[mcsven]

What, no Ashes thread?

Anyhow, the England tail is currently wagging and it's 404-8 on the morning of the second day of the first test. If it continues like this for the rest of the summer then this will be just like 2005 in terms of entertainment.

[nutball]

Not looking quite so clever right now though

[chavvdarrr]

wtf are you talking about?

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by chavvdarrr

wtf are you talking about?

Cricket.

A few quick wickets for England this morning and it looks like the Aussies may not quite get as big a total as feared. Still looking like a draw, especially with the weather forecast not looking too clever over the weekend.

[Simon F]

"Rain has stopped play". Now there's a surprise

[Malo]

As a born Australian I have the right to say that test cricket is horribly boring. Some occasional drinking sessions at one-day matches weren't too bad, though it was probably more the alcohol and crowd entertainment that was more enjoyable.

I live in the US now and much happier watching some real sports

[Mintmaster]

Originally Posted by Malo

I live in the US now and much happier watching some real sports

Well, not really, because it's baseball/golf season right now. IMO it's a joke to even call those sports, let alone real sports.

MLS gets a little coverage, though, so it's not all bad.

Isn't rugby pretty big in Australia? I find the flow and insanity of playing without much equipment vastly more entertaining than North American football.

[nutball]

Originally Posted by Malo

I live in the US now and much happier watching some real sports

Rounders, netball, and rugby-with-shoulderpads?!

Anyway, the whole point of test cricket is that it's an excuse to sit in the sun rain for five days drinking beer. This is the main reason why the English public have been annoyed by the teams tendency recent to lose in three days - we get deprived to two days solid drinking.

[zed]

the winner gets to handle the best trophy in sport

[Malo]

Originally Posted by Mintmaster

Well, not really, because it's baseball/golf season right now. IMO it's a joke to even call those sports, let alone real sports.

MLS gets a little coverage, though, so it's not all bad.

Isn't rugby pretty big in Australia? I find the flow and insanity of playing without much equipment vastly more entertaining than North American football.

Heh well yeah, pretty dry at the moment with no hockey or football. Baseball or basketball doesn't interest me though.

Yeah rugby is big in Australia, especially mid-upper east coast. But I much prefer watching American football, a far more interesting game once you learn all the intricacies. Thanks to playing Madden many years ago I learnt a lot more about the game and fell in love with it.

[Silent_Buddha]

I love both rugby and American football. Similar but also completely different.

Rugby is definitely more physical and punishing. While American football on the other hand tends to be more strategy and skill based.

This isn't to say that there is no strategy in Rugby or that American football isn't physical or punishing.

Regards,
SB

[mcsven]

Well, that was tense. Clearly England didn't deserve to even draw the game... but the final pairing held on for an incredible 11 overs and three balls. It makes me laugh just to think about it, given that Monty was at the wicket.

The winner from all of this has to be Steve Harmison. We'll all be screaming for him to return now and the irony is that he probably wouldn't have done anything with the Cardiff wicket either.

[Mariner]

I went to the Test on Thursday and Friday. I thoroughly enjoyed Thursday with a lively first session before the Aussies started grinding out the runs during the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, I struggled to enjoy Friday, partially because our bowlers never really looked like they would trouble the Aussie batsmen after the first session but main because I was trying to deal with a hangover of monstrous proportions!

Including booking fees it cost me around 90 quid per day as well even before you take beer money into account so not a cheap trip at all.

[zed]

>>As a born Australian I have the right to say that test cricket is horribly boring.
What does it matter where you were born?

nice last day, similar to another test involving england holding out for the last hour or two, actually there have been a few similar tests over the last year

[Malo]

Originally Posted by zed

>>As a born Australian I have the right to say that test cricket is horribly boring.
What does it matter where you were born?

It doesn't really. I wouldn't count the opinion of american football from your average aussie who might have seen the superbowl a few times and that's all. I just wanted to make it known that my opinion is based on growing up with the sport all around me.

[mcsven]

So, the second test at Lords. England haven't beaten the Aussies at Lords for 75 years. After the toss I was saying to the resident Aussie in the office that I'd just be happy if we weren't all out by the end of the first day.

Since then however the game has thus far gone to England. It's currently 177-0 and Hauritz has gone off with a dislocated finger. My concern however is that if we can bat then Ponting is going to make serious hay... so a HUGE score is needed from the first innings.

[Mariner]

I see the England batsmen are doing their darndest to give away their wickets and throw away a good position as per usual.

Forecast to be rained off tomorrow so it will interesting to see how the wicket behaves after that.

[nutball]

Hooray for our two-man batting line-up.

[mcsven]

Originally Posted by nutball

Hooray for our two-man batting line-up.

Judging by the last two England innings, the batsmen you're talking about are the final pair of tail-enders. In the end I think I'd've accepted 425 at 9.30am yesterday.

The Aussies are now 31-2 however, with the conditions being ideal for bowling after a short break for rain. C'mon lads, let's get them under pressure.

[nutball]

Aye aye. 148-7. Will the Aussies be forced to follow-on?

[Mariner]

Looks like I picked the wrong Test match to attend. Quelle fecking surprise.

Crikey, I wonder if we might even beat the Aussies at Lords? That would certainly be a turn up for the books!

[zed]

Remember the last time england didnt enforce the follow on
It cost them winning the match

Hopefully history wont repeat

Personally since there is doubt over the weather for the next 2 days I would of made them followon

[mcsven]

I must admit I didn't think we'd do it... Haddin and Clarke just looked deemed to screw us over. First win in 75 years.

[Blitzkrieg]

Some of the worst refereeing I have seen in a long time. 3 of the Aussie wickets weren't even close to out, bit of a joke really. Though being a kiwi I enjoy seeing the Aussies lose(esp Ponting). Go the English!
Love seeing McGrath suffer in his jocks,the chump after predicting a 5-0 rout.

On a side note:

Rugby league > Rugby Union > American football.
League I feel is far superior to either. The ball is in play far more often and for longer periods of time. The game is far quicker than either Union or AF and much more exciting, all imho

[zed]

League I feel is far superior to either. The ball is in play far more often and for longer periods of time.

yes this is correct, from a spectators position rugby league delivers regularly the most entertaining game.
But from a pure beauty standpoint Union is unsurpassed when it all comes together in those sporting magical moments, Im talking about the movements that go on for ~3minutes from one side of the field to the next through everybodies in the team's hands, quick turnovers etc. It is the most poetic team sport.

Pontings not so bad, michael clark though seems a total toser.