England v New Zealand
 

Yeah baby cricket's back :top::top:

A quick warm up series before the action starts. Disappointing draw against New Zealand over there but we're back on home turf now.

Can honestly say that I'm looking forward to seeing some cricket played in whites rather than pyjama chuckers.

I've got it on, however 2 runs an over :sleep: I'll be switching over to the IPL this afternoon for some exciting cricket ;) Test match cricket is far better if there live and regular visits to the beer tent are made whilst sitting in the sun :D

Amen to that. :beer:

Talk about plodding along .........









Nice to have it back though :)

Test cricket, how old fasioned and dull, lol

Bring in Chris Gayle and 20 overs :-D

I'd rather the Brains over the Brawn ;)

considering 175 is more than the england team tend to get as a whole i think you may be doing it wrong,,,, lol

I just don't find watching test cricket as exciting as 20/30 years ago. Watching Ambrose/Walsh steam in for the Windies or Botham/Gatting/Lamb/Gower scoring great centuries for us or seeing Wasim Akram and Waquar Younis taking batsmens toes off with 100mph yorkers. So many exciting players back then and beyond where i'd watch every ball in anticipation of something happening and I look at test cricket now and think well who are the big name stars, who are the bowlers to fear and I can't think of any that compare to back then.

This is why I find T20 so much more entertaining now, there are far more stars in the short form of the game from all the cricket nations then there are at test level.

What's happened to England's batting...Their making what is a workman like attack,No more,look world class :wonder:

And this is why we love Test Cricket :notworthy

What a match. Quite unbelievable.

I watched the 1st 2 days bored senseless at the run rate and then switched it on this afternoon to find an interview being shown so thought must be bad weather and went on the web to see the scores and couldn't believe what i'd missed :rolleyes:

Not our dominant best, but are we ever?

Still worrying that The Ashes are so close but the team showed some character, it would have been easy to lose focus and let your head drop. A damn good result with some positives to match the negatives.

That Test Cricket is so boring :lol1:

At 2 runs an over for an entire day it is :razz: The most boring opening days play i'd ever seen. I'll watch the IPL over that performance every time - Gayle's 175 off 66 balls or however many it was. Even the 8 overs aside match the other night was superb, RCB scoring 106 off 8 overs :luxhello:

I'm hoping and expecting England to raise their game significantly for the Ashes and putting down the current displays against NZ as uninteresting to them. I certainly find us playing NZ as uninteresting as playing Bangladesh.

I'd agree the first two days were dire but I just find comparing Test to T20 is like comparing Cricket and rounders. That is not to say I dislike T20, I do like it, it is what it is, throwaway entertainment.

I know the Gayle innings gets you going but you should have seen Shikhar Dhawan' Test debut against AUS earlier in the year, now that was an exhibition in batting, with proper fields. :thumb:

I love test cricket but only when played at the highest standard (and I don't mean just when we win) which these tests against NZ haven't been in my opinion. England have been poor and no matter what anyone says NZ are a weak team.

We lack any characters in the side and they need to seriously up their game for the Ashes. For me the only two players we can rely on currently are Anderson and Swann and there should be a hell of a lot more in the team stepping up to the mark.

The biggest issue I see is where is the passion, the fire in the belly from the players and coaches? None of them have any aggression in them anymore and it shows on the pitch. Just like Ferguson at Utd bred success by putting the sh!ts up his players if they screwed up we used to have that same fire in Gatting, Botham, Willis, Illingworth, Boycott as England captains but what do we have in the last 20+ years? Vaughan, Strauss and Cook and before them Atherton and Hussein and Stewart. None of them could scare a mouse let alone seriously boll0ck the team for poor performances. They need to drop all the softly softly we're all friends approach all the time and go back to having an aggressive streak both on the pitch and in the dressing room when things go wrong. Show some bloody passion!

Even the Ashes aren't getting me as excited as usual as the Aus line up isn't exactly their normal star studded line up:

Australia Ashes squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Brad Haddin (vice-captain), Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, James Faulkner, Ryan Harris, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson.

No Mitchel Johnson for starters is a surprise. Some exciting players coming through but still not a star studded side like they used to have.

That is a truly awful Aussie side, not a quality bowler amongst them, many of them have been in and out of the Aus side over the past 4 years without making a place their own, such as Harris, Hughes, Khawaja, Lyon, Wade and Warner, personally I would only say Warner has improved from that batch.
I heard Phil Hughes has just about recovered from the 2009 whooping he took in the last home Ashes series :lol1:

Johnson vanished up his own backside about 4 years ago he doesn't merit a place based on current form tbh, which is a shame as it would have been nice to see our batsmen smash him to all corners again.

3 players in that side Clarke, Haddin and Watson imho

I can't even think straight at the moment. Only 7 (and 8) days to go :norty:

Lets hope the Bulgarians have finally let the trucks out of the country !!

Well James Faulkner I believe is the top wicket taker in the IPL currently and so although it means sh!t for test matches he will be brimming with confidence and match fit compared to many of the others.

I just hope it turns out to be a far better Ashes series than it looks on paper.

Amen to that, but as long as win em (all) :)

How many others from the AUS Test squad were in the IPL this year ?, Warner must have been a shoe in.

Watson is about 5th highest run scorer in this year's IPL and been doing well with bat and ball so another to watch out for. Only 3 of that squad have played this year's IPL, i'm just glad Hussey isn't playing test cricket as he is on fire at the moment.

Hopefully Warner's behaviour will mean his performances are affected, he's also in the bottom team (Delhi Daredevils) of the IPL and not done much.

Siddle could cause problems, i'd not write him off.

Can cause problems but never been consistant in my eyes, also thinks he's better than he is.

I wonder what ever happened to Dougie Bollinger, got his test debut and spent his entire contract fee on a rug, bald as a coot and runs out on day one with a toupe I remember the Abc commentators wondering who the fella was :lol1:

:lol1:

Lets hops we can build on these two wickets.

Some channel hopping required now what with the F1 from Monaco, I need Grandad Trotter and his two tellys !!

What did I say?! Bloody pain in the ar$e he is.

:lol1: I was waiting for you to pull me up on that.

:D

Still not as good as any of our quicks, as they've shown.

:D