2nd ASHES TEST: England v Australia at Lords, July 16-20, 2009

[Spike]

I've coughed up better batting displays than that

 

[hineyrulz]

Looks like another record for Captain Clueless is coming up....... And our batting bar Huss mirrored Johnsons bowling.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Easy.

 

[Twizzle]

good to see the poms have a go

I really didn't expect much more than a whimper from them after the first test

that said, some pretty poor shot selection from the Aussies

 

[Ali's Choice]

Will be very hard for the aussies to even escape with a draw from this test. However, it's not impossible. The Poms had by far the best of both the batting conditions and bowling conditions. That's just tough luck for Australia.

BTW, does anyone else agree that Mitchell Johnson needs to be dropped?

 

[Twizzle]

on current form yes, but Punter lubs him

 

[HevyDevy]

The optimist in me says Australia to be dismissed about 205 runs behind, crank out the runs in the second innings with a score of 500+ then skittle the Poms for 100!

To be honest, as bad as our bowling line-up is, the Pommy line-up is truly awful. It would be an embarrassment to fail twice against them.

 

[Collingwood Storm]

Is there a bigger spud in world cricket than Stuart Broad?

The amount of press he has received in his career you would think he is already better than Flintoff.

I'm still laughing at his 'effort' in the final over in the T20 against the Netherlands, what was it about 4 missed run-outs from 5m away and a dropped catch? That's without mentioning the overthrows he gave to gift the game to them as well.

 

[Broncodr01d]

Mitchell Johnson will be carrying drinks if he is lucky for the 3rd Test. Mike Hussey if he fails yet again should be joining him and we bring in another batsmen. I don't care who, I don't care if he is playing County cricket, Hussey is out of form. We can't continue to carry him.

What a mess this has turned in to for Australia. Out classed, out played and made to look second rate by the England team. Well played England. Well played. You can't lose from here, can you do what we couldn't in the first Test and finish us off?

Time will tell and we will see if we have a spine tonight.

 

[TheParraboy]

wicket seems to have more movement and pace about it, conditions overcast, good news for the poms, they got the runs on the board, this isnt cardiff we wont be getting near 600, nor near 500 runs I dont think

you tool, we wont get near 300, let alone 200 :sarcasm:

I had an awefull feeling this would happen, credit to the poms

I read before this test match, I think it was either tugger or AB, AB I think. Said after the game in cardiff that what can happen (as its happened to him) is aussies would have felt like losers and real tough to get over that draw and the poms feel like winners and they would be more on a roll, have momentum. How right that was

 

[simmo1]

lol before the Ashes you lot were all blowing your load over Johnsons saying he'll carve up the poms and do what he did in South Africa, now after 1 and a half bad games, he's public enemy number 1. Yeah he's not bowling that well, but at least hes getting some wickets. He'll come good.

 

[TheParraboy]

There is something up with Johnson, Maybe his mum and girlfriend problems coming out in the media has affected him?

If he can re discover the form he had during our summer and in SA, he will be deadly. Seems to have lost all sense of confidence and aggression. Wether he just needs regular consistant bowling to come good or just to go and see a shrink, im not sure.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Nah it was definitely going on to hit leg stump...

Well I am staggered if Hawkeye showed that because i saw it again today and Ponting's middle and off stump are clearly visible when the ball hits his pad and was swinging sharply.. Rule of thumb suggests if you can see both stumps and the ball is swinging in then it is missing leg.

 

[Red Bear]

lol before the Ashes you lot were all blowing your load over Johnsons saying he'll carve up the poms and do what he did in South Africa, now after 1 and a half bad games, he's public enemy number 1. Yeah he's not bowling that well, but at least hes getting some wickets. He'll come good.

I've always thought he is sh*thouse, you cant go through a career bowling crap with the occasional wicket ball, he will continually be going for more and more runs per wicket.

Clark should always have been selected.

 

[aussies1st]

Always had my doubts over Johnson, yes his spell in SA gave me hope but I was never fully on that bandwagon. And it looks like hes gone too crap again. Its a poor excuse to say he needs more game time to hit his peak, if he can't produce after a long break for a big series like the Ashes, he shouldn't be picked.

 

[Blaze]

Geez it's going to be tough for Aus to force a result from here. Would be slightly harsh if they were to be 1 nil down after 2 tests after dominating the first test. I wouldn't panic too much yet though if I was an Aus fan. This England side is not good enough to consistently play at such a high standard for the rest of the series. There will be plenty of opportunities for Aus to get back into the series.

Still, would make things very interesting if England finish Aus off here and go 1 nil up in the series with 3 games to play.

 

[TimmyB]

Did those bagging the Pommy bowlers actually watch the Cricket last night? They were fantastic. Sure there was some poor shot selection at times, but you can't discount the pressure that was being exerted on our bats. North in particular was absolutely strangled - didn't score a run in half an hour at the crease.

I was actually quite impressed by Broad last night. When he bowls line and length he gets a bit of bounce and is quite hard to score off. He really deserved his two wickets last night, even if they were from poor shots.

 

[Ridders]

To say we crumbled because of England's great bowling is ludicrous. Our batting was simply woeful. Flintoff was the only English bowler that genuinly scared me, it thought he deserved more wickets than he got. Hughes (always unlucky when you glove it down leg side), Punter was dudded (although LBW was a possibility), Katich's dismissal was a careless shot (of Onions of all people), same with Clarke's (although field placing was excellent from Strauss), Johnson got caught in a predictable trap, FMD North tried to pull a ball that wasn't there to be pulled, Haddin's was a terrible shot.

The ball that got Hussey was the only one that i thought was an absolute ripper, the rest was simply careless batting. You can say the pressure England exerted played a part, and you'd probably be right, but i was really disapointed with the way we lost most of our wickets.

 

[TimmyB]

I'm not saying poor batting wasn't involved, but England still bowled very well. On a pitch that wasn't offering a great deal they bowled with great discipline and very consistently. Look at how Anderson bowled to Pontng. Grouped everything outside off and then through one that came in. I thought it was an excellent delivery and Ponting should have been given out LBW. The others like I said were a consequence of pressure. Look how hard Hussey and Katich had to work for their runs. Both were beaten a number of times before they were eventually out.

So I'm not saying there weren't some poor shots, just that England bowled and fielder very well imo. Far better than we did.

 

[TheParraboy]

England certainly didnt have a Johnson in their attack, where we could score at will