Story The Ashes 2009 - 3rd Test Result

[Ollie_H]

I only use cricsim for the crappy tour matches, so it has no effect.

 

[Ollie_H]

Pre Match Build Up and Toss​

Hello and Welcome to the first day?s play of the 2nd Ashes Test match at lords at the home of cricket, Lords. A lot has been made in the media this week about how England have not beaten here Australia here for close to 75 years. Is this gonna be the match where England change their fortunes? England will certainly need to level the series at 1-1. England really cannot afford to go 2-0 to down with three matches still to play. I am hearing that there are a few changes to each of the teams, some down to injury and some down to tactical changes. So now we can go and join Nasser who is down at pitch side with the two captains for the toss.


Thanks a lot Athers, I?m joined here by the two skippers, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss, just before I go to them I?m just gonna mention a few things about the pitch. As everyone knows the pitch has the ?slope? so it is a very hard pitch to bowl on anyway, but the pitch does have something in it for both the bowlers and the batsmen though. It should have good carry, some pace and should see a fair amount of help for the spinners. The grounds men have been working over time to get this pitch as much of a belta as possible. It?s been sunny all week and the sun looks to keep coming for the next 5 days. The faster bowlers may seem a yard quicker on this deck because of the pace it has. So with an absolutely belting 5 days to come, let?s get down to business with the toss.

So Andy, as normal you have the coin and it?s Ricky to call.

Heads

It?s a tail, so Andy you have won the toss, quite a good toss to win I feel, what are you gonna do?

Yeah a pretty good toss to win, I have to agree with what you said that the pitch looks a definite belta, so I think we?re gonna have a bat, the pace in the pitch means the ball will come through onto the bat nicely and it also means Swanny?s gonna get a go on the 4th innings pitch. It?s already had a bit of use as there was a T20 game on it last night, that?s not really gonna do much but in the effect of the game in the long run it could deteriorate sooner rather than later.

Interesting choice choosing to bat, do you not think the pitch might come slower as the days go on?

Yeah there was a case to bowl, and it may become slower and lower, but that certainly won?t be untill the 4th day and by then we should be a big margin ahead and Swanny will be licking his lips at bowling on a track like that. Also with the overhead conditions there?s no cloud at the moment so the ball won?t swing much so at the moment we need to make headways into the aussies bowling attack and look to put the pressure on by posting a big total.

Fair enough Andy, let?s hope you do get the big scores, are there any changes for the side? We herd speculation there may be a couple?

Yeah we do have one change, Belly drops out for Harmy. We think this quick and bouncy pitch will suit his sort of his bowling and could cause the aussies batsmen a bit of trouble. It?s a strange change considering our batting line up didn?t fire but we feel that was a momentary lapse and hopefully we should come good but the other side of the story is that we didn?t take 20 wickets either and that is the key to winning the match.

Thanks a lot Andy and good luck for the match. Ricky, would you have had a bat?

It was a difficult to choice for us, I would say our bowlers are quicker than the English seamers so we might have bowled for that reason, but also like Andy, Haury would probably have been licking his lips at the thought of a spinning 4th day wicket, like it will be. I may have been inclined to have a bowl to be honest. We will just have to put the pressure on and hope to take a few early wickets.

You had a good time last time out, both the batters and bowlers fired. Are you confident you can repeat that performance?

Yeah I have every confidence that we will be able to recreate what happened at Cardiff to get a 2-0 lead. There back to back Test matches and we currently have the momentum and hopefully that won?t change in this match. I lost the Ashes here 4 years ago so I need to win to them back.

Okay, have you got any changes in your team Ricky?

We have two changes to the team, one positional and one swap. Philly Hughes has recovered from his embarrassing injury which I?m sure everyone knew from the updates on his twitter page. So Philly Hughes comes in for Marcus North. Which means that Watto who was opening in the last drops down to where Marcus was at 6 and Philly comes into open. It?s unfortunate for Marcus, he didn?t do anything wrong in the last test but he didn?t make any big scores either and we felt Philly needed to be in the team after his stunning performances in South Africa. Hopefully Marcus will get more opportunities as the series goes on but unfortunately now Marcus misses out.

