England have announced their test squad for the first test vs Australia next week. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4676287.stm The big (and controversial) news is that Graham Thorpe, veteran of 100 tests has been left out in favour of Kevin Pietersen who has yet to make his test debut. I'm undecided on the move. While Thorpe has been great for England, averaging about 45 over those 100 games, he's becoming injury prone and there has to be doubts over whether his mind will be fully focussed on the job after announcing that he'll be retiring from international cricket after this series. Pietersen has done great things in the one-dayers, but a question mark remains over whether he has the patience and temperement to bat for long periods in a test match as will be needed from the middle order. He'll either be a spectacular success or a spectacular failure. It would be nice (for England anyway) if we could get himself and Flintoff together in a position where they can really take it to the Aussie attack!
Let's hope it's a good even contest, and AUS beats the crap out of the poms Seriously, good luck & good cricket !
I think Pietersen is an interesting and colorful (both literally and figuratively) character and it's good that he has been given a chance at this level.
theres also an interesting battle going on in the aussie side for the bowlers- Dizzy and kaspro both are fighting out for a spot, while Lee and Mcgrath are both certains. for me, unfortunately i am working each of the five days of test one, so i'll have to resort to only SkySports highlights at 7pm each night. hey, its better than nothing though.
I would have thought that Kasprowicz (sp?) will get the nod as Gillespie has been badly off-form in the tour matches so far.
Gillespie is a bit doubtful as he pulled out of training today with a 'sore knee'. And I hadn't damn well realised this is basically going to be a home game for the Aussies. We haven't won against them at Lord's since 1934!! Still - this promises to be a good series. Australia aren't streets ahead of England as has been the case in the past. To be honest I just want a series of some good cricket with our weather holding off and for us not to be twatted like we have been in the past on occasion. If we win - it's a bonus. Just graduated so basically I'm trying to put off getting a proper job until Th'Ashes are over. Managed to put it off until the end of the Tour de France, so hopefully will manage this too.
Not sure about the weather, according to the BBC there's rain forecast for Londfon this wekend! This should be the most keenly fought contest for a while. If you're a betting man you couldn't really look past Australia of course, but if England get off to a good start they can hopefully give the Aussies a run for their money. We obviously need our bowlers to perform well, even a session or two of poor bowling against this Australian batting lineup in a test match can see your chances disappear. The real question all England supporters are wondering is how Kevin Pietersen will do in the middle order??
Video discussing Australian selection: http://media01.news.com.au/foxsports/video/190705CricketAshesPreviewWEB.asf
Today's the day then. I'm about half a mile from Lord's and there's a bit of cloud around after a sunny (although cool) start to the morning. Could be a day to bowl first for whoever wins the toss.
Well what do I know? Australia win the toss and choose to bat. Live scorecard: http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/frames/AUS_ENG_T1_21-25JUL2005.html
Tasty start - took Langer's elbow second ball and did Ponting on the shield in his second over. Langer's batting through it but Ponting slipped a weak one at Flintoff. Not a bad run rate from the Aussies though, despite two relatively cheap dismissals.
And there goes Martyn with the first ball from Jones. Batting pitch, my arse. You'd think an Aussie would be the last person to gamble on the sun coming out in England.
To be fair to Ponting it still looked like the sun might break through when they took the toss. But still ... we've had some cheap results today. The seamers are getting some joy down leg-side, but it's easier than it might be. As I write, Gilchrist has gone after rattling 26 off 16, by the simple expedient of being lured down the crease with a hidden short and then swinging at it whilst leaning back. Easy catch, crucial wicket. We're into the bowlers and can reasonably comfortably look for an out of 200 or so. Which worries any true England fan, as the unwritten rule against the Aussies is that whenever we do something bad to them, they do it straight back at us. I'd have preferred a slower progress, running over into tomorrow morning and a new day's weather for when the Aussies have a bowl at us. Mind you, as I said below, we've had cheap results. If we can resist the urge to go after a low total with too much then we should be able to play a steady innings, take us through to sometime on Sunday and then have another go at them. Katich is putting in a useful knock - slow, but steady. If only one of his top order mates could have done the same, it would be an entirely different match.
Warne goes. Good wicket to take, he looked like he was about to get cheeky. Full, fast onto leg stump. And the sun's come out.
England have to take a few deeps breaths and not get ahead of themselves. can someone explain the weather to me? Is it better to bat when its sunny as opposed to cloudy? newbie to cricket right here
Yes, it is. Cloud cover causes a rise in humidity and also denser air which means the bowlers can get more spin out of the seam of stitching that surrounds a cricket ball. It also makes the crease on which the batter must bat more pliable, which means you get greater swing off the bounce of the ball as it is bowled down the wicket.