Fell asleep at 30/1

Fantastic day in the field and what a way for Broady to respond to the Aussies, top class

Fell asleep at lunch

Left the radio on low and at one stage a giant penguin caught Mitchell Johnson in the crowd and the umpire gave him out on review.

Herb

You can't beat the old dream/reality crossovers.

It was a cracking catch from Pingu mind.

Done this many times with late night cricket or coming off a night shift with afternoon football on low in the background.

Anyway, yet again Australia's batting order is upside down. If those who have played the game at the top level are correct, England should be looking at batting for two days from around midday tomorrow. Hopefully, those cracks don't open up as we chase 150 or so last up.

Just catching up where I left off - lunch. Woo hoo

Need the last 2 out first thing. Then let's see what Carberry has to offer.

Aussies batsman are shocking. Not one of Rogers, Smith, Lbw Watson and Bailey would get into our team. All hype the aussie top 6 who often need Clarke or the lower order to bail them out.

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Agree its a good wicket to bat on. Hardly last night did I see a ball fly past the edge or nicks to gully. There weren't many lbw appeals either: it remains a good wicket

whenever a team talks so much thrash before even a ball is bowled you know they are insecure and they will lose. This has happened 100 times before with all team. Take SL touring india, and they lost that series, take India vs Australia(that time australian players didnt talk much), India just talked so much thrash that was irrevelant, and we all know what happened.

Australia are going to lose this match.Just think about this. England will start batting at mid session 1, and they can go on batting till lunch day 4. That is enough to score 600+ in my opinion. A chase of 250+ on day 4 and day 5 means another australian collapse.

Australia's first mistake is leaving out faulkner who is their future and also a proven talent in the shield matches they played this year and picking bailey who is just being selected because of his over the moon record in ODIs.

Why cant australia think straight? seems like Clarke is not taking his technical deficiency against short ball seriously and he is getting out almost the same way as he did back in England.

The moment when I saw watson's strike rate which was like 16, I knew it wasnt too long before he got out. He basically had no scoring areas and was struggling to rotate the strike. Rogers also looked very uncomfortable from ball 1.

Also one thing I have noticed with Braddin is he always does well in the first test match. he need to be more consistent come test 2 - test 5. But nevertheless he always plays a good innings with the tail.

Haddin*

And to all the people that were furious about how India produce flat tracks, when infact it were good wickets which helped all types of bowlers, What is your say on these Australian wickets? You will not find a more flatter track than this.

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Day Two - going into Day Three - are the best times to bat on this wicket

Clarke would have known this and would have been delighted to win the toss. He would have expected to still be batting at tea on the second day, before having a real good go at us with attacking fields.

He will be devastated

comment by Greatteamswinit4times (U6008)
posted 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
Flat tracks are fine, as long as there is pace and bounce. In India, you can live on the front foot.
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India produce spinning tracks that turn within the first hour. It did though backfire on them when they lost to England at home.

Cracking effort from England but the Aussies limitations once again exposed. They just can't bat patiently.

This pitch is made for Cook and Trott, would be surprised if they didn't tuck in.

My wife absolutely hates the Winter ashes as I turn into a zombie for two months during the day!

I'm reserving judgment until after we have batted, hoping that Carberry gets a good innings. Broad comes from around 5 miles away from me and was chatting to him before he went out there, incredibly chuffed for him, exactly what he needed.

I've met his dad a few times,really nice guy
Lasted until tea when the effects of the post lunch cheese and red wine took effect.Wifey called me a lightweight as she went to bed and I went to work
Thought Anderson bowled at least as well as Broad with very little luck but pleased for Broad and hope it spurs him onto providing a lethal partnership with jimmy
Some very cheap ways to get out from the Aussies,hope England don't follow suit

Agree Paul, Anderson is just a joy to watch, the way he sets up the batsman. Given the local newspaper and the run up, I'm glad Broad got the wickets though.

Mitchell Johnson will be interesting, if he isn't firing then we could and should get a big lead. I think this will end up being a draw though, which is fine at the gaba.

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More confident in Cook than I am Trott Great, the Aussies will just keep bowling it to the same area he struggled with in the summer.

The thing is, all we really need is a couple of Cook, Trott, Bell, Pietersen or Root to properly start firing, the Aussie top order is just so inconsistent. That backed up by Prior and Broad adding decent innings from time to time and we really should have enough firepower not to lose and give the bowlers the chance to go for the win.

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Hopefully Carberry does well tonight. I like the guy and deserves his chance after being excellent for Hampshire. The century against Lancs in the flt20 was something else

Hope he plays like he does usually with his open strokes because he can be destructive.

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