General Cricket Thread (It's Come Home)

Congrats go to Bell for a half-century. Australia is, well, not exactly in trouble, but England is showing this match is far from over. Good stuff.

This is meant to be a good batting wicket, but still. What's TotA on at the moment?

211 runs for four wickets, which doesn't sound big but they've both got their eyes in so if they can stay around they could still turn this around.

All up I'd say Abyss is at a solid 7.5 right now.

Down to 7.0 now. Can't see them avoiding the follow-on now.

I'm sure Australia will save them from that.  Nobody likes being fourth on the pitch, so one way or another I reckon Australia will be back out to bat once England are out.

That said never rule England out, they may just manage to avoid the follow-on.  Absolutely no chance of topping Australia's score however, so as long as Australia can put on another 200-250 runs when they get back out there and they do it quickly they have a very good chance of winning.

And now that I have said that watch as Australia collapses next time they sortie to bat.  

EDIT: And Bairstow is outta there! Oh yeah, things are looking up again!  

Why is he still in the squad?  Either he needs a lot more practice, if I'm to believe Boycott, or he goes in favour of Taylor or somebody.

Let's see if Prior can shed his recent form.

EDIT: Aaaaaaaargh cripes. Good show from Kevin, but not good enough.

OH YEAH!  The big one, Pietersen is gone.  Still, I'll take my metaphorical hat off, he did an amazing innings.  

And now England is feeling the pressure again.

EDIT: So, end of play of day three. This match is still up in the air surprisingly enough, the edge is clearly with Australia both in terms of energy and in terms of the scoreboard, but the feeling that this can still be turned on its head underlies everything. Tomorrow will be crucial, in my opinion Australia need to get England out very quickly, need to do a bit of smash and crash, and then need to get England back in there. Time is starting to look like it could bring this to a draw, and both next innings' need to be far shorter if we're to see a result from this match.

Well that was a boring end to the day.  Understandable, perhaps, but boring.  I still think the off-form Prior and the bowlers will fall quickly tomorrow and have to follow-on.  After that... who knows?  The weather, the bowlers, the batsmen: any one of them could force an unexpected result.  If things continue, though, Australia should win; and Michael Clarke certainly deserves it.

NEW DAY EDIT: Well, kudos to Prior and Broad: they've saved it.  Broad, especially, has upset my expectations this match.  

In fact, all of the current England team have had decent showings this match (Finn's out, obviously), except arguably for Trott and Cook, and less arguably Bairstow.

EDITEDIT: Broad's learnt his walking lesson this time!

Yep, they've brought Abyss' score up to a solid 8. They'll still need better if they're to stop Australia though.

One's a wicket keeper, the other's a bowler really.  I'm not sure they count!

EDIT: And they're all out. Cue the rain...

And now it's time for us all to see whether Australia's first innings was fluke or skill.  

Now for some appropriate music.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1gVcWQS5Qw

I wonder how long it'll be before I post something depressing to represent Australia.  Half an hour?  Two hours?  I'm sure they'll crush my cheer somehow and collapse.

EDIT: Hahaha, they finally put Warner back in opening spot. Good choice, I can't say I've been too impressed by Watson to be honest.

I always feel a bit more comfortable when Khawaja/Cowan are in.

Now now, Khawaja isn't as bad as Cowan, lets not be too harsh on him.

EDIT: Well that was amusing, England was convinced they got Warner but nothing was picked up on the Third Umpire on the review.  And then they had a good long debate after the call had been made and their opinions weren't going to change it.  

Finally a decision by the umpire and review I agree with.

EDIT2: And Warner is out. I had a good laugh at how all the cheers for the English team promptly turned to boos. Brilliant catch by Root.

Looks like it'll be a decent, if not outstanding, innings by Australia, to contribute to their earlier outstanding one.  And then probably a draw, rain or no rain.

EDIT:

Athrun888 wrote:

Now now, Khawaja isn't as bad as Cowan, lets not be too harsh on him.

