In a shock announcement last night ESPN lost exclusive TV rights to cover the Ashes. It is reported that they breached their contract with the ICC when they made a behind the doors deal with Channel Nine. Sky Sports have been the victors out of this as they now have the TV Rights at a much cheaper deal then before.
Last night the Chief Executive of Sky Sports had this to say:
"We are very pleased at being able to obtain the TV Rights for this wonderful competition. We hope our fans throughout the globe enjoy our coverage. We wish the best of luck to both the Australian and English teams"
In a gesture of goodwill the ICC will be donating a tenth of the fee for the TV Rights to various charities throughout Australia to help the victims of the monsoon.
Thank you everyone for your patience. Expect gameplay updates very soon
Welcome to Sky Sports coverage of the Second Test Match in Perth. After the First Test was a washout, both teams will be looking to win this match to take a crucial lead. Over the years the ground here has produced some varying bounce however this times it looks to be very flat and will not offer much variation. It is a warm day and the there appears to be no storm clouds in the area so rain is a very unlikely probability. Earler this morning Paul Collingwood, the stand in captain won the toss and elected to have a bat first. Here is the summary of the weather conditions, the pitch and the toss result.
The big news for England at the moment is Paul Collingwood taking over the captaincy and Owais Shah coming into replace Maddy who had a horrendous time with the bat in the First Test. Here are the two player's profiles:
Owais Shah will have a lot of pressure on him as he is opening the batting with Alistair Cook who has been one of the few England batsmen in form on this Tour so far. Pietersen will be at playing at 3 with Ian Bell who has returned from a thigh strain playing at 4. Dimitry Mascarenhas gets the nod again after his good performance in the First Test, with the main strike bowlers being Flintoff, Hoggard, Anderson and Panesar, backed up by the medium pace of Collingwood and Mascarenhas. As the opening pair stride out here is the full England team:
The Australian's have named a very strong side. Tha batting line-up looks especially strong with the worldclass batsmen like Hayden, Ponting and Symonds. Nathen Bracken has been given his chance in place of Shaun Tait who strained his calf in training and will be looking to impress the selectors. With the likes of Brett lee and Shane warne playing England better be very wary of this Australian bowling attack. Another mention must go to Adam Gilchrist to who is undoubtedly the best wicket keeper in International Cricket at the moment. How will Phil Mustard live up to this expectation? The first ball is due to be bowled any minute now. Stay tuned.
Sky Prediction Contest
Sky are offering a fabulous prize (reps) to whoever guesses England's first Innings total:
a) <200
b)201-250
c)251-325
d)326>
The England openers got of to a slow start on the First Morning of the Second test at perth. The new ball was nipping around for Bracken and Kasprowicz, and quite a few slid past the edge. Owais Shah was lucky to escape when he got clean bowled by Bracken. However it was a clear no-ball so Shah was given a life line.
A few overs later the King of Spin was brought into the attack with Ponting obviously hoping Warne could make a breakthrough.
Warne's first over went for a maiden, where he troubled Alistair Cook, spinning it back into the left hander, varying his line and speed as well. In his second over, Warne performed his magic. Three balls into his over he had spun them all sharply into Cook, his fourth delivery however was the arm ball which Cook did not pick up. It caught the edge of his bat and Gilchrist took an impressive catch. Cook was not happy at his decision but snicko confirmed he was out. He will be very dissappointed to have made a start but not gone on to make a big score. Warne however was delighted
This meant that the danger man, Kevin Pietersen was at the crease. In the last Ashes, where England had their historic victory, Kevin Pietersen played a key role in it. This will be the wicket that Australia will want. Pietersen will want to improve on his score from the last match where he was dismissed for a golden duck. It will be very interesting how Pietersen plays Warne, as these two are the best players on both sides. There is however a lot of respect between both players. However no matter what their relationship is like of the field today they are biter enemies, and eye each other up trying to force the other into making a mistake.
However it was Michael Kasprowicz who grabbed the attention next. Owais Shah had begun to look very confident and had seem to be responding to the pressure well. He had hit two four's of Kasprowicz this over, and Kaspo appeared to be a bit ragged. Another lose ball well outside off stump was begging to be put away. However it just caught a crack and bounced a bit more than Shah expected and he nicked it to Matthew Hayden at second slip. Shah was really angry with himself to get out in such a way to a poor delivery, however he had to go and England were now two down.
This meant that Ian Bell was now at the crease probably a bit earlier than he would have liked. In the last Ashes Bell did not have a very good time, failing to make a significant impact. However recently he has been in the form of his life and will be looking to continue it into this match. He does however have a tough task ahead of him with the Australian bowlers appearing to have their tails up.
