The Ashes 2006/07: The Brisbane Test Thread - Day Four

[Rachael]

Please post your comments on the fourth day here. Play starts at midnight GMT.

[sambino239]

How long will they bat for. I think Harmison should be bowled into the ground this morning to get his form back

[greg]

They will carry on till Langer gets his ton then declare.

I bet we collapse again too.

[sambino239]

I dont think we will hang around long in the second innings either, when Tres was injured they should have called up Butcher we need someone with more experience than an un capped player to replace him. Butch would have given us that experience

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

The whole england side at the moment is utter tripe. Bring butcher, key etc etc, might as well ad ramps to the list - none of them have held a bat for months. We should have been out there at least a fortnight earlier, certainly after the ICCCC embaressment. The whole monty/giles argument (which still continues elsewhere) is totally irrelevent as well. Its a quick bouncy pitch designed for seamers. Our didnt do the business. So unless either Giles or monty is going to score a ton, really who cares ? The batting is totally all at sea, but likw the bowlers, need time in the middle. Wholesale changes arent the answer unfortunatley.

Again credit to Mcgrath with his 6 wickets, who again bowled brilliantly on all accounts. Whther it was good enough to send other pretenders to the number one test side slot all out for less than 200 I doubt but good effort anyway. At least he'd have retired by the next ashes........wont he ?

[Django]

Perhaps Ponting wants to break the record of victory by margin of runs - 675 runs inflicted by England on the Aussies way back in 1928-29 - co-incidentally at Brisbane, the Exhibition ground and Bradman's first ever test.

Australia will declare with a lead in excess 850 by tea-time today and then bowl England out for under 150.

[Rachael]

I'm assuming the plan is to bat for no more than an hour... meaning McGrath can take the new ball before lunch... rest over lunch.. then have another go... and meaning the second new ball will be available early on day five.

What's striking watching the highlights of the Aussie second innings is just how many false strokes were induced: fine for the Aussies with a lead of hundreds... and actually survived in every instance through a combination of poor fielding (that man Harmison again) and standard field placings (unlike the aggressive field placings the Aussies will be able to post given their 600+ lead).

ps. I'm thinking that right now a combined XI from this game might currently read as follows:

Langer
Hussey
Ponting
Bell
Clarke
Flintoff
Jones
Giles
Lee
Clark
McGrath

A maximum of two days for others to challenge for spots in that list!

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

The whole england side at the moment is utter tripe. Bring butcher, key etc etc, might as well ad ramps to the list

Ha I wanted Butcher back - I also wanted Key, and if playing form players - why not Ramp's.

Now I have a problem - if the gae of the Aussies is mentioned, then it's well he's still bowling as good as ever, or whatever.

But if you mention bringing Butcher or Ramp's back (even in an emergancy) then cries of "going backwards" can be heard the length of England.

If Mcgrath is picked on form, then why was Ramp's not pickedv- on form?.

Mcgrath did what he does best these days, he just did the simple things right, he bowled accurate, but would not have got as many wickets had the England batsmen have took a leaf out of his book, and done the simple things right.
By that I mean not fishing at good deliveries outside the off stump, and leaving balls to trap you LBW without covering up.
I think Mr Ponting would like a lead of 1000, this game is so surreal, he would then hope as was stated by 'Django' to win by the largest margin ever.

England could make this game even more surreal by hanging in there - make a point of not scoring a run, make extras the highest scorer - but make sure they don't get out.

At close of play on the 5th day - I would settle for England being 4 runs for 9 wickets down - runs just don't matter, pride and self respect does.

I just hope that England don't let the crowd down who have paid there money to watch cricket, I hope we EARN a deserved draw, I hope the last session on day five will be nail biting, I hope the crowd get their moneys worth

[Paoli]

Well, we're irresistable. Reminds me of the good old days when the Poms copped a bashing all the time. Put simply it's the bowling. The batting can and will be fixed. Harmison's garbage, Giles is a joke and Hoggard's doing nothing. Simon Jones not being here is impacting alot...

As for Australia, what more can I say! Back to our demoralising best!

[Mike]

Before play the curator was interviewed about the pitch and explained the reason for the cracks which have caused a lot of controversy. Apparently the pitch was relaid with more clay which causes cracking when dry. No explanation given why more clay has been added. He did say the first day pitch was more like a second day which adds weight to how important winning the toss was. He seemed satisfied about the number of runs scored - 900+ runs in three days.

My theory is that pitches these days are being prepared with only four days of cricket in mind. The fifth day acting more as an overflow day. This trend has probably occurred due to the increase in back-to-back Test matches.

As far as the declaration is concerned, Mark Taylor thought Ponting would declare when Langer reached his century, Richie Benaud thought about an hour before Lunch so the England openers would have to make two starts, and Bill Lawry thought the declaration would come after both batsman got their centuries. However, that was unlikely because Ponting was showing some sort of discomfort which was speculated as a back injury. Even the physio came out and had words with Ponting at one stage. Will Ponting play in the Adelaide Test match? Don't be surprised if certain players are "rested" because of the back-to-back matches.

The pitch is very cracked and I'll be interested to see if both ends share the wickets or whether the wickets come mainly from one end. Hoggard managed to get some swing and hit the odd crack. Harmison bowled some good deliveries and I predict he'll improve as the series goes on. Whether England can level the series after this demoralizing loss is the question? England will need to select a more attacking squad for the rest of the series which is why Panesar will have to be included at Adelaide with or without Giles.