Thanks a lot Ricky and good luck. So the news from the toss David is that each team will be making one change a piece, for England Steve ? Greivious? Harmison comes in for Ian Bell and for the Aussies Phil Hughes comes in for Marcus North, Shane Watson moves down to 6 and young Phil Hughes.


Thanks a lot for that Nass. A pretty bold movie by Australia to bring in someone who scored runs in South Africa for someone else who scored runs in the South Africa?

: Yeah it is, the aussies camp obviously like Phil Hughes and some guy named Aussie_Ben is already touting him to be better than Don Bradman (). I think that?s going a bit far if you ask me, but he is certainly a bright talent and has earned his place in the line up. He obviously has a few floors in his technique which certainly is an interesting technique. He is a very jumpy player who like to play the ball just backward of square on the offside. A left handers favourite position, but Hughes doesn?t like it when it is tucked into this rib cage. But as soon as you give him any width it?s 4 as he has such quick hands. He also likes to be leg side of the ball and definitely favours the offside.

Right, well it looks like we are all set for an excellent 2nd Test match. Join us after the break for a round up of the days play.

 

[OffCutters]

Good to see Hughes coming back into the team, and good to see Watson back to his usual No.6 position. Should be a good match, tipping the Aussies for this one. Hope Hughes does a load of good for my fantasy team

 

[Akash00]

So, Watson is going to bat at No.6. So, I hope he gets some wickets as he is my captain in FC. Nice Presentation.

 

[surendar]

Watson at 6? :what Also why pulling of Aussie_Ben here? Let him rest in collecting the stats from cric-info. Nice toss news there Ollie, hope its a cracker. And ya, bring me in front in terms of Fantasy league.

 

[Ollie_H]

Australia Double Their Lead as Strauss Faulters with Declaration​

​

Ricky Ponting shows his annoyance after being given out on 96.​

Australia have extended their lead in the Ashes to 2-0 after a stunning match saw the side chase down the target of 355 with just over 90 minutes to spare. The toss was won by Andrew Strauss who decided his best option was to bat first and have Graeme Swann baffle the Aussies on the final day. Unfortunaetly it never quite went that way for Andrew Strauss and after the first round ofinnings'Strauss found himself chasing the game in search for that win.

The England openers kicked off the match in a solid fashion breaking the 50 run partnerhsip but then Andrew Strauss was bowled by Mitchell Johnson, bowling Strauss through the gate with a ball that seemed back into Strauss, Johnson set him up perfectly by bowling a series of outswingers and then slipped one in that seamed back in to bowl Strauss. Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara then set up a 31 run partnership, well you may ask whats so special but it was that out of this 31 run partnership Bopara only scored the 2 runs before he was caught behind off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus. This carries on Bopara's poor form of late making scores of just 27, 0 and 2 so far in the series. Alastair Cook was the next man to fall for a dominant 74(107) spanking thirteen 4's and two 6's along the way. This put England 132/3, a slightly shakier position than they would have hoped.

Losing wickets at regular intervals seemed to be the main theme throughout the England innings with highest partnership 54 and that was the opening partnership between Strauss and Cook. Alastair Cook finished the Innings as the only England batsmen to pass the half century mark, both Matthew Prior and Graeme Swann came close but all the batsmen lacked the touch to turn their starts into big scores. England finished their Innings 315/10, the pick of the Australian bowlers was Mitchell Johnson who picked up 4/54 off 22 overs. Shane Watson and Ben Hifenhaus shared the other 6 wickets between them taking 3 a piece to limit England to a satisfactory 315.

Unlike England, the Australian opening partnership didn't do so well, the new boy Phil Hughes losing his wicket with the score on just 5 to James Anderson. But if the first wicket partnership faltered, the second wicket partnership certainly didn't. Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich looked comfortable at the crease whilst the England Bowlers tried to contend with the infamous Lords Slope. The two Australians put on a 109 run stand before England managed the next breakthrough. Steve Harmison rushing Simon Katich into a shot and managing to snick it behind into the gloves of Matthew Prior. This brought vice captain Michael Clarke to the crease. He and his superior then went about chasing down the English total, Michael Clarke looking fluent for his 30 ball 24 before becoming Jimmy Anderson's second victim. Mike Hussey came and went with his stay at the crease lasting him 20 balls. With Ricky Ponting eyeing up only the second century of the series, he will have been outraged when he was given out leg before off the bowling of Graeme Swann, it was one of the less convincing appeals from Englands premier spinner but the Umpire saw enough of it to adjudge Ricky Ponting out on 96.

