The Ashes 2009 (1 Viewer)

actwithoutwords

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An absolutely cracking finish to that test match. Who says that a draw after 5 days is an unsatisfactory way to end a game? Test cricket at its excruciatingly tense best.

Admittedly the preceding 3 days (after a very good Day 1) had been largely disapointing: a conservative pudding of a pitch, and an appalling mismatch between the English bowling 'attack' and the Aussie batting line up.
The typically inept English batting collapse on the last day, allied with a gargantuan innings from Collingwood, his almost unbelievably tragic demise towards the end, and culminating with the heroics of Monty and Jimmy batting the day out, more than made up for everything though.

Despite this being the worst Australian team to tour England in quite a while, they still look comfortably better than the home team in every department (apart from spin, which didn't exactly hurt them too much in this Test). Onions is surely a safe bet for a place at Lords, and I wouldn't be surprised if Harmison gets a call at some point too. It will be very interesting to see if this draw gives England a bit more confidence next time out. On paper they're fairly close to the Australians really, they've just been really shite in match situations for the last few years. Really shite.

Anyway, sin a bhfuil. I wasn't all that excited about this Ashes series beforehand, but it's great to be in the middle of it. The last Ashes in England in 2005 was absolutely seminal stuff.
 
Yeah, quality finish to the test, which was pretty dull for the most part. Can't help but think that any other recent Aussie ashes attack would have finished off England today. They dominated England for most of the test. A draw though, while not the fairest result, sets up the series nicely

I reckon England should go with Harmison for the next test. He's in good form, the Aussies would be wary of him and he can deliver at home.
 
It was a rancid test match bar the last two sessions really... and all the better for the serious that England could hold on and show the kind of mettle that isn't their style at all really.

Haven't seen enough of their recent serieseseses to tell whether Broad just had a poor game or if its time for Harmison. To be fair most of the English bowling attack was totally poxy and seemed to be totally dependent on the mysterious swing to turn up and do the Aussies like 4 years ago rather than bowling consistently dangerous line and length.

And I don't get the impression that Strauss is the kind of methodical, cerebral over-thinking type captain that Vaughan is, more just captain by being best batsman who hasn't fucked over the coach.

Still... Pietersen and the bowling attack can only get better so that should be interesting when it starts happening. Hopefully a few more exciting pitchs and no more knocks of 650 plus.
 
See the Aussie captain Ricky Ponting get a full blast whack in the face with the ball and still stayed on the pitch, within a minute there was blood and swelling, no one makes 'em as tough as the Aussies!
 
Yeah, that even looked pretty bloody painful. I'd say he was pretty happy for the break shortly after.
 
Yesterday was indeed incredible. England's first innings looked under par. And Stuart Broad of all people turned the game on its head. Given how many runs they have scored in the series and the fact that the pitch isn't actually that bad, the match isn't over yet. Still though, it should be done with. Fair dues to England for coming back after getting absolutely buggered silly at Headingley.
 
My god its all just gone bonkers again, Clarke and Ponting both run out in the space of ten minutes! Freddie with the direct hit for Ponting!
 
In a fantastic bout of old-schoolery, I listened to Test Match Special during parts of the night and caught Siddle's hattrick. First hattrick ever in a test by a player on his birthday. England are decent and fairly confident but they should never even consider making themselves out to be favourites to win the Ashes in Australia. Key thing is to keep their heads because frankly in their last few test serieseses they haven't built that many good scores and their bowling has usually won the most tests in combination with one player having a big score.

Also, I see Eoin Morgan got dropped for the Sherminator... probably the right thing to do.
 

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