The Ashes 2006/07: The Adelaide Test Thread - Day Five

[Irish Left Armer]

No he's not fit and hasn't played a game in about a year. Be surprised if he ever comes back to be honest.

I'm not bitching about Flintoff in this game specifically, just don't think in general he's good enough to be a number 6 and as NE made the point earlier I posted agreeing with him. Especially not while he's also strike bowler, captain, team motivator, selector, media hound and dishwasher.

[DomainK]

I am gonna sue this England side for this match. Whatever they did must be illegal. They cant just play with fans' emotions and get away like this.

With India playing so bad cricket in SA, I was happy watching Ashes every morning. It was all going so well and then what a shock I got this morning when I saw the score.

I am very confused trying to figure out which team is the worse between India and England. One is managing to lose matches from winning positions in ODIs and one is doing that in tests. England today lost a match that even Kenya would have struggled to lose.

I would advise the Indian team management to soon arrange a series with England. That will help the Indian team to get back in form.

What a champion Warne is. Must have been a great bowling effort from him...I will try to catch the highlights.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by DomainK

What a champion Warne is. Must have been a great bowling effort from him...I will try to catch the highlights.

Champion yes... but he didn't really bowl any better today than in the first innings: Strauss played him easily enough, Bell was mostly (excepting just the one delivery) untroubled, Collingwood was as comfortable in this innings as in the first, and had Pietersen looked to play Warne the way he did in the first innings another 150 partnership would have been, as Boycott noted, extremely straightforward.

What did for England were nerves: Bell was nervous about taking on an achievable single, Pietersen just lost his head, Flintoff's brain just froze and Jones made a complete mockery of the idea that he handles pressure better than Read.

Warne's sheer presence (and the theatre of his bowling) helped build that pressure... so yes, it was the performance ofa champion... but we're talking performance in building up the occasion rather than the performance with the ball: he seemed to install doubt about the result in the England player's mind more by being the great Shane Warne than by being unplayable!

A great end to an interesting Test that threated to peter out: like the Edgbaston game of 2005, it made up in drama what it lacked in quality. Excellent

[Nazza]

How much of it did you actually watch, Rachel ?

[Rachael]

As with the last Test I've seen every minute of every highlights programme at least once (and mostly twice) but I can't say I got much out of any of them (pretty much nothing, in fact, that I hadn't already gleaned from the radio). Fortunately, my sleep patterns have been completely around the twist this week so I've heard damn near every ball

[Nazza]

So as usual, you're basing your "views" on the interpretation of a bunch of radio commentators..........and sort of passing them off as your own.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Nazza

So as usual, you're basing your "views" on the interpretation of a bunch of radio commentators..........and sort of passing them off as your own.

Passing other people's views off as my own? Not really, as I do everything possible to reference anything beyond the bleeding obvious. I just use critical faculties to distill what seems to me to be the "received wisdom" of my elders and betters - a process which (whatever failings it might have) produces something far more authoritative than anything I could produce from simply watching!

On a side note... it seems to me that the Adelaide pitch wasn't much different from those at Edgbaston and Old Trafford in 2005. The big difference was the abrasiveness of the outfield... which obviously facilitated reverse swing.

[Collyisamackem]

Pathetic, I nearly went back to sleep to see if I was dreaming when I turned the radio on at 7! We were right back in the series thanks to Hoggy and Colly, and a whole boatload of Flinoff-inspired (oh yes, he led by example alright!) swipes and awful shot selections turned the match in an almost-impossible way!!!

I've really had it with Flintoff as captain, he can't concentrate for toffee when batting and being captain at the same time - that is clear and was obvious to all and sundry before the series from the Sri Lanka games. He's a great cricketer and inspiring in batting and bowling, but not when captain - he can't cope and it was ridiculous to expect him to. Give Strauss the job now because to have any chance of success we need Fred's whole game to fire - what is his batting average in this series now?!!

Chris Read would not have saved this match. I don't remember Jones dropping anything (correct me if I'm wrong) and yes, his batting scores weren't up to standard but although I think Read was left out unfairly he would not have made the difference. The difference was in us not picking Panesar and giving Flintoff the captaincy instead of Strauss - never a long term strategy and a questionable short term one.

Pathetic, I'm not throwing in the towel but changes have to be made for us to have a chance. Maybe Grav has more nous and balls over selection than Fletcher after all, and that's why he's a selector and Freddie's a coach! Still though, Grav and co. made the captaincy decision...

[Mr Hutt]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Passing other people's views off as my own? Not really, as I do everything possible to reference anything beyond the bleeding obvious. I just use critical faculties to distill what seems to me to be the "received wisdom" of my elders and betters - a process which (whatever failings it might have) produces something far more authoritative than anything I could produce from simply watching!

On a side note... it seems to me that the Adelaide pitch wasn't much different from those at Edgbaston and Old Trafford in 2005. The big difference was the abrasiveness of the outfield... which obviously facilitated reverse swing.

or a Mr Troy Cooley who worked wonders with the british camp last ashes and their reverse swing has now taught Mcgrath and co the same old tricks? I noticed Mcgrath hiding the ball in the last few overs while he bowled... very waqar younis like, and my did that ball move!

abrasion of the outfield or abrasion by hands eh?? you guys decide.

[The Worker]

There was no abrasion from the outfield, as it was as lush and green as anyone can remember. The slowness of the outfield is one of the major reasons the scoring rates were so low in this game. (4th innings excepted!)

Howver, I don't think there was any undue abrasion from the Aussie bowlers either.