I'll be following the Ashes with much interest. After the cracker of a first day I hope we get some good play out of this first test, I can't see it going to day 5 if 14 wickets fall on the first day...

I must say, England is getting into the habit of gifting their wickets to the opposition... Cook and Prior come to mind, playing silly shots from loose deliveries.

I'm hoping for an England win, I'm not a Aussie fan and in my opinion the Aussie fall from Grace was long overdue ?

I don't know about overdue, but it always comes. It's easy to overlook now how the West Indies ruled the roost for over a decade. In provincial cricket here we had Clive Rice's fearsome Transvaal side. They eventually fell from grace. It always happens.

Australia's batting is a bit of an unknown quantity. Obviously excepting Michael Clarke who is a player of very high quality and has an excellent record. Watson has been underachieving. Rogers might prove to be another Hussey.

The quick bowling is pretty good - but injury prone. A good job they have depth in that department because somebody's bound to break down before the last match in the series.

England look better, and have a better recent record. They're more settled. Swann seems to have gone off the boil a bit (now I've said that he'll get a five-fer just to prove me wrong), but when he's firing on all cylinders he's one of the best spinners in the game. England also have a pretty handy pace attack. I think the difference between the two teams is going to be the batting.

I was happy to see Peter Siddle do well on the first day. I've been a bit of a fan. He always gives a big effort, and it was satisfying to see it pay off yesterday.

I wonder if England's dressing room has recovered from the KP saga. That seemed pretty fundamental to me.

I'll be watching. It's so good to see proper cricket again after the Chump's trophy and the tedious IPL.

Yip!! I have my Barmy Army shirt on today - ready to do battle with my dear Old Dad who's visiting me from England but supports Australia > Hmph....

England can be very disappointing at times, but - when they get it right!!!!!!???????

X-rated Bob wrote: The quick bowling is pretty good - but injury prone. A good job they have depth in that department because somebody's bound to break down before the last match in the series.

England look better, and have a better recent record. They're more settled. Swann seems to have gone off the boil a bit (now I've said that he'll get a five-fer just to prove me wrong), but when he's firing on all cylinders he's one of the best spinners in the game. England also have a pretty handy pace attack. I think the difference between the two teams is going to be the batting.

I agree with Bob here about the bowling, England have the edge. I think Anderson will be the difference between the sides though. When he starts to swing it he becomes very difficult to face.
The Australians have pace but none are true swing bowlers like Anderson.

Swann is also a great asset to the team, in comparison to Agar (making debut this game), his experience on home soil and the Australian batting (not great against spin the last few years), there will be great expectations on him at the other venues.

Edit: Just checked the score now, great work by Anderson and Swann.. ?

CDee wrote: Edit: Just checked the score now, great work by Anderson and Swann.. ?

But better work by Agar and Hughes 8)

chris77 wrote: So I guess I will be supporting the Aussies this year. (Man, can't believe I just said that.... :-[ )

I am exactly the same - I cant quite place my finger on it, but a lot of things have happened to make me switch from generally wanting England to win when they played other teams, to now hoping that they lose whenever they play

Giggsy wrote: But better work by Agar and Hughes 8)

Wow, great stuff by those two players... Agar becoming the first number 11 to score a 50 on test debut!

Great stuff, what we were wanting and expecting from an Ashes tour. ?

CDee wrote:

X-rated Bob wrote: The quick bowling is pretty good - but injury prone. A good job they have depth in that department because somebody's bound to break down before the last match in the series.

England look better, and have a better recent record. They're more settled. Swann seems to have gone off the boil a bit (now I've said that he'll get a five-fer just to prove me wrong), but when he's firing on all cylinders he's one of the best spinners in the game. England also have a pretty handy pace attack. I think the difference between the two teams is going to be the batting.

I agree with Bob here about the bowling, England have the edge. I think Anderson will be the difference between the sides though. When he starts to swing it he becomes very difficult to face.
The Australians have pace but none are true swing bowlers like Anderson.

Part of that is the ball and the conditions. In England they use the Dukes ball, in Australia the Kookaburra. The Dukes have a slightly higher seam and swing more in any conditions. England are also thought to have some special ball-shining mojo. Chris Rogers has played a lot of county cricket and is now charged with being Australia's chief ball shiner having, it is thought, gotten to know all the dark English secrets.

Not to take anything away from Anderson who is a very good bowler. I do though think that Australia's bowling is undervalued - possibly even by Australia.

Agar is averaging 33.something in FC cricket. Not the worst number 11 ever.

59 runs or a wicket.....great test this.....much better than 20/20 or anyODI

Go england

30 to win, come on Oz!!

How come we don't get to see the 'hot spot' camera replay?

Yikes, talk about England nearly throwing this game away.
IMO, the worst Aussie team I've ever seen.

ActionArnie wrote: 30 to win, come on Oz!!

Sadly not to be..I am no fan of technology by the way....terrible wayto win...

Hoping to attend the 5th game in the ashes this year...for a day or 2 anyway

IceCreamMan wrote:
Sadly not to be..I am no fan of technology by the way....terrible wayto win...

Nor me hey. But I do so like to see a walker. You used to see them in the old days. An in this match there was one particular case where there should've been a walk. Just the way I have liked the game to be. Sort of agree with Michael Holding on this one.

Federal Court Ruling from the Courier Mail, Australia

A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Australian Cricket side, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

what a disappointment eh...

3 games down , ashes stay in blighty ..dead rubbers coming up...sheesh pathetic ausies

roll on 2 years and Oz 94 - 7 .....after winning in 2013 , losing 5 love in 2014 and coming back to a decent performance in 2015 ....

hey icecream mister

nice to have someone to yack on with about the cricket ?

did'nt follow last week's match, but i see alastair cooke and his oukes won. they wrapped things up on friday already. credit where credit is due so far, they are putting up a fight, especially like you say after the 5-0 result back in 2013/014.

nick_D01 wrote: hey icecream mister

nice to have someone to yack on with about the cricket ?

did'nt follow last week's match, but i see alastair cooke and his oukes won. they wrapped things up on friday already. credit where credit is due so far, they are putting up a fight, especially like you say after the 5-0 result back in 2013/014.

well well well....the English are rampant