5th and final ASHES TEST: England v Australia at the Oval, Aug 20-24

[skeepe]

f**k Bowden is an arrogant wanker. At least say not out if it's not out, don't just ignore an entire side appealing. f**kwit.

 

[IanG]

*SOB* It's a road!

bring on Katich or Clarke or North.

 

[Ridders]

I'm quite interested to hear the opinions of all the cricketing genius' on this forum who were crucifying the selectors for even thinking of playing Hauritz. I'm scared to even think of what this pitch will look like when we bat in our second innings. Mitch is creating some massive footmarks for Swann to work at, pity we don't have Hauritz to utilise them as well.

When was the last time we saw a Test wicket break down at such epic proportions? Personally i love it, adds so much to the game when the balling is turning alot, inconsistent bounce etc. We would be in alot more strife if England had a quality spinner but Swann should still do some damage.

Edit: Great stuff by Siddle. May be inconsistent at times but boy is he entertaining to watch. Love it when he fires up.

 

[andrew057]

*SOB* It's a road!

bring on Katich or Clarke or North.

Its far from a road? :shock:

 

[Twizzle]

If Hauritz was there they may be 2-3 wickets down..look at the footmarks!:crazy:

yes, by all means look at the foot marks, they are about a foot outside Bells, and all the other right handers, leg stump

hauri bowls off spin douchbag

 

[Twizzle]

I'm quite interested to hear the opinions of all the cricketing genius' on this forum who were crucifying the selectors for even thinking of playing Hauritz. I'm scared to even think of what this pitch will look like when we bat in our second innings. Mitch is creating some massive footmarks for Swann to work at, pity we don't have Hauritz to utilise them as well.

Hauri was good at Cardiff on a wicket that turned sideways, wasn't he

He couldn't even get Monty out who is a deadset batting bunny, and how long did he bowl to him for, not to mention the rest of the tail

When was the last time we saw a Test wicket break down at such epic proportions? Personally i love it, adds so much to the game when the balling is turning alot, inconsistent bounce etc. We would be in alot more strife if England had a quality spinner but Swann should still do some damage.

Edit: Great stuff by Siddle. May be inconsistent at times but boy is he entertaining to watch. Love it when he fires up.

England could be in strife is we had one too

 

[aussies1st]

Haurtiz wouldn't have done anything different to what North has done so far in the 1st innings.
Good on Siddle, just when you start to doubt him he bangs back on a flat pitch.

 

[Twizzle]

Siddle is a wicket taker, but gee he needs to tighten up abit. He bowls alot of bad balls.

I guess at his age we just need to be patient.

 

[Broncodr01d]

Siddle is a wicket taker, but gee he needs to tighten up abit. He bowls alot of bad balls.

I guess at his age we just need to be patient.

Spot on.

Partner him with Clark applying pressure and he will be a potential match-winner. Yes this is coming from a big Siddle fan, though it's obvious we have a long term prospect capable of spear heading our attack.

 

[Twizzle]

looking at him I just think he tries abit too hard sometimes

he needs to chill, slow down a bit and get a bit more accurate

we've been spoiled watching guys like Pidge and Clark bowl in tandem and put pressure on a bating team

I was soooooo pissed at our bowling in the first session and couldn't work out why we were bowling leg stump

normally no one means to do it, but at this level if you dont have enough control to bowl to a plan, you should not be playing at this level

In my opinion, they (Siddle and Johnson) just did not have the control and that is just not good enough at international level, you dont put up with that in grade cricket

Luckily for Siddle have came good and got a bag full, Notch deserved one wicket, the other was just a pathetic shot from a batsman who had no footwork, but our selectors will justify his selection by simply mentioning he got two wickets, where as in reality he as all over the shop.

We shouldn't be using an ashes series to bowl bowlers back into form.

Lee bowled side by side with these guys in 2 first class games and not only took more wickets, he had a lower economy rate.

Hilditch argues that they are currently our best three bowlers at this level. Thats because that are the only three getting a run consistently at this level, so who else can we compare them to.

Very poor logic imo.

 

[Collingwood Storm]

I got a feeling that the toss yesterday could have decided the match.

It's alarming how much the pitch is already breaking up and the 300 England have on the board now could be more like 400-450 on a belter.

 

[beads6]

Lee is garbage though look at his figures on Ashes tours in the past.... Johnson did bowl steaming turds last night though.

