The Ashes: 1st Test - The 'Gabba, Brisbane

DMC

Time to get the ball rolling and the percolator brewing!

Speculation is, with an hour to go to the toss, that Monty will not play, probably more down to The 'Gabba not being spinner friendly.

Team news as it happens

county

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055019105

spec savers i`d say;)


anyway can`t wait,it will be i late night for me,probably fall asleep on the couch about 5 am




*couch neck for me in the morning*

DMC

whoops! Didnt see that..

Indeed... TV has been moved to bedroom for duration, thank the man who invented wireless video senders!

mike65

The Gabba wicket sounds like its rock hard so who bats first is critical.

Mike.

DMC

England XI 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.

No Monty.

kyp_durron

Monty must play ahead of Giles imo, surprized the aussies went with Clark instead of Tait, Tait's pace on this track would be scary.

Come on England! Never though I'd say that

mike65

No spin! Though I guess the wicket might have some action in it by day 5 as it cracks. Thats as 'bout a first 11 as it gets for the conditions.

Mike.

kyp_durron

I'm a bit worried about England's bowling attack anyway, let alone without 'The Montster', hope Harmy can perform to the level that he can and Anderson can rise to the occasion, not to mention Freddy's injury.

cgf

The Wheely-bin got the nod

DMC

cgf wrote:

The Wheely-bin got the nod

Part of the logic was he's better in the field. With a nickname like the wheely-bin...

kyp_durron

DMC wrote:

Part of the logic was he's better in the field. With a nickname like the wheely-bin...

Lmao never heard that before.

But seriously I think it's a terribly decision, the old cliche you need to take 20 wickets to win a test match, do England not have enought faith in the batting line up?

Lastly I'd like to say fair play to Giles for coming back from injury, but I think it's the wrong decision.

DMC

Toss: won by Ponting.... probably bat...

county

what the hell are sky sports doing,going for a break when the toss is on

county

aussies to bat

DMC

county wrote:

what the hell are sky sports doing,going for a break when the toss is on

Very simple. Mark Nicholas is hosting the toss with Channel 9, and he ain't going to appear on Sky Sports again!

Paul Tergat

"g'bowlin shanyyne!"

Come on England...

i actually can see a whitewash to Oz in this, wonder what the odds are?

Royale with Cheese

On a pitch that's not really expected to turn is it that bad a decision to put Giles in for Monty? Monty can't bat or field to save his life, in a close game that can make all the difference. With England batting last unless they have to follow on, their spinner isn't going to be that important anyway.

county

p_larkin99 wrote:

"g'bowlin shanyyne!"

Come on England...

i actually can see a whitewash to Oz in this, wonder what the odds are?

5-1 with paddy power

cgf

Not too sure about those odds of 5-1

I've already lost a few bob on an outside punt for the world darts championship next January

http://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES/articles/000033/003388.shtml

DMC

Not quite the odds Lillee got from a Leeds bookie in 1981

England 5-0 ... 200/1
Australia 5-0 ... 6/1

Odds with Ladbrokes..

Handicap betting is that Australia are 2.5 tests better than England... that means Australia to win 3-1 is the shortest odds.

county

warne to take 40 or more wickets is 12-1 with sky bet

Paul Tergat

They seem like fair enough odds i guess, just cant see England getting much from this series....really hope im proven wrong!

DMC

I'd like to know what Orange's ad agency was smoking when they thought of that ad......

Hold on... The Ashes are starting!

DMC

Last time I saw Harmison bowl a first ball like that.... it was at Stormont!!

county

hoggards hitting the right spots atm

DMC

Anderson into the attack... no messing with Flintoff, even if Harmison is his buddy. Goes to show there is no faith in Harmison. He might be a passenger.....

kyp_durron

If there is no faith in him, why play him?

DMC

He's seriously undercooked. He hasn't had a good day since 2005. And they complain about all the cricket they play.

Bowlers of years ago will tell you, a bowler needs overs under their belts. Fletcher doesn't allow that to happen. They did the right thing with Anderson in 2005. Go and play for Lancashire for a full season. Get some mileage. Unfortunately for him, the stress fracture this year hampered him. The same could be said for Harmison. Go back to Durham for a summer. Don't even think of a recall.

Mark my words, Stuart Broad will get his test cap in the next few weeks.

