much more likely to get 20 wickets for less then 800 runs....

 

[pcfan123]

^ yea, Id like to see Lee in for Johnson and Clark in for Hauritz, but spinners go well at the Edgbaston, and being the most effective Aussie bowler this match, I say Hauritz retains his place.

Side note (1000th post!)

 

[Jakester1288]

We are going to lose this Test now, unless Ponting scores a triple hundred in the final innings.

Not good going 0-1 down in a series over in England. With the combo of rain/defensive playing, the series could end that way.

Oh and just a sidenote...

Bring back Stuey Clark! The Englishman can't play him ffs! He is a gun, I don't buy into this "Hes too similar to Hilfenhaus to play him in the same team". I cannot believe people say that! Doesn't anyone remember a bloke called McGrath? McGrath and Clark are pretty much identical in playing styles yet Clark got the more Ashes wickets last time. I can't believe he isn't in the team. So what if his first tour game back from injury wasn't great, surely he can't be bowling any worse then Mitchell "Do I bowl it on the right or left side of the batsman?" Johnson. Johnson has lost the plot and he knows it. It would be hard dropping him after 2 Tests, but with him in our XI, we won't win. Clark is the answer to all our problems. Oh and Hauritz? Lee is more likely to get a 5-fer then him, and with Lee, Clark and Hilfenhaus I think we have an attack much more likely to get 20 wickets for less then 800 runs....

I agree that we should bring back Clark. I said it before the first test, I said it before the second test, and I will say it before the third test. He should be playing for Australia.

Hauritz, he doesn't deserve to be dropped. With Hilfenhaus, he has been our best bowler. If we drop him, I will probably go into a rage. He has done nothing wrong, bowled quite well, and if we are going to select him, we have to show faith in him and give him a few games on the trot, unless Lee or Clark is a better option on a madly seaming deck. Any signs of spin, and you can't drop Hauritz.

 

[aussie1st]

I haven't actually seen the comments about Clark being the same as Hilfy but have seen them on forums. It makes absolutely no sense, Clark is only similar to McGrath. If they were saying he was similar to anyone in the side it would be Siddle, Hilfy is a swing bowler! But no way is Clark similar to any of our bowlers, if they were tall and accurate then you could say they are the same.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

They might just play for 10 overs or so,just to frustrate Aus a bit more and they might try to get few quick runs , Flintoff is playing at 100+ strike rate,so they might just play for few more overs...

Maybe 10 overs if we can get to 550 in that time. 550 is more than enough and as Bumble, I think it was, said: 'if you get 550, then well played indeed!' But I can see Strauss waiting for 600, which is totally unnecessary in my opinion.

 

[jordox]

If I was Strauss and there was ANY rain of substance forecast for the day, I'd declare as soon as possible. Surely he has to have enough faith in his bowlers to win the game from here. I just really hope he doesn't go conservative, bat until they get 620 ahead and declare. That's negative cricket.

If England can't bowl out Australia in 2 days, then they don't deserve to win. Especially when they've got guys like Ponting, Hughes, Clarke and Haddin in their team - who always have a bit of a flash.

 

[RoboRocks]

If I was Strauss and there was ANY rain of substance forecast for the day, I'd declare as soon as possible. Surely he has to have enough faith in his bowlers to win the game from here. I just really hope he doesn't go conservative, bat until they get 620 ahead and declare. That's negative cricket.

If England can't bowl out Australia in 2 days, then they don't deserve to win.

According to Prior, Strauss would have declared overnight had the light not been an issue. We should see a deceleration very early tomorrow, if not overnight.

 

[pcfan123]

According to Prior, Strauss would have declared overnight had the light not been an issue. We should see a deceleration very early tomorrow, if not overnight.

lets hope, Strauss played a lot of negative cricket at Cardiff, would be a shame if we declared too late and Aus drew it. TBH I can totally see this happening, Strauss declaring after lunch.

 

[jordox]

Strauss declaring after lunch.

Nah, that would be mental. Especially because there is a chance of rain. Straussy will come through with the goods.

 

[aditya123]

The game is similarly poised to the one that Australia lost against India at Mohali in Nov 08. India set 550-odd with 5 sessions to go on a very good batting track then. I believe England should look to have 6 sessions in hand at least, in case we lose time to rain.
In fact the whole series has gone quite similar to the 2008 Border Gavaskar trophy so far, Not good signs for Australia that. In that series, Australia were well on top in the first test but allowed Harbhajan and Zaheer to rescue India in the first inning. Monty,Swann and Jimmy did that in the first test here. The 2nd test at Mohali was similar with India scoring 440-odd and then not enforcing the follow-on eventhough they had the option. They then set 550 and bowled Australia out for 195.

Even if they declare overnight, Australia would still have to score at a fair pace to get those runs if they want to entertain thoughts of a very unlikely win. I see no reason why they should`nt declare looking at how they struggled to get the tail in the Carribean.

 

[Howsie]

Strauss should declare overnight, there is no need to make this target any bigger. I have no idea what the wheather is suppose to be like over the last two days but I'm going to assume it is going to rain for atleast an hour at some point.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Strauss will declare once they get to 550/Freddie is out. Maybe he'll let it go on till Freddie gets a fifty before calling them back in.

 

[Hooper]

Freddie hundred lets hope.

That would leave them not enough time.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Freddie hundred lets hope.

That would leave them not enough time.

Unless he scores it off 70 balls.