One other Australian batsmen passed 50 in the innings and it was that of Brad Haddin providing handy runs down the order to take Australia in to a lead. It was the second time Haddin has passed 50 in the series and he looks to be in a rich vein of form. The pick of the English bowling was Jimmy Anderson who took 3 wickets for 83. Flintoff Harmison and Broad also took 2 wickets a piece and Swann taking the solitary but valuable wicket of Ricky Ponting.

With 2 and a half days play left all 3 results still hung in the balance but a win/loss situation at the end of the match looked the most plausible. It was up to the England batsmen to go about and set their bowlers a total that would see England square the series at 1 a piece. It didn't start off well at all when skipper Andrew Strauss fell for just 4 with the score on 10. England lost their second wicket just 14 runs later when Cook was out LBW to the in form Mitchell Johnson. Bopara and Pietersen then set about chasing the down the small Australian lead. After that hurdle was jumped, they needed to put England into a commanding lead, they hit a quick fire hundred partnership before Ravi Bopara fell 4 runs short of his first half century of the series. Pietersen meanwhile was in the mood for scoring runs and continued untill he got to 81, he then looked to haul Australian spinner Nathan Hauritz into the pavillion but he played down completely the wrong line and was out stumped by Brad Haddin. Collingwood, Flintoff, Prior and Swann then all chipped into each score a valiant half century which meant that 5 English batsmen had scored half century's in that innings.

What occured next to was truely spectacular, at 4:25 on Day 4, England captain Andrew Strauss called for the declaration just 354 runs ahead. Australia faced a 30 minute spell before the close of play. They then ended Day 4 on 56/0, leaving themselves just 298 to win off the finals day play. The crowd were in for a spectacle but the press wondered what was going on, England were being incredibly attacking with in modern times, not so many runs. Australia lost their first wicket 5 overs into the last day's play, caught behind off the bowling of Swann. If England were to win, he was to be the key man. England continued to take wickets but the partnerships between them were too big, in the end Australia chased the target down in 76 overs at a run rate of 4.65 rpo.

At the end of the Test Match, Ricky Ponting was awarded the MOTM award for his two fantastic scores of 90 and Andrew Strauss was left to rue the decision of declaring and setting the Australians are target of 355 in just over a days play.
​

ENGLAND VS AUSTRALIA at Lords
5 day match
Pitch Condition: Excellent
 
ENGLAND WON THE TOSS AND ELECTED TO BAT FIRST
  
                                     -X-
   
ENGLAND 1st innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Andrew Strauss                     b. Johnson      29    50    6    0   58.0%
Alastair Cook       c. Hughes      b. Johnson      74   107   13    2   69.2%
Ravi Bopara         c. Haddin      b. Hilfenhaus    2    26    0    0    7.7%
Kevin Pietersen     c. Hughes      b. Hilfenhaus   39    64    9    0   60.9%
Paul Collingwood    c. Hauritz     b. Johnson      25    56    3    1   44.6%
Matthew Prior       c. Hilfenhaus  b. Watson       47    94    9    0   50.0%
Andrew Flintoff                    b. Watson        8    27    2    0   29.6%
Graeme Swann        lbw            b. Watson       45    79    9    0   57.0%
Stuart Broad        lbw            b. Hilfenhaus   19    37    4    0   51.4%
James Anderson      lbw            b. Johnson       8    11    1    0   72.7%
Steve Harmison      not out                         4     5    1    0   80.0%
 
