Dec 16-20: 3rd Test - Australia v England at Perth

[Themer]

Frankly not good enough.

England have done fairly well for me today. Johnson's spell was near unplayable and they're making a decent fist of bowling today on what looks a pretty flat pitch now bar Finn. And Hussey was pretty amazing first innings.

Still perplexed as to how Johnson did it because his seam position was all over the place, no one else was getting any swing and its not as though the ground was overcast, outstanding. Still wouldn't be surprised if he gets whacked all around the ground come the second innings.

 

[evertonfan]

I was wondering when the real England would turn up. Hopefully today's play puts an end to all this arrogance on our end; I don't mean from the players, but I mean from our media and the sky commentators. To suggest that after Adelaide we'd just cake walk the series is stupid and the way Atherton, Botham et al were describing yesterday as another perfect day when we bottled a situation to bowl the crims out for under 200.

And I know i'm as pessimistic as they come, but come January 7th we could be looking back on today as the day England lost the Ashes.

 

[midgetwars]

HOPEFULLY, johnson can bowl inswingers again in the 2nd innings then england wouldn't have a high chance of winning...

But WACA Sth Africa Bad memories

 

[angryangy]

no one else was getting any swing

Siddle got a few to swing a lot early on, maybe not later. I didn't really watch Hilfenhaus closely but I assume he swung more than one. Harris definitely swung it at the end, away from right handers; it was how he dismissed Bell in the 62nd over. That was surely just as strange as Johnson swinging a newish ball.

There was also swing there for England on day 1, but they did start to bowl quite a lot of short balls after the first hour. Maybe they got impatient and missed out. Part of the brilliance of Johnson's spell was that he landed those balls right on the money. They couldn't be left or played at and missed, nor top edged for six. When so many swing bowlers drop short of a good length, it was surprising that such a canny performance came from this player who is known as much for a lack of swing as he is for what he can do when it does swing.

While much is made of the pace and bounce, sometimes the swing is one of the underrated characteristics of the WACA Ground. It was after all what won the game for India in 2008. The Doctor is a good steady breeze to bowl with and the dimensions of the ground allow it to flow through. They've also recently planted a more delicate grass on the pitch square, with a view to aiding pace bowling. It seems to have done just that, not only helping the ball to skid through, but perhaps also allowing it to hold its shape and shine for much longer than on most Australian grounds.

 

[AkshayS]

Amazing comeback by Australia and a dramatic performance by Mitch.
He was swinging the bowl and ripped through English lineup.
Amazing performance.

 

[Sureshot]

Utterly pathetic batting from England. I love all the superlatives being thrown at Mitchell Johnson, am I the only one thinking our top order gave pretty much all their wickets away to him? Cook flaying a drive and Colly, Trott and KP missing straight ones.

I really don't like Colly in the team, he's a liability and we need to move on and build for the future. There are better options for the present, let alone the future.

Utterly, utterly pathetic. We get Australia by the balls and we let them go. Our only hope is to bowl them out cheaply and try and chase 300.

 

[Owzat]

Utterly, utterly pathetic. We get Australia by the balls and we let them go. Our only hope is to bowl them out cheaply and try and chase 300.

More like England had them by the balls and instead of tightening their grip they gave them a handjob

 

[Sureshot]

That. Is. Brilliant.

 

[Dutch]

Utterly pathetic batting from England. I love all the superlatives being thrown at Mitchell Johnson, am I the only one thinking our top order gave pretty much all their wickets away to him? Cook flaying a drive and Colly, Trott and KP missing straight ones.

I really don't like Colly in the team, he's a liability and we need to move on and build for the future. There are better options for the present, let alone the future.

Utterly, utterly pathetic. We get Australia by the balls and we let them go. Our only hope is to bowl them out cheaply and try and chase 300.

Yep I have to agree. I think we might be looking back at this day as a pivotal moment in the series. Once you have Australia on their knees you stick the boot in really hard otherwise they just get back up again to bite you...they are biting.

I cannot see England getting this from here. We are giving away too many runs and again 7 wickets went for a paltry 30 odd runs. Not good enough. And when we claw ourselves back into it, again we collapse. Australia put on 90 odd for the last 4 wicketts. We put on about 10. There's the difference on the scoreboard for you.

dutchad added 4 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

More like England had them by the balls and instead of tightening their grip they gave them a handjob

I suppose it should be at least comforting that a few of our bowlers can swing both ways!

 

[sami ullah khan]

Way to go Mitch boy. I loved how he showed character here. He swung the ball most I have seen him do. Good job by the coach too I guess. This Innings has has shown English batting's vulnerability to Swing bowling. This weakness was very well exploited by Amir and Asif. This test match is going to be a cracker

 

[Sureshot]

I still firmly believe we allowed Mitch to bowl like that.

Some stats from Colly for 2010.

Averaging 30 with a 145 vs Bangladesh boosting him. He's an awesome fielder, but we need to move on.

 

[War]

I still firmly believe we allowed Mitch to bowl like that.

Some stats from Colly for 2010.

Averaging 30 with a 145 vs Bangladesh boosting him. He's an awesome fielder, but we need to move on.

No way sir. ENGs top order where defeated by the hint of swing Johnson got. Its not like any of their dismissals where due to bad shots, it was all Johnson.

On Colly, yes his position is definately in trouble now.

 

[Ayub 95]

Put Bell at 5 and move Collingwood down, might give him a kick up the backside.
Bell been our most unluckiest batter. He's been in awesome form just ran out of partners or the damage has already been down and his job is to accelerate.

 

[angryangy]

There were some bad shots in that it wasn't resilient batting, but we know that in the majority of Test conditions, it tends to work. Probably more top batsmen than not are in some way noticeably reckless. If there hadn't been swing, you'd probably be relatively pleased with the English aggression.

 

[formula1man]

Bye Bye Ponting, you have scored 1 100 since the Cardiff Test and since last summer he has only averaged 29