However Pietersen is also beginning to look a lot more confident especially against Warne and Hodge, and has hit some superb shots using timing, guile and also a bit of power . Ponting will not want Pietersen to get past 20 as it will prove very difficult to get him out once he has got his eye in.
The Bell-Pietersen partnership lasts to lunch, with Bell on five and Pietersen on 16. The los of Cook and Shah early on has not appeared to have made too much of an effect on these two batsmen who have hit the bad balls and left or played defensively the good balls. Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff are the next two batsmen showing that England has some real batting talent to come.
It has been slow work out there for the batsmen with Shah especially taking a long time for his 13 runs. However as the new ball loses it shine and does not swing around as much, the england batsmen should be able to be more agressive. Of course this does also mean Warne will get more grip on the ball, and as cracks and foot holes appear on the pitch he will be aiming to pitch the ball in those.
The Australian bowlers have bowled superbly in this first session. warne has been his usual self but Bracken and Kaspo have also impressed with the new ball. Brett Lee has not made an appearance yet, with Ponting perhaps saving him for the next session as the batsmen tire and are more likely to make mistakes. It does however appear that Ponting feels spin is the key here with him also bowling the part time off spinner Hodge. England fans will hope that their batsmen have more sucess against them in the next session.
Sky Prediction
The sky prediction contest is now closed. Good luck to all those who entered!!
As expected, England are clearly struggling. Next session is very crucial for them to recover and get into some nice position. Fantastic presentation, Tom!
Well it is the end of the afternoon session and it has not been a good one for England. Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell were at the crease and while they were there thinks did look quite positive. They began to play some very confident shots all round the ground and The Barmy Army began to cheer up and make a bit of noise. The two quickly reached the 50 partnership with surprisingly Warne being the main victim as he was smashed all over the ground.
So Ricky Ponting turned to Michael Kasprowicz to make a breaktrhough into this solid partnership. Kaspo had a very good opening spell in the morning session, picking up the wicket of Shah, and he hoped to continue his form into the afternoon. Into his second over in his second spell, he had had four dot balls, and the pressure was beginning to mount on Pietersen as England had not scored any runs now for 3 overs. He attempted to drive the fifth ball, but played it to early and spooned it to Ponting at cover. That was the wicket the Australians wanted and they were ecstatic. Pietersen was very annoyed as he had made a good start.
The new batsman was Mr Dependable himself Paul Collingwood. England were now in a spot of bother now with the partnership broken. They really needed a big innings from this man.
It was however Ian Bell who fell down next however. Michael Kasprowicz had his tail completely up now and clean bowled Bell with an inswinger which just nicked the bails of the top of the off stump. This was another batsman who had made a start but who had not converted it into a big score.
It was however the cult figure himself Andrew Flintoff next in to bat. Ricky Ponting had shown a lot of confidence so far in Brad Hodge who had bowled a lot of overs and yet not been able to make a breakthrough. Flintoff was playing some very agressive shots to him and had quickly shot to 10. However Hodge got his man, when Flintoff danced down the track to him, Hodge put a quicker one in there, which Flintoff hit onto his pad and soared into the air for a difficult catch which Gilchrist took. England were in really big trouble with Phil Mustard being the next batsman, with there being a lot of pressure on the inexperienced batsman.
Collingwood and Mustard began to build a solid partnership approaching tea, with Ponting using spin at both ends via Warne and Hodge. However with only 2 balls left till lunch, Mustard did something very stupid. He decided to adavcne to Hodge who put the full toss in which completely beat him and left him staring at his broken stumps. Mustard looked and probably felt like a total idiot.
So at Lunch on Day 4 England are 137/6 with the two new batsmen being Collingwood and Mascarenhas. Thinks don't look to bright for the English fans at the moment. The frustrating thing has been plenty of batsmen have made starts but none have gone on to make a big score. Here is the scorecard at tea on Day 1.
The Australian bowlers have done a fantastic job out there. The part timer Hodge will be very pleased at picking up two wickets along with Kaspo while Warne has picked up one other. There are rumours that Lee might be injured as he has not bowled yet and has been of the field for the whole session.
Cricketer's Corner with Botham
I must admit I have been very disappointed with the way England performed in this session. It is only Day 1 and yet some of the England batsmen have got out playing completely unecessary shots. At this stage in the game Australia deserve to be where they are through good bowling and fielding. I think unless Collingwood and Masceranhas can get England to at least 200, this match could be heading Australia's way.
Now do you agree with Botham? Post your comments and they will all be answered by Botham
Sky Sports Prediction Contest
Who will take the most wickets in the Australian First Innings. Reps for correct answer
a) Hoggard
b) Anderson
c) Flintoff
d) Panesar
e) Mascarenhas
Good luck with this. The results of the first prediction will be announced once the England innings has finished
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) to whoever guesses England's first Innings total:
