The Australian top five batsmen was always a very­ strong line-up and anyone knew that long before they­ landed;but what seems to me to be the real difference­ so far is that the Aussie batters are playing test­ cricket - that is, batting over 5 days rather than 5­ overs - which is something some of the English batters­ have forgotten, if they ever knew it in the first­ place. In the first innings of a test-match you need­ two centuries from your top six to make a decent start­ - not fifties and sixties.

well no wonder the poms can,t win all there supporters­ think they got no chance .
come on let have a great­ game of cricket after all we Aussie's love to win­ hate to lose .
so please make it a contest .
And can,t­ you poms just one stop wining about your players get­ behind them .
And may the best team win .
Come on­ Aussie's come on
The Transporter

Here comes the rain thank god for british weather.

I wonder what the excuses will be today. Wrong make of­ ball?? Too warm, too cold,?? not enough breeze, too­ humid,?? pitch, tide, umpires,??
The simple facts seem­ to be that our openers cannot perform unless every­ condition is perfect, our spinners don't seem­ capable of spinning unless the pitch is broken up, and­ Freddie can only bowl in short bursts.
I hope I am­ proved wrong because I would love us the beat the­ Aussies, but I can't see us taking 20 wickets.

Ex Sydney Sider,
Go on cobbers,Sort­ the poms out.

One thing I've noticed, and feel free to say­ I'm barking up the wrong tree, but the Aussies have­ always had the right combination of openers to build a­ score and more importantly, scuff up the new ball.­ Langer & Hayden were a great combination. Hayden­ was a bludgener of the ball who knocked it so hard that­ it's effectiveness was wasted after 8 overs. Langer­ on the other hand was a shot player and much more­ orthodox, technical player. the combination meant a­ good opening partnership & a lot of overs with an­ average ball. Katich & Hughes are much the same.­ Hughes came out and knocked the skin off the ball,­ Katich played technical shots. They built a good­ foundation and scuffed up the ball which meant the­ quicks were less effective.
now look at England. Cook­ & Strauss are both excellent batsmen, but are both­ of the same mould. Technical and attractive (shot­ makers!). But they don't damage the new ball­ enough, so the Aussie quicks are able to use it's­ effectiveness for much longer. Just my thoughts, and­ I'm no expert, but it does answer some­ questions.
This one will be a draw unless Punter and­ Katich come out and knock it around a bit, and then the­ Aussies could edge it.

Englands bowlers and batsmen should certainly take head­ of the professional approach adopted by the Aussies. No­ flash reverse sweeps, playing across the line etc. Ok­ in 20/20, but this is REAL cricket. The England bowlers­ were also poor. A new ball is not going to change much­ unless they bowl line and length. Australia pace­ bowlers dug something out of the wicket by maintaining­ a good line and pitching the ball up. Who needs Brett­ Lee!! Anderson without assistance from the conditions­ is pretty ordinary, likewise Broad. Flintoff is a­ strike bowler for short bursts. The spinners are not­ getting anything either. England need a breakthrough­ and fast or Ponting and Katich will still be there over­ Christmas!

so much for england having good spin bowlers!

Nigel C is right. This game remains very much in the­ balance. With a couple of quick wickets today, and­ Australia having to bat last, the outcome could be a­ spine-tingler

Still all to play for people, the wicket may favour the­ bowling in the 2nd Aussie innings, they are still a bit­ of a way behind us, so lets not slate the guys after 2­ days of the series, lets back 'em all the way coz­ that's what they really need to help them perform­ to their best. C'mon England you've had your­ warm up, lets knock 'em over­ today..............Failing that,... pray for rain !!!

After reading all the above,once again,denigration­ comes up trumps...A lot of what is said is basically­ true, but the simply fact is, England are lacking on­ the opening bowling front, sheer pace, line,length and­ team work...
Take Statham & Trueman,, Shatham,line,­ length and pace, Freddy, sheer (Yorkshire)pace to knock­ um over..No prisoners!!
All we can do is support what­ we have,,,so come on,,debating the problems want make­ any diffrence, they are still Pontin in the right­ direction...

The England Team fell behind on day 1, the pitch has­ done nothing for 2 days, it was horrible shots that­ cost Petterson's wicket and Bopari shows that he is­ really just a mediocre batsman, the openers was­ suspect, England had the better of the condition If the­ likes of Bopari, Petterson and Collingwood was still­ around on day 2, England would be looking at 600 in 2­ days, the pitch does nothing at the moment, none of the­ batsmen was tested on day 2, England just stuffed up on­ day 1, which cost them any advantage

The problem is every time the media 'hype' up­ the England team the Aussies set the record straight,­ as they did today,as far as Harmison is concerned he­ would struggle to frighten an old lady, Flintoff's­ time has come and gone, the rest of the England bowlers­ are simply not test quality, as confirmed by­ today's effort, same old problem, selectors again­ letting the country down, plenty of good players not­ being given a chance, Ned Kelly

attaha
God you not half spout some garbage; you are bad­ enough on the tennis forums, don't come on here­ stirring your racially inflammatory nonsense!

lol there are no decent black players in english­ cricket at the moment .. and the last decent one was­ chris lewis and he is a druggy lol .. you see its­ simple balck cricket people are usually of jamacan­ origion and ususally are proud of this and would prefer­ to represent there "home" nation .. and to­ right ...

attaha are you for real? The west indies is­ predominantly black, and I dont know of any decent­ black English cricketers at the moment, but if you know­ any please let me know. We have plenty of british asian­ players in or around the team at the moment.

Attaha, that's a very good question. I would prefer­ to think it wasn't a matter of racism and I­ don't think the evidence supports it. For instance­ there are many young Asian cricketers playing first­ class cricket and making it into the England team.­ There are some young black professional cricketers but­ many, many more black professional footballers. I­ suspect the youngsters are nowadsys more inclined to­ try to make it a footballer as the financial rewards­ are that much greater.

Just to continue from what i was writing earlier, al I­ read coming into this ashes series is that England have­ a far superior bowling line up, to which I agree,­ compared to that of Australia. Problem is that we have­ some bloody good batsmen as well. The bowlers can only­ do so much, the rest comes down to what the Captain can­ bring to the game, an where good Captains(Waugh,­ Vaughan, Border etc), can change a game. Lets hope for­ the game and series that Struass has something up his­ sleeve, (which I am sure he has)