 Total:  315/10       Overs:  92.2         Run Rate:  3.41     Extras:  15 
   
                             Day 2  10:11 AM
   
  
                                     -X-
 
ENGLAND Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
A Strauss     A Cook       ???????????????????????                   54 (79)
R Bopara      A Cook       ?????????????                             31 (56)
Pietersen     A Cook       ????????????????????                      47 (80)
Pietersen     Colli'wood   ???????????                               27 (47)
M Prior       Colli'wood   ????????????????                          37 (66)
M Prior       A Flintoff   ????????????                              29 (46)
M Prior       G Swann      ????????????????                          37 (89)
S Broad       G Swann      ?????????????????                         39 (71)
J Anderson    G Swann      ?                                          3 (8)
J Anderson    S Harmison   ????                                      11 (12)


     Fall of Wickets    54/1      85/2      132/3     159/4     196/5
                        225/6     262/7     301/8     304/9     315/10    

 Total:  315/10      Overs:  92.2          Run Rate:  3.41    Extras:  15   
  
                                     -X-

AUSTRALIA Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
Mitchell Johnson     22.2      7      54      4      2.42     0      0 
Peter Siddle         13.0      4      45      0      3.46     0      0 
Shane Watson         11.0      2      56      3      5.09     0      1 
Ben Hilfenhaus       24.0      5      77      3      3.21     1      2 
Michael Clarke        6.0      2      11      0      1.83     0      1 
Nathan Hauritz       16.0      2      64      0      4.00     1      1 


 EXTRAS          Wides: 2      No Balls: 5      Leg Byes: 8      Byes: 0 

 Total:  315/10       Overs:  92.2         Run Rate:  3.41    Extras:  15   
                                     -X-
 
 
AUSTRALIA 1st innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Simon Katich        c. Prior       b. Harmison     50    72    9    0   69.4%
Philip Hughes       c. Prior       b. Anderson      4    17    1    0   23.5%
Ricky Ponting       lbw            b. Swann        92   106   19    2   86.8%
Michael Clarke      c. Bopara      b. Anderson     24    30    4    0   80.0%
Michael Hussey      lbw            b. Harmison      8    20    1    0   40.0%
Shane Watson        lbw            b. Broad        32    34    6    0   94.1%
Brad Haddin                        b. Flintoff     79   202   13    0   39.1%
Mitchell Johnson    c. Bopara      b. Anderson      9    29    2    0   31.0%
Ben Hilfenhaus                     b. Flintoff     28    79    6    0   35.4%
Nathan Hauritz                     b. Broad        17    53    3    0   32.1%
Peter Siddle        not out                         2    24    0    0    8.3%
 
 Total:  360/10       Overs:  110.4        Run Rate:  3.25     Extras:  15 
   
                             Day 3  2:05 PM
   
  
                                     -X-
 
AUSTRALIA Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
S Katich      P Hughes     ?                                          5 (30)
S Katich      R Ponting    ???????????????????????????????????      109 (115)
M Clarke      R Ponting    ???????????????                           48 (58)
M Hussey      R Ponting    ???????                                   22 (38)
S Watson      R Ponting    ??                                         7 (14)
S Watson      B Haddin     ????????????                              39 (42)
M Johnson     B Haddin     ?????                                     18 (55)
Hilfenhaus    B Haddin     ??????????????                            46 (150)
N Hauritz     B Haddin     ???????????????                           49 (113)
P Siddle      B Haddin     ?????                                     17 (49)


     Fall of Wickets    5/1       114/2     162/3     184/4     191/5
                        230/6     248/7     294/8     343/9     360/10    

 Total:  360/10      Overs:  110.4         Run Rate:  3.25    Extras:  15   
  
                                     -X-

ENGLAND Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
James Anderson       26.0      7      83      3      3.19     2      2 
Andrew Flintoff      17.4      5      61      2      3.45     0      0 
Steve Harmison       19.0      7      44      2      2.32     0      0 
Stuart Broad         17.0      2      56      2      3.29     0      0 
Graeme Swann         26.0      5      80      1      3.08     0      2 
Paul Collingwood      5.0      1      28      0      5.60     0      1 


 EXTRAS          Wides: 2      No Balls: 5      Leg Byes: 7      Byes: 1 

 Total:  360/10       Overs:  110.4        Run Rate:  3.25    Extras:  15   
                                     -X-
 
