Beoz

Ok. Oh sh8t. Don't mind batting second at Lords. But we are batting first. Repeat of some early wickets? Then flattens out.

Speaking of ODI's. SA got belted by the Bangers.

Pollyana

from Lords

Beoz

Oh yeah...... you had Lords tix. ..... hows it going?

OzTennis

Please correct me if I am wrong but when I commented on how I was at the match and posted photos you claimed you were at the ground for that match and said you were unimpressed with the MCG????? Polly disagreed with your assessment as she was also at the match.

(Comments just after tea day 1): England order a slow pitch to be prepared like Cardiff (Lords pitch vs NZ green and lush, this one bare) but lose the toss and Australia bat first, might backfire as England will have to bat last. 1/204. Will be interesting to see if Starc, Hazlewood and Johnson bowl better than Anderson and Broad have done so far. Lyon vs Ali comparison will be interesting too.

Pollyana

Good points?
Third row seats, champagne, decent food (the Gabba will never be the same), some lovely people, amazing history of the place. An old friend was a member and was going to bring me to an Ashes test here but sadly passed away before he could. Glad i could be here in his honour.

Bad points? The unbearable snobbery of a lot of the members. Yes. Some women do like cricket! Its not just for Hooray Henrys.

Very bad points?
the Aussies.

Might come back Saturday...!

Beoz

Members are all old buggers.

Good boy Smithy. Good boy from the Shire.

waff69

You don't understand Cricket

OzTennis

1/337; awaits the 'it was just the wicket' comments - someone will probably find fault with the batsmen and might even add that Mitch Johnson didn't have a good day. Eerie to hear Lords so quiet you could hear 2 boys singing I am Australian for most of the last hour. Nice to see all the England players congratulate Rogers and Smith at the end.

OzTennis

Glad you had a good day. Here's some Hooray Henry types for you.

Broad Shoulders

...not when nearly all Australia's scores on their own pitches were sub par scores. Par first innings scores on Aussie pitches tend to be high 400s/low 500s (Brisbane 295, Perth 385, Melbourne 204, Sydney 326). All of those grounds have much higher 1st innings score averages, yet England kept Australia to below those scores in Aus' own backyard.

Adelaide was a perfect example of how Eng's batsmen let the side down. Aus post 570, with 550 being about par at the oval. Eng batsmen come out and reply with 172. That is inexcusable. Aus then have such a commanding first innings lead they can afford to declare at 132/3. Hence why using your yardstick to judge one bowler's performance on Aussie pitches is naive and shallow in the understanding of the game.

It's easy to just look back at the top level stats of that game and go "well the bowlers were crap". It's another to actually remember the game and be able to look at the 'under the bonnet' stats of the game and understand the real reason for Eng's demise. I can sort of see where Beoz is coming with his "Google" reference.

Broad Shoulders

Lord's is generally pretty quiet. They certainly don't allow the BA as much leeway as other grounds. Plus the BA for many years have boycotted Lord's for many reasons, mostly though because they feel like they are being extorted.

Pitch is clearly crap at the moment, but may liven up. Aus batted well, Eng didn't bowl as well as at Cardiff and didn't take their half chances. Aus certainly capitalised, Warner yet again, throws his wicket away.

Eng batsmen will now need to post big in their second innings and I am not sure they will have it in them. I'm calling it early, this will be a win to Aus. Eng will post high 300s, Aus will post 570 odd

Beoz

Or a draw. Depends on how the pitch plays out. Bowlers certainly weren't as tight as they were in Cardiff. I thought the batsmen, except Warner, showed a lot more intelligence in the shots they played.

Yep Lords is a quiet ground. Much prefer the upcoming 3 grounds for atmosphere. Birmingham is a riot. Lots of fun.

Broad Shoulders

Obviously that would be a significant possibility, I just don't trust our batting lineup enough to be able to score 500+. They didn't even manage it against NZ at Lord's a few months ago, so I'm not sure they will be able to replicate it against this Aussie attack. In the last 3 years though, our batting has not made many big scores, certainly not of the sort we were making between 2010 and 2012. Eng's demise has been a long time in the making. As I said before, our bowlers have kept the side competitive for a long time, but all that did was mask the real issues at play. KP knew it, everyone else buried their heads in the sand and ignored it unfortunately. This batting lineup could be great, I just think they are still a year or so away from being competitive with SA, who are head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

OzTennis

Not at all. You are putting ALL the blame on your batsmen and exonerating Anderson, Broad and Co. What does 'par' mean in the context of a match on a ground a few years after the previous Ashes match, often with different teams and different pitches/playing conditions. Correct me if I'm wrong but you are suggesting the Australian batsmen were sub 'par' in the last series???

Quiz question? When was the last time England took only 1 wicket in a whole day's play and had one difficult chance for Bell and an extremely difficult one to Buttler in 540 balls?

There's not much being said for the supposed home of the game. Reminds of the comment of Lee Westwood last week on the Open being back at the home of golf. The reporter said something like, well Lee is St Andrews in your top 10 courses in the world. Lee: 'it's not in my top 10 in Fife'.

Broad Shoulders

Man, I'm not following you anymore, your argument has become so contorted I'm stuggling to believe even you are following your own point.

I've already presented to you the cold hard facts that Broad and Anderson CAN bowl in Aus, if you choose to ignore those facts (not interpretations like you are making) then it is pointless us persuing this point anymore.

And, yes, bar the Adelaide test, the Aus batsmen were below par in that series. Aus' batting has been propped up by their bowling for a long time now. Like Eng's bowling they have kept their team competitive and masked underlying batting issues.

In case you needed further info to support this, read this article that was written during the SCG test. The opening paragraph backs up everything I just said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/c...n-9036286.html

Also from your own media on Aus' batting

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket...502bb287e55b7d

"The impressive form of the bowlers has covered over the cracks in Australia’s batting line up since Darren Lehmann was appointed coach"