England are in danger of going from heroes to zeroes.

kyp_durron

DMC wrote:

He's seriously undercooked. He hasn't had a good day since 2005. And they complain about all the cricket they play.

Bowlers of years ago will tell you, a bowler needs overs under their belts. Fletcher doesn't allow that to happen. They did the right thing with Anderson in 2005. Go and play for Lancashire for a full season. Get some mileage. Unfortunately for him, the stress fracture this year hampered him. The same could be said for Harmison. Go back to Durham for a summer. Don't even think of a recall.

Mark my words, Stuart Broad will get his test cap in the next few weeks.

England are in danger of going from heroes to zeroes.

I agree completely, I was shocked Stuart Broad wasn't included, he was in great form and everything. And It just seems, as you say, they have no faith in Harmison. So why play him? It makes no sence to me.

Langer scoring at a run a ball, bad news for England.

county

freddie to bowl,about time too

DMC

kyp_durron wrote:

So why play him? It makes no sence to me.

Simple. Fletcher thinks he good, and wraps him in cotton wool. Big mistake.

Drinks: 57/0

Also.... just listening on the side on R4LW, Boycott is away on a rant... just took an hour But he's spot on...

county

england need a wicket big time but i can`t see it coming,the aussies are stem rolling them atm

DMC

Its a flat slab at present.... Prediction that one of these openers and Ponting will be still there at the close.... only 1 down for 300+

DMC

Time to stick the head under the duvet and leave TMS on low...

county

50 up for langer

county

wicket for england,come on:)

county

109-1 at lunch

Bluetonic

346 - 3 (90 overs)

KevIRL

Great stuff from Ponting.Looks like Flintoff is Englands true danger at the moment. Didnt watch any of it last night, working too early this morning. First live action I'll get to see will be Fri night.

county

went to bed just after the second wicket and from what i seen freddie was getting sod all help out there,ok the wicket wasn`t great for the bowlers but some of the bowling was wayward to say the least,the gamble of playing bowlers coming back from injuries and not enough match pratice was never going to work

DMC

I knew a wicket would fall once I turned off the PC

Giles didn't play great. Not spectacular, but Giles isn't spectacular. That's why Monty is rated so much higher. Giles was outshone by the sheer misery of watching Harmison bowling first up. (no misery if you support the Aussies!) He got it together in the afternoon session, but the damage was done.

One thought that went through my mind when Pietersen stuck his foot in the turf (not comparing it to Simon Jones 4 years ago), but with Monty in the stand, and knowing he is not the best fielder, maybe Monty is thinking, "I'm glad I'm not out there!"

Fletcher has too much faith in some players. That faith has to be repaid, but how many times can you ask players to do it, and then they don't before their dropped? He only drops players if they don't fit into his system!

RuggieBear

I listened to the start of it on 5Live. they were at the Harmison household....:D

First ball....groans.

dereko1969

got to see the first session, wish i'd had a bet on harmison's first ball being a wide, should've done so after seeing his 'performance' in stormont. given the spin that pieterson got (according to reports) it seems there will be a good bit there for the spinners and the decision to play 'the king of spain' seems even more mental. the ozzies could put up 600 quite easily, then we'll see what cook is made of. i'm still hoping joyce might get in if cook or bell doesn't perform. anyway here's to another late night!

kyp_durron

Pieterson did turn it a lot...:eek: , yup Warneys gonna have some fun.

England needs wickets early, here's hoping Harmison can pull himself together.

DMC

Nice tight highlights package there from the BBC.... Shame about putting the Bearded Wonder and Vic Marks on the telly

Is it me or is the great man starting to let age get to him? Richie's voice wasn't very strong on the interview there...

Off we go for another few hours

England need wickets, wickets and ... um... wickets! Otherwise the Aussies will be looking to get to 600 and/or an hour after tea.

county

better bowling all ready by england but as DMC said england need wickets

kyp_durron

To be fair, Ponting and Hussy deserve some credit as well. It's going to take something special to get them out.

Good to see Ed out there even as a sub.

county

kyp_durron wrote:

.

Good to see Ed out there even as a sub.

love to see him catch ponting:)

kyp_durron

county wrote:

love to see him catch ponting:)

Wouldn't we all

Uh oh, here comes Harmy....

county

car crash tv=harmison bowling this over

DMC

Scattergun once again...