 
ENGLAND 2nd innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Andrew Strauss      lbw            b. Hilfenhaus    4    17    1    0   23.5%
Alastair Cook       lbw            b. Johnson      13    17    3    0   76.5%
Ravi Bopara                        b. Hauritz      46    79    9    0   58.2%
Kevin Pietersen     st Haddin      b. Hauritz      81    96   18    0   84.4%
Paul Collingwood                   b. Hauritz      65   103   12    0   63.1%
Matthew Prior       lbw            b. Clarke       71   150   13    1   47.3%
Andrew Flintoff     not out                        54   149   10    0   36.2%
Graeme Swann        lbw            b. Hauritz      55    74   11    0   74.3%
Stuart Broad        not out                         1    22    0    0    4.5%
James Anderson       
Steve Harmison       
 
 Total:  399/7        Overs:  117.3        Run Rate:  3.40     Extras:  9 
   
                             Day 4  4:25 PM
   
                             INNINGS DECLARED
  
                                     -X-
 
ENGLAND Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
A Strauss     A Cook       ???                                       10 (28)
R Bopara      A Cook       ????                                      14 (17)
R Bopara      Pietersen    ???????????????????????????????????      101 (139)
Colli'wood    Pietersen    ?????????????                             39 (58)
Colli'wood    M Prior      ????????????????????????????              82 (122)
A Flintoff    M Prior      ?????????????????????????????             84 (177)
A Flintoff    G Swann      ??????????????????????                    66 (128)
A Flintoff    S Broad      ??                                         3 (36)


     Fall of Wickets    10/1      24/2      125/3     164/4     246/5
                        330/6     396/7                                   

 Total:  399/7       Overs:  117.3         Run Rate:  3.40    Extras:  9   
  
                                     -X-

AUSTRALIA Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
Mitchell Johnson     29.0      7     108      1      3.72     1      1 
Peter Siddle         17.0      5      38      0      2.24     0      1 
Shane Watson         16.3      3      56      0      3.39     0      0 
Ben Hilfenhaus       22.0      5      82      1      3.73     0      1 
Nathan Hauritz       21.0      6      76      4      3.62     0      0 
Michael Clarke       12.0      3      35      1      2.92     1      0 


 EXTRAS          Wides: 2      No Balls: 3      Leg Byes: 4      Byes: 0 

 Total:  399/7        Overs:  117.3        Run Rate:  3.40    Extras:  9   
                                     -X-
 
 
AUSTRALIA 2nd innings  (Target: 355)

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Simon Katich        c. Prior       b. Swann        33    43    6    0   76.7%
Philip Hughes       c. Strauss     b. Broad        79    90   18    0   87.8%
Ricky Ponting       lbw            b. Flintoff     96   143   20    1   67.1%
Michael Clarke      c. Prior       b. Flintoff     79   106   13    2   74.5%
Michael Hussey                     b. Harmison     25    23    6    0  108.7%
Shane Watson        not out                        25    38    5    0   65.8%
Brad Haddin         not out                         6    17    1    0   35.3%
Mitchell Johnson     
Ben Hilfenhaus       
Nathan Hauritz       
Peter Siddle         
 
 Total:  355/5        Overs:  76.2         Run Rate:  4.65     Extras:  12 
   
                             Day 5  3:30 PM
   
  
                                     -X-
 
AUSTRALIA Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
S Katich      P Hughes     ????????????????????                      78 (86)
R Ponting     P Hughes     ????????????????????                      79 (101)
R Ponting     M Clarke     ???????????????????????????????????      133 (188)
M Hussey      M Clarke     ??????                                    24 (23)
M Hussey      S Watson     ??                                         8 (10)
B Haddin      S Watson     ????????                                  33 (50)