He's not far off!

I don't want a draw!  

And despite what just happened I stand by what I said.  Either way Clarke at the crease, so depending on how he does Khawaja getting out now might actually be a good thing for Australia.

EDIT: Well Watsons gone now, no big deal to be honest. He hasn't really pulled his weight in this series in my opinion so him leavin it and someone else who has proven themselves coming in is a welcome development to me.

Did Smith just do an Agar?  Doesn't make much of a difference, but...

Perfect, they took early tea and haven't lost any play time!  

EDIT: Boo to England for stalling.  Where's the "we can win this and the series!" attitude?  Now play has been forced off because of supposed bad light, and all I can say is boo to England for stalling the game to this point as they've clearly been stalling for time.  

Well, since I've got plans for not tomorrow, but the day after and need to be up in the day, I'll just head off to get some shut eye.  Disappointing end to the day, and probably the match itself.  

NEW DAY EDIT: So, lets see what happens. No more time wasting, lets see if Australia can get these wickets or if England can hold out, OR if the rain ruins the match.

I can't really blame England for wanting to keep the urn.  It's not great behaviour, but the umpires should have been the ones hurrying things up.

At least we've got some sunlight today.  I'm betting that five of the first ten overs will be maidens.

EDIT: A massive early derp moment from Cook.  Australia can still win this...

EDITEDIT: Dropped chance for Clarke.  England are really living up to their TotA billing at the moment.

THREDIT:  And there goes Pietersen...  Yes?  No?  Yes.  What a crock of shite this innings is so far.  Australia-in-the-second-test-first-innings shite. Still, credit to Australia: they're bowling well.

I can only say I am beyond happy to see the back of Pietersen.  Real danger to Australia, to see him go early is great.

Three wickets in only 17 overs, they aren't going to last even close to the entire day at this rate.  

EDIT: Clarke's bowling!  

Remind me why they can't play cricket indoors again?  Or under a large roof?  This is rubbish.  Nobody wants the Ashes to be retained like this!

EDIT: Okay so I was partially wrong. Text sent into the BBC: "As far as I'm concerned the more annoying the manner of our triumph to the Aussies, the better! I'd have preferred a 1-0 victory coming in the last Test with the other four having been all Australia only for them to have been thwarted by rain on each occasion. The 1990s burn long in the memory." Quite funny, but I don't agree.

I also don't agree.  Sports are about a contest, and by all rights Australia have shown that in this match they have earned the right to win, or at least have the chance to see if they can win.  Just like if England want to retain the Ashes they by all rights should do so by earning the right.  Not having it handed to them on a platter because they got lucky with the weather.

I don't get the bitter attitude some people take to their sports to be honest.  Regardless of what side I'm on I just want a good show.  Like in Wimbledon, I was backing Djokovic myself, but I was still massively enjoying the fantastic skill on display by Murray and happy when he won.  Sports are at their best when either side can win, and both sides are throwing their all at the match.  


The one consolation about this is that the next Ashes series starts later this year, and it will be blue skies and boiling hot weather all five matches.  

Well, that and that if people are still bitter it shows how badly England got owned in the past.  

England retain the Ashes. Wooooooo. (unenthusiastically waves flag)

Okay, so that's not quite fair. Australia deserved to win this one, but they lost the last two games on skill. If they win the next two (or look like they will and they're rained off), then maybe I'll start pondering the unfairness of it all; but so far, England deserve to be holding onto the little urn by two games to one.

Roll on the fourth test. There's still the series to play for.

So apparently it's "Let's all make cricket games" year: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a504444/don-bradman-cricket-14-for-xbox-360-ps3-pc-in-2013.html

Don Bradman, who died in 2001? Gives them an excuse to include a sepia mode, I suppose, but it still seems an odd choice to me.

Athrun, maybe this could be renamed the "general cricket thread"? We may as well talk about the World Cup in here too, when it comes around.

Sure, a smart idea, consider it done.