Hi Cricket Lovers

Ashes 2005 has been underway for about an hour now. Harmison is bowling with such aggression that he hit Langer in the elbow with his second ball, and cut Ponting on the cheekbone with blood flowing, about 5 minutes ago.

He's bowling like an Australian!

Stay tuned. Its all good stuff, with Hoggard having got an early wicket.


Anil

Since we have the summer holidays, me and a freind (who did his work experience at Lords - meaning FREE TICKETS) went along yesterday. Brilliant atmosphere, you could feel the tension in the air.

Akhtar Miya


I envy you.

I sat up all night here in Sydney glued to my TV set. You could feel the atmosphere and the tension and the change of fortunes. 17 wickets to fall on Day 1, who would have predicted that.


Anil

Bhirquji,

A very interesting start to the test matches, I was at the first one day where England won comfortably and was expecting more balanced matches this series but you aussies are too good for us esp. Glen Mcgrath.

Will it be 5-0?


The latest….

Live: England v Australia MATCH SUMMARY (DAY 2):
Australia 174-3 & 190 v England 155
Full scorecard
Australia, having lost three second innings wickets, saw their lead speed past the 200-mark as England's bowlers toiled on the second evening at Lord's.
Michael Clarke, dropped on 21 by Kevin Pietersen, overtook fellow right-hander Damien Martyn, and was taking a liking to Ashley Giles' left-arm spin.
Ricky Ponting (42) looked set for a big score before throwing his wicket away.
Earlier, Pietersen's 57 - the best score in the match to date - helped England to 155 all out, 35 behind.

Iqbal


I'm so glad they picked Pietersen fot the Tests. He's a real competitor and a pleasure to watch.



Anil

Yes Pietersen is proving his worth... A wonderful prospect for pommies. However, with 300+ lead, England will find it tough...

And I envy you Anil... At least you are watching the match on TV. I don't have that privilege either

Iqbal bhai, I think 5-0 is tough this time. This England team will put up a fight.

Cheers,

One more thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was the retirement of Thorpe. Any comments guys? I think he could have played this season at least.

Cheers,

Are you sure he has retired. I thought he got dropped....But with the English middle being this brittle I am willing to wager my two cents on Thorpie making a comeback

Vivek & Deghosh

It's a pity Thorpe was not picked ahead of Bell.

Yes , he has now announced his retirement saying he wants to spend more time with his family.



Anil

I would have also gone tomorrow, but have a club match !

Really exciting atmosphere - ruined by the idiocy of the Barmy army.

They say it might rain in the next two days, could that possibly save England ?

With England needing 264 runs with 5 wickets left, its no doubt advantage Australia at the moment. Its only the bowlers left in the pavillion so if England have any chance of putting up a fight, it will have to mostly rely on this current pair of Pietersen and Jones.

Over here in Toronto, most of the satellite channels have been zapped and other cable networks are not covering the series so we're missing it .

Gotta tell you guys - looking out the window right now it looks very cloudy...

Only the rain-gods can save England now!!! Or can Pieterson do a Laxman?

Cheers,

Well, I am new at this forum but the latest is that Aussies have done it again! How many times do they do it, when in trouble they strike back even harder and more often than not are the winners. Overall, a good game of Cricket and the Ashes Series 2005 might just follow a more predictable path than I had thought before the series began.

I hope the series isn't one-sided and that England fights back.

McGrath reaching 500 wickets is truly an outstanding achievement !

lol on the contrary I hope that England get hammered, so they go to Pakistan in November with a negative state of mind.

LoL

Pakistan will still beat them no matter what state of mind they're in *fingers crossed*

IMHO Pakistan's middle order is as brittle, so right now I think England is a better team than Pakistan as their bowling is better

England going good... Trescothick missed 100 by 10 runs and Pieterson playing well again...

Comments on which way this will go? No McGrath for Australia. Can England take advantage of this?

Cheers,

Vivek

Looks like great first days play so far. Pity about Trescothick missing his century to a very poor shot.

Good showing by Flintoff and Pietersen at present, and some great shot s by Flintoff. Australia obviously missing MacGrath.

Hard to say where it will all end up given the great batting collapses of the past.


Anil

Well at the end of first day England did very well to reach 407 at RR of 5+. Brett Lee was smashed all round the corner

Lets see if their bowlers can take on from here.

Cheers,

Did you guys see the stuff on Kerry packer cricket during the lunch break ?

Akhtar

Here in Sydney, normally all cricket matches are shown on Kerry Packer's channel nine TV station.

However for this Ashes series, they opted out of showing it, fearing the matches will be uncompetitive. Hence all the telecast is being done by the government owned SBS station, and no, they wont be showing anything to do with Kerry Packer.



Anil

Well....the match has made real interesting progress....... Aussies bundled out..with England having a lead of 100+ ......Hope they capitalise on that.......

