Rage Online

I'm a bit worried about all this triumphalism. Pride comes before a fall and all that. Not that I didn't hugely enjoy the victory ...

&quotAncient Colin&quot wrote:I'm a bit worried about all this triumphalism. Pride comes before a fall and all that. Not that I didn't hugely enjoy the victory ...

Why? It never bothered the Aussies.

Great result. We finished them off with aplomb in the end. None of the 'making hard work of it' that've we've become accustomed to.

Bad news about Broad though.

&quotAncient Colin&quot wrote:I'm a bit worried about all this triumphalism. Pride comes before a fall and all that.

Bump

&quotAncient Colin&quot wrote:

&quotAncient Colin&quot wrote:I'm a bit worried about all this triumphalism. Pride comes before a fall and all that.

Bump

Green wickets and four quicks to negate Swann. That'll work at the WACA, but we'll still murder them in Melbourne and Sydney.

You lot must be bored with no football to watch and only cricket to talk about. With the Aussies winning in Perth followed by a draw in Melbourne the advertisers at least have a chance of a decent crowd at the SCG for the last match. Sydney based exiles have now got something to look forward to.

Hi Phil, welcome aboard! Strange that your first post should be about cricket!

Hope all is well with you and you are having a great new life in Sydney. The Mondeo has over 220,000 on it now!

&quotPhilHull&quot wrote:You lot must be bored with no football to watch and only cricket to talk about. With the Aussies winning in Perth followed by a draw in Melbourne the advertisers at least have a chance of a decent crowd at the SCG for the last match. Sydney based exiles have now got something to look forward to.

The G is a result pitch, without doubt. (And likewise Sydney, wherein I'm tipping our trump card Monty to be match-winner...

In fact the only thing that could possibly deter from a win for either side is the fact that the weather is biblical here at the moment, and I half expect Noah to float by at any minute.

&quotBigCrompy&quot wrote:...Sydney, wherein I'm tipping our trump card Monty to be match-winner...

Ah, how much I'd love to see us take a totally defensive 3 seamers and 2 spinners attack. Won't happen though.

I think the only thing we need to change is to move Bell up the order and possibly dropping Collingwood for a fifth bowler (probably Bresnan as he can bat a bit).

The slight silver-lining if there can be such a thing after such a demoralising defeat is that it is almost sure to see the inept, Dave-Kemp-esque yet soi-dissant Australian selection panel pick the same team for the next game at the G of whom precisely five are not currently worth their places. As long as they continue to ignore superior, battle-hardened battlers in favour of prancing pretty boys then England always have a chance.

Although woefully out of form at the moment we would also hope that his broken finger keeps him out on Boxing Day, because otherwise the so-called 'leadership' of Michael Choke is sure to be a giggle.

Cricinfo are reporting that England will be unchanged for the G, which I doubt is true. Finn looked knackered, and at 21, could easily be dropped for fatigue reasons - Bresnan and Tremlett are more than good enough replacements.

I hope Punter plays - batting with a broken finger is idiotic, and I hope he's bought a job lot of painkillers.

BBC seem to think that Finn will probably be 'rested' with Bresnan likely to come in.

Swann is part of the problem as the Aussis have gone for him and thi s has put too much of a burden on the 3 quickies (particularly in Perth).

Only in England would we be talking of leaving out our leading wicket taker of the series. He may go for a few runs but this is Test cricket not one day or 20/20, he has taken wickets every 33 runs in this series, compare to Jimmy at 31 and Swan at 38. There was nowt wrong with our bowling in the last match, it was the batting that was awful, you don't drop someone taking more wickets than anyone else!

&quotty cobb&quot wrote:Only in England would we be talking of leaving out our leading wicket taker of the series. He may go for a few runs but this is Test cricket not one day or 20/20, he has taken wickets every 33 runs in this series, compare to Jimmy at 31 and Swan at 38. There was nowt wrong with our bowling in the last match, it was the batting that was awful, you don't drop someone taking more wickets than anyone else!

Fair point. But ...

I guess thatas we had them at what 95-6 in the first innings in retrospect his is where we let them off the hook. It seems to be thought that Finn looked very tired and started to leak runs.

From what is being said, it sounds like Finn will be 'rested' rather than dropped- he is only 21 after all and we don't want him braeking down.

Anyway BBC today suggests that Anderson and Finn could be out of the game- that would be a real problem.