1st Test: Australia vs. England [Match Thread] Gabba, November 21-25

[Yidaki]

Oh god, the UK news pages are a good read at the moment. So many whinging poms. They can't even handle a bit of sledging..oh my.

 

[tigs2010]

If England play Rankin ahead of Finn they are out of their minds.

Rankin goes at close to 4 an over in county cricket, he will get eaten alive on a flat Adelaide deck.

Tanking for a priority pick in the South African draft maybe?

 

[bkozican]

Broad is in for a long summer

 

[FreoGirl]

Strange. I've met Dennis Lillee many many times and even visited his house, and he's a great bloke.

probably mellowed in his old age

 

[Father Jack]

Loved what I heard from Clarke. I hope Anderson has a s**t series.

Don't watch the video on YouTube if you don't want to see idiotic comments from some stupid Indians.

That goes without saying for any cricket video on Youtube, or any article on Cricinfo for that matter as well.

 

[rickyp]

Broad is in for a long summer

He just took 8/130, and was their 2nd highest scorer in the first innings.

 

[Bucking Beads]

My favourite headline was the "You've been MITCH slapped" Not sure what paper it was from but it was shown on the Today show.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Will admit got it wrong would've earlier but was away for a couple of days so not able to post.

I'll just have to fall back on my prematch predictions which were much better, Swann & Lyon would have minimal impact & Trott would fail

???

Lyon started both collapses....

Took 4 top 7 wickets

I reckon that would be an influence

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Moving Trott to 4 or 5 might be beneficial. But at 5, or in particular at say 6, Johnson might get at him with the second new ball. I don't think it will matter where Trott bats at Perth. If he hasn't sorted out his issues by then he'll be a liability.

Johnson isn't doing the damage with the new ball - it is his scond and third spells which are doing the damage.

I'd be quite keen for Watson to open the bowling for 3 or 4 overs in Adelaide and then bring Siddle and Johnson in.

Either that - or Johnson opens for 2 overs, gets removed if he isn't swinging it - and then bring Watson in.

Might as well maximise our use of the new cherry as much as possible - and Watson nibbling it around would be good to Cook and Carberry - prime LBW chances

 

[HBF]

Broad is in for a long summer

With the bat and the crap he'll get from the crowds around the country.
If the poms are bowling on Boxing Day, the noise that will go around the MCG will be off the charts.
Think he'll have a good series with the ball though. He was far and away Englands best bowler in Brisbane.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Its always amused me, he is a very damn fine bowler no doubt but not right up there in histories calling. Good ol' Dizzy Gillespie took 250 odd test wickets at a touch over 26 a pop for comparison with a better economy rate.

Anderson isn't a patch on Gillespie

He is Brett Lee quality (in test cricket) - that's about it

When you consider that now all 3 of our quicks have better bowling averages (and generally by some margin) than all of their quicks, it just shows how poor out batsmen must be.

When you have such a dominant bowling line up - you should be winning test after test.

 

[Gray Day]

Jeez the Poms are hypocrites.

Can't believe they have the gall to publicly complain about our sledging given the crap they've flung at us during the past few Ashes series.

Piss poor that they can dish it out but can't take it.

Cook the Big Sook indeed.

 

[HBF]

Moving Trott to 4 or 5 might be beneficial. But at 5, or in particular at say 6, Johnson might get at him with the second new ball. I don't think it will matter where Trott bats at Perth. If he hasn't sorted out his issues by then he'll be a liability.

Won't be just Trott who won't want to face Johnson is Perth. Their entire 11 won't want to face him.
Haddin & the slips will be down near the sightscreen when Johnson is bowling.

 

[HeavyPop]

I certainly hope Johnson isn't getting as carried away as the majority of people on here are. He bowled well this test, but he has done so before and then failed to back it up. I hope he does bowl well for the rest of the Ashes, but all this talk of the English being scared to face him is a bit over the top.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Won't be just Trott who won't want to face Johnson is Perth. Their entire 11 won't want to face him.
Haddin & the slips will be down near the sightscreen when Johnson is bowling.

