That was some of the worst cricket England have played all tour.
God knows what Strauss was thinking opening with Bresnan and Swann after lunch and men back on the boundary offering easy out shots. Anderson belatedly came back and only needed one ball to wrap things up.
It was so bad that at one stage the field was back for Hilfenhaus as well and he just had to get bat on ball for an easy single.
I really wish that teams would dispense with a nightwatchman if a "proper" batsman can't play out 4/5 overs at the end of play he shouldn't be in the team. Besides which if England had been starting their innings with 5 overs left do you think Anderson & Tremlett would have opened? Doubt it.
England are probably in a slightly stronger position, but as already stated they need the other batsmen to click and get the total past 400. I almost felt sorry for Beer when Cook holed out only for the ball to be a no ball. I really wish that teams would dispense with a nightwatchman if a "proper" batsman can't play out 4/5 overs at the end of play he shouldn't be in the team. Besides which if England had been starting their innings with 5 overs left do you think Anderson & Tremlett would have opened? Doubt it.
Personally I dont have a problem with a nightwatchmen provided it is not a situation where quick runs are needed the next morning. I know they are making up the time for the lost overs, but Australia's run rate means the game is 2 days old with less than one and a half innings played. IF England can bat tomorrow it will be difficult for Australia to set England a total and bowl them out, irrespective of Englands run rate. With the ball seemingly doing more in the first hour of each day on this tour and then getting easier to bat, and Australia having just the 3 and a half seamers to rotate, I'm happy for Anderson to try to frustrate then for half an hour or more to frustrate them. IF He and Cook can the score to near 200 before Anderson makes way for Colly then it would ahve served them well. Certainly with Collingwoods form, and the late loss of his wicket in Perth, I wouldnt have wanted to expose him to the last couple of overs if the day, when Johnson was bowling with some good pace.
It was disappointing to see them get up to 280 having been 189-8 but i would've taken 280 at the outset so be daft to grumble too much now .. if Cook can get his head down and bat a large chunk of tomorrow we should have enough runs (450?) on the board to ensure we don't lose the match, assuming it does pan out like that you'd think the Aussies are going to have to risk losing this match, even if it means setting us something like 150 in two sessions to try to save the series
My money would be on Cook falling in the first half hour today. Hope I'm wrong though.
if he does get through that with his current for he's odds on for another 100 and to maintain his 100+ average. I was interested to see that he became the second youngest player in test history to score 5000 runs. Tendulkar being the youngest.
Apart from the Gabba & the WACA I think we've bowled them out for less than 300 each time they've batted, not bad for a team that could struggle to get 20 wickets in convict conditions. There will be more time added tomorrow with an early start and if England maintain the current run rate and don't lose wickets 450+ should be attainable.
You are probably right, but if he does get through that with his current for he's odds on for another 100 and to maintain his 100+ average. I was interested to see that he became the second youngest player in test history to score 5000 runs. Tendulkar being the youngest.
Cook's already got enough runs to maintain his 100+ average for this innings. He needs another 62 runs though if he gets out in both innings though.
If he does, he'll become just the 7th player to average over a 100 in a 5* match series (min 600 runs). The members of that club are Bradman (x3), Sobers (x3) , Hammond, Weekes (x2), Harvey (x2) and er Sarwan.
*Greg Chappell, Mudassar Nazar (who I hadn't heard of) and Zaheer Abbas also managed it over 6 match series.
I presume when Lara got his 400 there weren't enough matches then Matt??
It was a 4 match series, but he only scored 100 runs in his other six innings and so averaged just 83.33.
He came a lot closer when he scored his 375. He fell a Bradmanesque 2 runs short and averaged 99.75 over the 5 tests. He also averaged over 100 in a 3 test series against Sri Lanka.
I'd probably have him in my side.
I know Im going slightly off topic hear, but sticking with the theme of batting feats, well done to Kallis on scoring another century the other day. He has now scored the same number as Ricky Ponting, from less matches. Up to a year ago it was thought by many that Ponting would get close and take over Tendulkars number of tons, but with him having an 'Indian Summer' to his career he is going to leave Ponting far behind. Kallis though is 12 behind him. Also, given their contrast in form over the past year, Kallis's average has gone beyond 56, wheras Ponting is now edging down to 53........ I'm only now starting to get grudging admiration for Kallis, but when you add in his 270 test wickets at an average of around 32, that is an incredible all round achievement, over a sustained period of time!
Kallis' record against the division 1 test sides isn't too hot though.
He averages 40.58 against Australia, 42.70 against England (including 29.30 in England from 12 tests) and 33.63 against Sri Lanka, although he does average 67.09 against India.
For me he's in the next rung down with batsmen like Dravid and Mohammed Yousef.
The interesting one for me is Sangakkara, particularly since he's given up the gloves. The trouble is that the big teams (Australia in particular) are running scared of Sri Lanka.
Just seen KP's wicket! What a plum! We've given Johnson 3 or 4 wickets exactly like that!!