     Fall of Wickets    78/1      157/2     290/3     314/4     322/5
                                                                          

 Total:  355/5       Overs:  76.2          Run Rate:  4.65    Extras:  12   
  
                                     -X-

ENGLAND Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
James Anderson       11.2      0      55      0      4.85     0      0 
Andrew Flintoff      15.0      0      62      2      4.13     1      1 
Steve Harmison       17.0      0      93      1      5.47     0      2 
Stuart Broad         14.0      3      45      1      3.21     1      1 
Paul Collingwood      6.0      0      42      0      7.00     0      1 
Graeme Swann         13.0      1      54      1      4.15     0      1 


 EXTRAS          Wides: 2      No Balls: 6      Leg Byes: 3      Byes: 1 

 Total:  355/5        Overs:  76.2         Run Rate:  4.65    Extras:  12   
                                     -X-
 
 
  
 
England             315 & 399/7d
Australia           360 & 355/5              
   
Australia won by 5 wickets
  
Man of the match: Ricky Ponting

 

[Gary123]

And this is back!:banana2
Strauss should be kicking himself for that decision of his.
Hughes 79 off 90 was the knock of the match for me.
That set the tempo for Aussies to chase the target.
Ponting was brillaint throughout the match but unlucky as well not to convert those scores into hundreds.
Brillaint update Ollie!
I'll always be following this one.

 

[Ollie_H]

2nd Test Post Match Presentation​

David Gower:Hello and Welcome to another edition of 'From the Box'. I'm your host David Gower and I am joined with my regular collegues David Lloyd and Paul Allot in the studio today. In the second Test Match we experienced a roller coaster ride, there were hostile spells of bowling, a plethora of wonderful shots and ample streakers to form a nudist club. It was Ricky Ponting who was the stand out cricketer of the game winning himself the Man of the Match award with delightful scores of 90+. He will have been extremely dissapointed not to reach that cherished Ashes hundred art Lords. In fact no player in this Test Match managed to place himself onto the honours board with a hundred or a 5 wicket haul. We will be hearing from Ricky in the post match press conference, where Andrew Strauss will no doubt be grilled about his 'sporting' declaration. Firstly though David, what did you make of Ricky's two knocks of 96 and 94.

David Lloyd:Well, they were fantastic knowcs from the Australian skipper and he feel agrieved not to have at least converted one of them into a century, he has a right to feel agrieved about his first innings dismissal where the ball looked to be spinning down leg from spinner Graeme Swann, but hawk-eye showed it was only missing by a matter of particles so you can see why the umpire thought it was out. His second LBW dismissal was more clear cut being caught plumb infront of the stumps looking to turn the ball to fine leg. He may well feel unhappy not to have made the hundred but he will be feeling a lot better that his side have now doubled their lead and make it 2-0 with 3 games to play.

Paul Allot: I have to agree with Bumble but from what I thought Ricky started to look a bit nervous when he got into those 90's and he looked like he was going to give his wicket away, which is what seemed to happen in the 2nd innings, it was okay thoug because he had taken his side most of the way to the win so he wasn't in a great deal of pressure but he will be gravely dissapointed to fall so close to his hundred.

David Gower:Thanks for your views boys, now let us go down to Michael Atherton with the Post Match Ceremony.


Michael Atherton: Thank you very much David, now to start, I'd like to bring forward the losin captain, Andrew Strauss! Andrew, you must be getting a bit annoyed by being called the losing captain?

Yeh it is starting to get on my nerves, I need to become the winning captain if we have any chance of even thinking about regaining the ashes. 2-0 down with 3 to play, we still have a chance of winning but it's pretty slim and we are going to play out of our skins. We are staring down the barrell of defeat at the moment and I'm not enjoying it.

Athers: A lot has to be said about your declaration you made late into the 4th day, a one word question, why?

We want to look to play agressive cricket and we thought that if we looked to post 400 then Australia would go into their shell and it would be a draw, we wanted to give them a tricky period going into the last day and we wanted to take a wicket or 2 with the new ball on the 4th evening to put the pressure on. We always knew with them just needing to chase 350 we knew they would go for it and we knew chances would become available to us. We just had to take every chance available because we wanted to win at Lords. We know it was a pretty risky declaration and unfortunately the risk didn't pay off.