I'd leave Bell out of that

Tremendous player to watch bat with a fantastic technique.

Played Johnson really well generally, picked up the length early and got underneath them well.

Also played well at the WACA last time around when we trounced them.

 

[Kram]

Will admit got it wrong would've earlier but was away for a couple of days so not able to post.

I'll just have to fall back on my prematch predictions which were much better, Swann & Lyon would have minimal impact & Trott would fail

If you are going to go to the effort of posting on here at least try and get a clue.

 

[Caesar]

The most heartening thing about Johnson's dominance is how he did it. Good pace and bounce caused the batsmen no end of trouble. Even if Johnson fails to fire much in the coming games, we have other bowlers who can push 90mph and get plenty of bounce on the right pitches (Siddle, Pattinson).

I don't think winning this series is at all dependent on Johnson backing up with similar performances. Harris bowled very well this match, pitching it up and getting nice subtle movement. Siddle less so, but he did his job, and if he can bump his speed up a bit then he will be very threatening. A pitch with bounce has made Lyon infinitely more dangerous as well.

The important thing out of this match is less Johnson's resurgence, and more having a key to unlocking England's batting. IMO any English fans hoping for respite when Johnson's form drops off are in for a rude surprise.

 

[BG32]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what Clarke did. I especially loved when the camera focused on jimmys face after the Clarke words, he looked like he was about to cry

 

[BarryMorgan]

I wouldn't mind if the Poms were complaining about someone with a bit of class such as Bell or Cook getting sledged, but for them to blow up about Anderson, one of the mouthiest pie-slingers in cricket history, copping it back is hypocrisy at at its peak. Focus on eating your humble pie you whinging, soap-dodging p***ks.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

I don't think winning this series is at all dependent on Johnson backing up with similar performances. Harris bowled very well this match, pitching it up and getting nice subtle movement. Siddle less so, but he did his job, and if he can bump his speed up a bit then he will be very threatening. A pitch with bounce has made Lyon infinitely more dangerous as well.

Totally agree, our fellas bowled together in partnerships, prime example yesterday when Johnson was screaming in from one end, and Lyon was shown barely any respect, and he got the crucial breakthrough, Cook.

 

[HBF]

I'd leave Bell out of that

Tremendous player to watch bat with a fantastic technique.

Played Johnson really well generally, picked up the length early and got underneath them well.

Also played well at the WACA last time around when we trounced them.

That's fair enough with Bell.
Even Cook looked ok against Johnson yesterday as well.

 

[BarryMorgan]

Anderson isn't a patch on Gillespie

He is Brett Lee quality (in test cricket) - that's about it

When you consider that now all 3 of our quicks have better bowling averages (and generally by some margin) than all of their quicks, it just shows how poor out batsmen must be.

When you have such a dominant bowling line up - you should be winning test after test.

He might be Brett Lee quality in terms of runs per over etc., but he certainly doesn't have the fear factor that Lee had. If I was a batsman I'd be happier facing a bloke sending down 130 km/h inswingers as opposed to 155 km/h bouncers aimed at knocking your block off.

 

[Andronicus]

Rather than the size of the win, I think the way it happened is the biggest thing to come out of this test.

Not the individual performances, as much as the confidence that the Australians will get from it, and the doubt that England will be feeling.

It is just 1 test, and anything can happen, but we will take far more from the way it happened than merely the result itself.

 

[Blue and Gold Blood]

Well the ashes are 100% over

When does the next series start?

This is the worst Australian Test team of all time.

We are just garbage.

Spineless, pathetic performance.

A sample of posts taken on day 1. Chin up fellas we won by 350+

 

[Partridge]

Broad is in for a long summer

He's one of the few who did his job. They've got far bigger problems than him.