3rd Ashes Test: Old Trafford, 11-15 August: Day One

[Beny]

Pretty dissapointing day from an Aussie perspective. Sometimes I guess you just have those sorts of days .

On the bright side, this is a good batting wicket. From what I understand it was always going to be a good day to bat once the shine was off the ball. We'll just have to wait and see what the aussie batsmen can go.

Note to selectors: Get Gillespie out of the team until he can prove that he is better than our other four options

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by Beny

Pretty dissapointing day from an Aussie perspective. Sometimes I guess you just have those sorts of days .
On the bright side, this is a good batting wicket. From what I understand it was always going to be a good day to bat once the shine was off the ball. We'll just have to wait and see what the aussie batsmen can go.

Yep, despite our well known problem, the situation is far from from redemption. We will need to knock over the remaining five wickets for less that 100 runs and then bat for two days. IF we can do that, we may still win this one yet despite, um, that well known problem.

Originally Posted by Beny

Note to selectors: Get Gillespie out of the team until he can prove that he is better than our other four options

Well i think they were absolute fools not to take McGill. Kattitch has already bowled 9 overs and taken a wicket. Gillespie has gone for a run a ball off his 15 overs, and the Aussie would be wise to avoid bowling him for the remainder of the test. Imagine how McGill would have gone on a quick, bouncy spinning wicket like this one. Bloody selectors.

[anthman]

Sounds like the Test is delicately poised on a knifes edge and could go either way depending on how the next session goes. So in other words, it's no diffent from either of the first two tests.

Only saw the first session but Lee was bowling beautifully. From the sounds of it Gilly was England's best player. Once they've finished excorcising the soul of Gerraint Jones, and taken the other 5 wickets, they should let him open so he's got plenty of time to score the 200 runs he owes us.

Well played England. Time for the Aussies top order to stand up and REALLY make the Test/Series interesting.

[greg]

Originally Posted by anthman

Well played England.

Cheers Anthman,at least one Aussie is giving us a bit of credit when we are due some.
Massive session this morning.If England are still batting at lunch with either Bell or Flintoff still in then 500 is a realistic target but England could easily be bowled out for around 400 if they don't bat sensibly.
Hope McGrath is ok this morning,he looked very stiff last night and Alcott will have been working overtime on the ankle and Clarke's back.

On a side note,the commentaters were saying that Clarke has a long standing back problem on the radio so should Hodge have been allowed on to field instead of Clarke?

[anthman]

Mate it doesn't matter how many times you get dropped, you've still gotta score the runs yourself. Assuming your tail makes some runs (even if not heaps), you're right on top of things as long as you take your chances in the field. But as we've seen already this series it can all change in a session.

Not familiar with the Clarke's situation, but there are a lot of different things that can go wrong in a back.

[greg]

Hope for his sake it is nothing like Atherton or Thorpe's problems over the years as both would have had better career records had it not been for their backs.

[English_Al]

Bell gone in the last over to Lee, not sure if the ball actually hit anything, but either way, it was a stupid shot by Bell, the same as Pietersen. Why dont our guys learn, dont play the hook on a fast wicket against Brett Lee. It wont be long before they give one to Flintoff, he does like to hook and is suseptible to it...

[Occasional Fan]

Just to be clear, we have a "Day Two" thread open now, link here.