PS: Did you see Warnie's ball that knocked off the middle-stump??? England already lost their first wicket of their 2nd innings... But Man.....that was a DEADLY ball....... Just too good....

Was a real corker of a ball that one !

I feel Langer was somewhat unlucky with this decision though!

Shyam

Did that ball remind you of that "ball of the century" of 1993 Ashes when Warne got Mike Gatting out. They keep showing that one on TV in Australia for the last 12 years.

Will be an interesting days play.


Akhtar, Iqbal or anyone from UK

Did they ever find out who that piano man was ? I mean the guy who had lost his memory, didnt know who he was, couldnt speak but play a piano beautifuly. Sorry for asking on the wrong thread but .....


Anil

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4550069.stm

No I do not think he has been identified yet.

Whoa!!! What a match this is turning out to be. Warnie took 6 but Australia lost 8 wickets today!!! 175-8 at the end of the day and the thorn for Australia is Flintoff. What an all-round performance.

Cheers,

Brilliant slower ball from Harmy to end the days play !

What a performance from Flintoff, notwithstanding that shoulder injury. All those mighty sixes!

Surely England will win from here with Flintoff to be the man of the match!



Anil

What a nail biting finish!!!!!!

What a fightback from the Aussie tailenders.

Absolutely Thrilling.


Anil

2 RUNS!

I feel Australia were unlucky to loose, having done all the hard work !

The last wicket was not even out ! Poor umpiring from Rudi Koertzen.

Amazing match!!! Must have been a treat to watch.

Old Trafford will be much more interesting now.

Cheers,

We are going up to Manchester to see the next test - very lucky to get hold of a few tickets !

What a match that was. I have watched this match from the first ball, and what a performance by Andrew Flintoff. He was absolutely, as they call him, the superman for England. I was always supporting England in this match, and I felt the same way when India wins a close match.
Flintoff was simply outstandng in his batting the other night and next day taking 4 big wickets, boy, what a performance. How good he has emerged as a team player over the years. He has won this match entirely on his own.

Australian tailenders once again almost pulled a victory out of nothing. They are the most dangerouse tailenders of the world cricket. How often they have done that and almost did it again. But this time it was a very special performance by shane warne and Brett lee and not to forget Kasporowich.

Overall it was a fantastic match.

Damn Tresco
Damn Straussie
Damn Vaughnie
Damn Bellu
Damn Pietu
Damn Flintu
Damn Jonu
Damn Hoggru
Damn Harmi
Damn Joni

But most of all DAMN DAMN GILU.

Hats off to England for winning that match and drawing the series

Now we have an exciting series on our hands !

Hopefully McGrath will be back next game. Warnie one more wicket away from 600, what an awesome career he has had.

Flex Bhai


For my benefit and the benefit of other readers , please explain all the damns.


Anil

I think he won't be fit for third test match. One more opportunity for England!!!

Cheers,

To say nothing about what a turbulent personal life ! I mean the guy's marriage has just collapsed, all the details of his seedy personal life have been splashed in the newspapers, Channel 9 in Australia have stripped him of his $300,000 annual contract followed by similar action from a couple of his other sponsors, but he is still bowling as good as he's ever bowled!


Anil

Even Brett Lee is 50-50 (don't know if this is against or for England - given the way England treated him in first innings)

Cheers,

Vivek

Brett Lee can be fairly expensive in terms of the number of runs he concedes, but he is a proven wicket taker.

If it is a spinners pitch, then Stuart MacGill will be just as good if not better than Warne, and it will be an interesting third match starting this Thursday.


Anil

I agree. Given the weakness of English batsmen against spinners MacGill can prove to be a good bet for Aussies.

Cheers,

I live in England!

Flex Bhai

And I live in Australia!!!!

It should be me saying damn, damn to those guys par mera kaam aap ne pura kar diya!

Anyways it was a great test match, and everytime someone beats Australia these days, i say the game of cricket was a winner!


Anil

Brett Lee has a 'knee infection' :|

well both McGrath and Lee are playing!!!

What do you guys think about the Third Test !

I am glad my cable service started showing the series and since I am off for the summer, I was able to watch it today.

Vaughan was unlucky to get out on 166 when he was gearing his way towards a double hundred.

Australia fought back well with Lee taking those two crucial wickets towards the end of the day. The last ball where he bowled Hoggard was a beauty !

Can't say much for Australia's fielding, it certainly was below their usual standard.

Cheers

Exhilarating match!!! Who says Test cricket is boring? Absolute cracker of a match. Aus just escaped being 2-1 down!!! That would have been some result. I feel sorry for England...

Cheers,

What a match !!

The last 4 overs of Lee and McGrath were the most tense. Australia just escaped from being down 2-1. England were very unlucky to lose this one, after they played really well. Credit to the Aussies though for keeping cool and cheers to Ponting for a brilliant innings.

Looking forward to the fourth test 9 days away, hopefully the rain will not spoil the proceedings.