I will have some more considered thoughts on the events of today in due course. England should not be cheering too greatly at a game they should have saved with considerable ease if they actually had a clue. That we had to rely on the tail staying virtually for half a day’s play is an indictment on the awful top order display we have been used to. To any Aussie that thinks we are going slightly over the top over such a miracle, I would remind them of their cheers, hugs and general euphoria at Brett Lee and Glen McGrath’s rearguard four years ago at Old Trafford. A get out of jail draw is like a win – it is the difference between being 1 down or level. If you are expected to be one down and you get out of jail, of course it feels like a win.
Much credit must go to Paul Collingwood who took out 40.5 of the 98 overs of the day on his own. A gritty determined 74, curtailed with 11 or so overs remaining, seemed to fall into the category of heroic rearguard falling short. That it didn’t goes down to Jimmy Anderson and the much maligned batting skills of Monty Panesar…..
I am not going to rain on any parades tonight, and besides, it’s late, but England can thank their lucky stars and Australia can look at a bowling attack that had been brilliant until the last hour but then appeared utterly clueless. And thanks Ricky, I’m sure Marcus North was the bowler we least wanted to face at the end.
On to Lord’s….
Just a brief note to explain what the convicts are saying about this game.
australia destroyed us and should have got the win.
There’s a split between camp a) we cheated with our delaying tactics and camp B) ponting’s needs to stop whingeing, 11 overs and he couldn’t beat the 2 last batsmen is what cost the test, not England sending on a pair of gloves.
By: Adelaide Exile on July 13, 2009
at 1:58 am
They do make me chuckle. There is only one thing more important to them than winning and that is occupying the moral high ground. Coming from Ricky Ponting, who once again showed total dissent when a decision wasn’t given his way, this is rich.
If the boot was on the other foot, and Australia had got out of it in the way we had (and the 12th man / physio would have been out as frequently, bank on it), here are a list of points they’d have raised:
Stupid poms – don’t you realise the real issue was you couldn’t bowl out a couple of rabbits in 11 overs.
Stupid poms – amazing how you can bowl more than 15 overs in an hour when you are desperate, but potter around the rest of the time.
Stupid poms – weather is a part of the game. We may have been outclassed but you still had over a day to bowl us out.
Stupid poms – you battered us. If you are so confident of victory, you’ll batter us again.
Ponting went to a second spinner (North) to get more overs in. I am sure he should have gone for someone else, but it is hard to know who could take the wicket in the last over. Remember Harmison’s rubbish effort at Old Trafford (!).
Can’t agree about the declaration, but maybe he could have pulled out 200 ahead, because you have to give yourself time to take 10 wickets and hope there was enough time to score the runs. If you get 5 overs to score 50, then so be it. You still have a chance.
Oh, and my favourite. Why are the Poms cheering a draw when you were outplayed and saved by the weather. If you remember Old Trafford 2005, then you really do get the feeling that Aussies have short term memory loss. They went mental when they held out. And so they should have.
By: Dmitri Old on July 13, 2009
at 9:17 am