Nov 25-29: 1st Test: Australia v England at Brisbane

[Themer]

I'm hoping for an aggressive declaration, but it does seem unlikely.

Had the pitch been a bit up and down there'd be an outside chance but with this looking like a pancake and Strauss being a usually defensive captain it won't happen.

 

[angryangy]

It has neither been the best pitch nor the worst pitch. When it was offering wickets, it was spongy rather than zippy. As it hardened up, there's still been something with the new ball to excite, but no gains to show for it. Similarly, the snakey cracks and deep footholes have posed questions, but nothing more than that. Whether this is all because of great batting or inconsistent bowling, I'm not sure, but both sides have been able to get out of trouble, rather than simply being unthreatened.

I think it does honestly tell the story of the two sides as they stand. Australia got forward on the back of a few surprising performances, but they needed to produce at least one more to stop England from coming back with hearty batting of their own. The teams are both of good quality and excruciatingly evenly matched. Both sides will need to assess who can provide them with miracles.

 

[shravi]

TumTum will have a comeback. He doesn't conform to your archaic concepts of "logic".

Brilliant.

 

[cooks1st100]

FANTASTIC!!! So far possibly one of the best performances by England I've ever watched bar the first innings. Our heads didn't drop at all yesterday in spite of a very gritty and great partnership, no luck and one poor umpiring decision. Today it has gone all our way despite a moment of poor judgement by Strauss. England have really shown their strength of character in this first test. Can't see anything other than a draw but that in itself is a moral victory to England.

 

[barmyarmy]

Great day but just a sobering reminder that England lost from an almost identical position in Adelaide 2 years ago.

 

[Manly]

Sakes I just tried to convince my old man it was the WACA.

Gotta go set the record straight.

 

[Biggy]

Brilliant Brisbane?

 

[evertonfan]

Great day but just a sobering reminder that England lost from an almost identical position in Adelaide 2 years ago.

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that I of course predicted it would happen 4 years ago and was lambasted like an outcast whilst the rest of the England fans were smelling victory or a draw. I merely reminded them that we were England; well capable of a collapse and especially capable of a collapse against Australia. Needless to to say, my doubts were proven right and egg was on everyone's face but I was ultimately victorious in my glorious prediction!

So yeah, let's not get too happy yet.

 

[barmyarmy]

You are an outcast and you predicted an England collapse every session
Aussie attack was much better then.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

What a brilliant Test Match It's lived up to it's hype so far - with all 3 results possible going into the last day.

Take a bow Cook 3 fifty's in the match so far - completely different to the Cook we saw in the summer against the 2 A's.

 

[Sureshot]

Great day but just a sobering reminder that England lost from an almost identical position in Adelaide 2 years ago.

Versus an attack of Lee, McGrath, Warne and Clark. This attack has nothing on that.

Fantastic fight back today, really impressed with both Cook and Strauss.

 

[barmyarmy]

^ as I said in my next post

 

[Wizard]

Awesome fight back from ENG after Hussey/Haddin took the game away

 

[Lee1981]

Gota say this 1st test has definately fired up my love for cricket again after a rubbish summer of cricket and football world cup imo..

The ashes kicks 20/20 right up the back door..

 

[Biggy]

I'd open with Johnson, see if he wants to do something half useful.