 

[IanG]

What is it with the Poms and collapsing in the final session of the day's play? ie After I've fallen asleep.

 

[Bigfella]

Johnson bowled some high quality deliveries. Anyone who thinks he is not a test quality bowler is dreaming. His first over to Bell was astonishing. It shows that at his best he is the most intimidating bowler in world cricket.

No doubt he is inconsistent. But you don't get to 100 test wickets in the same time as mcgrath and warne without having serious ability.

Siddle also lacks consistency but these two blokes have played about 30 tests between them. The fact is that they are the two most likely to win matches for us, and Ponting knows it.

People on here have been saying Clark is our best bowler. He's tight, he has control, and there's no doubt he is still a test class, world class bowler.

But he hasn't been our best bowler for two years now. He hasn't taken serious wickets for the last 18 months.

There's no doubt a quality spinner would give us a huge amount of balance, especially is he could bowl long spells and tie up an end.

There's also no doubt Siddle and johnson need to be able to add that to become consistently world class, not just occasionally.

But I think Hilfenhaus was by far the most disappointing last night. Completely wasted the new ball and never looked threatening IMO.

Even so, it was a good overall result. the recent first class scores have indicated this to be the biggest road outside one of those Sri Lankan highways. Need to finish them off and bat for two days and we can win this.

 

[Twizzle]

Lee is garbage though look at his figures on Ashes tours in the past.... Johnson did bowl steaming turds last night though.

look at Johnson's figures in the last ashes series, rubbish

how is it relevant ?

would it make more sense to judge a cricketer on his current form rather that than how he was bowling 4 years ago

Dizzy was bowling pretty well back then, should we give him a go as well ?

I really don't understand that logic

 

[abpanther]

Why the f**k won't Ponting give Katich a bowl????????????

 

[Twizzle]

because he is Ponting

 

[Ridders]

What was really confusing was giving Watson a bowl before the new ball was due. Given how a part-timer like North was getting lots of turn, surely he could of bowled either Clarke or Katich in tandem with North.

If we have to chase anything more than 150 in our final innings, imo England would have the advantage.

 

[Evenflow]

I was soooooo pissed at our bowling in the first session and couldn't work out why we were bowling leg stump

normally no one means to do it, but at this level if you dont have enough control to bowl to a plan, you should not be playing at this level

In my opinion, they (Siddle and Johnson) just did not have the control and that is just not good enough at international level, you dont put up with that in grade cricket

Luckily for Siddle have came good and got a bag full, Notch deserved one wicket, the other was just a pathetic shot from a batsman who had no footwork, but our selectors will justify his selection by simply mentioning he got two wickets, where as in reality he as all over the shop.

We shouldn't be using an ashes series to bowl bowlers back into form.

Why no mention of Clark there? I love Stuey, he's been a fantastic bowler for our country but in the game and a half he's played this series, besides one good innings he's been below par yet seems to always escape your scrutiny based on what he's done in the past.

You said it makes sense to judge a cricketer on current form (i agree) so lets do that. In the game and a half that Clark and Siddle have played together this series Siddle has figures of 10/134 off 40 overs at and average of 13.4.

Clarke on the other hand has bowled 5 overs less with figures of only 3/133 at an average of 44. You say Siddle was "lucky" that he got a bagfull of wickets. Does that make Clark unlucky he's only got in his last 3 in the same time Siddle has 10?

I'm sure some would say that Siddle cleaned up a few of the tail last game to enhance his figures but the main thing is he took them and Clark never. That said the 3 that Clark has taken (Cook, Collingwood and Broad) Siddle has also taken as well.

Siddle may very well bowl the odd loose ball but the fact is he's still taking more wickets at less runs than Clark yet he still gets bagged which to me makes f**k all sense. All this while his series average is 26.75 which is pretty good considering his test career is all of 5 mins old.

Like i said i love Stuey, my blood runs as blue as any New South Welshman and i certainly think he should be in the team, but if you want to judge cricketers on current form he shouldn't be immune to the criticism you dish out to other blokes and especially considering he isn't bowling as well as one of them.

 

[HevyDevy]

You should probably ignore much of that second innings from Clark when the Poms were going the tonk.

Other than that he bowled well in the first innings in Headingley and well last night without taking any wickets.

Johnson is either brilliant or terrible, but we can live with that for now because for the first 3 Tests he was just terrible.

Hilfy has been great but was very poor last night.

And credit to Siddle, his wickets are a reward for effort.