Athers: Better luck in the next test Andrew, Now the winning captain and Man of the Match, who will recieve a cheque for ?1000 and a magnum of verve cliquot champagne, Ricky Ponting! Ricky, a fantastic test match for you, you must be ecstatic with a 2-0 lead?

Yeah, I am very happy with the way everyone has performed to give us that 2-0 lead. It was a real team performance and we need 1 more like tit ro regain what is rightfully ours. When Straussy made that declaration none of us could believe our ears and of course we were going to try and chase it down. I think he may have been right, another 50 or 60 runs and we probably would have left it alone and this test match would have been a draw. We felt 350 was a safe target to chase, young Philly Hughes started the chase off well, our game plan was to look to attack the ball and if we lost a few quick wickets we were going to shut up shop and bat for the draw but forunately things weren't our way.

Athers: You must have been dissapointed not to be there to help your team cross the line and not to get the desired century?

It was bit annoying not to get my name on the Lords honours board, yes. But I am just happy that the team managed to get the victory, I have full confidence in the batsmen below me that we would be able to reach the total that we needed. If I'm honest I thought the first decision I was given could possibly have been the wrong decision but what's done is done and the main thing is that we won the test match.

Athers: Thanks a lot for your time Ricky, That conclused the Post Match Presentation here at Lords, but join us next time on 'From the Box' where we will have the build up to the crucial 3rd test!

 

[hedger_14]

Haha Ponting. 92 and 96 but can't get to 3 figures in either innings.

 

[Ollie_H]

Stats Whore with a Bore.​

After a fascinating start to the 2009 Ashes Series held in England, it is Australia who look to be coming out on top. A 2-0 lead after just 2 games sees Australia staring victory down like a lion chases it's prey. Just one more win would see Australia gain the win they so badly desire, if they can do it the next test match, England will once again be looking at a 5-0 defeat if they do not buck up their ideas. England have now lost 8 test matches in a row to the Australians and badly need a win to bring the series back into their grasp. Now the reason we are here today is to look over a stats review of the first two test matches.

The stat we are going to start with the highest run scorer from the first two test matches. ​

The statistics shows us that Ricky Ponting is by far and away the highest run scorer so far in the test matches, he looks to be in good form with the bat after scores of 36, 35, 92 and 96. He is also leading the way with the amount of boundaries hit, will the Australian skipper be able to maintain his lead as the leading run scorer?​

From the stats that show the batting averages, Brad Haddin is leading the way by quite a distance, one of the factors that has helped him is the 2 not outs he has to his name. If he didn't have those not outs, the australian wicket keeper may not be doing so well, the leading run scorer Ricky Ponting is in at number 2 and these two are the only player to average 50+ so far. Kevin Pietersen is one of two England represntatives, being England's leading player you would expect him to be up there, he will be looking to continue to score runs off the Australian bowlers. ​

The Australian bowlers look to have a dominance in the bowling statistics and you would expect this from a team that have bowled the oppostion out in 3 of the 4 innings. Mitchell Johnson is the leading wicket taker but whilst he has taken the most wickets he concedes far too many runs to the England team leaving his average fairly dissapointing for the leader of the seam attack. Graeme Swann is the pick of the England bowlers so far following his 5 wicket haul in the first test. Who will be the leading wicket taker come the end of the third test?​

The Best Bowling average currently goes to Nathan Hauritz, the spinner is the only player to have a bowling average of under 30. Many of the other bowlers will be looking to claw their averages down as the series progresses . 3 England Players fill the next spots with averages ranging between 34 and 40.

Well that is the end of the statistical review, how different will these tables look at the end of the 3rd test to find out .​

 

[drainpipe32]

Ponting has scored 259 runs, 228 of that in boundaries :|

Good read though. Good to see this hasn't died, like all the other Ashes 2009 stories.

 

[hedger_14]

Hauritz has got the best bowling average. I knew he was so good.

 

[OffCutters]

h4x0r, Phillip Hughes isnt there.

 

[drainpipe32]

Hauritz has got the best bowling average. I knew he was so good.

It's against England. It doesn't count for anything.

h4x0r

5u6h5a4x0r?

 

[OffCutters]

Yeah i know eh? My grandma could get a bowling average of 10 against the Poms.