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ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE
ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

StrumSolo > 24/12/2013, 18:45

Swann's gone, KP's will continue to 'take risks' (lucky us) and England are going to lose. That much we know.

Scott Borthwick and James Tredwell have both been brought in following Swann's retirement but if we're talking like-for-like replacements then all eyes will be on Monty for this one.

Play gets underway at 23:30 on Christmas evening (UK time), anybody give us the slightest chance?

Anyone?
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

Hilary Briss > 24/12/2013, 23:52

(24/12/2013, 18:45)ScottyRampant Wrote: Swann's gone, KP's will continue to 'take risks' (lucky us) and England are going to lose. That much we know.

Scott Borthwick and James Tredwell have both been brought in following Swann's retirement but if we're talking like-for-like replacements then all eyes will be on Monty for this one.

Play gets underway at 23:30 on Christmas evening (UK time), anybody give us the slightest chance?

Anyone?

I'll have a guinea on Lillee bowling Gower first ball !
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

RussyRover > 25/12/2013, 17:16

With the simmering cauldron pot that is the MCG, I really cannot see any other result than the Aussies going 4-0 up.

The MCG is one of the best result pitches in world cricket with only 15 draws in 105 tests.
For the last 15 years it has been using drop in pitches with the current pitches dropped in a couple of months ago.

Of the 90 results at the MCG, 53 have been won by the team batting first, so a slight toss edge there.
The last time there was a draw at the track was way back in 1997, so there hasn’t been a draw on a drop in pitch basically.

What about the weather?
Day One – Morning showers with a max of 29c
Day Two – Cloudy with a max of 24c
Day Three – Mostly sunny – chance of late showers with a max of 27c
Day Four – Cloudy with isolated showers with a max of 21c
Day Five – Sunny with a max of 25c

Not really worth betting on the Aussies to win at around 4/6 (1.78 on the exchange at the mo...), and if you fancy England at around 7/2, hey who knows, perhaps Santa has left some form in their Xmas stockings...

Whatever's gonna happen, I'll be tuning in tonight, probably munching on a turkey sandwich....
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

RussyRover > 26/12/2013, 00:41

Well Michael Clarke is feeling confident as he wins the toss and decides to have a bowl first. He probably reckons he can knock out a few quick wickets and send England further into despair...

so here's the teams;

Australia
Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke ©, Steven Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin (W), Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon

England
Alastair Cook ©, Michael Carberry, Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (W), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Monty Panesar

So Matt Prior is dropped as Bairstow takes the keepers gloves, and Monty of course comes in for the retiree Swann...
and Australia remain unchanged... as will probably the result of the game...

The anthems have been sung, the Aussies have had their huddle and now take the field as the England openers walk on also... Tense stuff!!! well it is for Cook, will he have a decent knock this time? Let's see, now where's my turkey sarnie...
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

RussyRover > 26/12/2013, 13:21

DAY 1 - CLOSE OF PLAY: ENGLAND 226-6

Well that about sums it up, from 89 overs, England could only muster 226 runs and the 'idiot' as Geoffrey Boycott called him, KP, turned out to be their saviour with an unbeaten 67 with a ducking and diving Tim Bresnan who just came in as Bairstow fell, keeping him company on 1.

Cook (27), Carberry (38), Root (24) and Bell (27) all made starts but couldn't build any sort of innings. If they had any thought of making a comeback in this test, then it already looks a distant chance... 'IF' KP keeps his head tomorrow, then 300 is still on the cards, but he may run out of partners... and then it's the same tired old trio of Broad, Anderson and Bresnan (and Monty & Stokes of course) who will need to take 10 Aussie wickets!!! You'd have thought they may have given a start to one of the other bowlers they brought, so far they've made excellent drinks carriers!!!! Get Rankin in there, he really can't do any worse can he!!!

Oh well, let's see if they can last to lunch on day 2, I'll be there, ably accompanied again by yet more turkey sarnies... and if it gets too much then a snifter or two will send me to blissful Zzzzzzzland.... which is where most of the England team seem to reside these days....
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

RussyRover > 27/12/2013, 11:43

Mitchell Johnson effectively dashed England's hopes in his first over when he bounced Bresnan out 1st ball, then got KP out with his 5th with a ball that turned off the pitch, missed the bat and hit the stumps... All this in the 2nd over of the days play.... Broad and Anderson made 11 a piece but all too soon England were heading back up their steps and preparing to field, ENGLAND 255 all out

There were boos for Broad as he came out to bat, and still boos when he prepares to bowl.. He's used to it now, if anything he should use it to fuel himself up for great things... Cos that's what England need now, great things...

Warner goes cheaply as Bairstow takes his first catch of the day from an Anderson ball 19-1 which provides Anderson with his 600th international wicket. Then Watson is also out cheaply and provides Bairstow his 2nd catch, this time from Stokes, 36-2, this could be interesting...

Lunch comes and goes and then Rogers is hit square on the noggin from a Broad delivery, it draws blood, but a couple bits of tape sees him back in action...

#601 for Anderson as he bowls the Aussie skipper for 10, 63-2, ho-ho-ho, Santa really does grant wishes...

It's slow going for the Aussies. I berated England yesterday for scoring slowly, but the Aussies seemed to have caught the same bug. At Tea it's only 96-3, with Rogers making his 50 just before...

The evening session then becomes very interesting, 110-4, 112-5 as Smith then Rogers fall in quick succession.
What seems as an eternity for an umpires review makes it 122-6 as Bailey flashes at a ball, hotspot says no, but snicko says yes... GAME ON...

Brad Haddin makes it 1-1 on the reviews as he is given out but then retracted after a review, close...
Johnson then goes at 151-7, and there are 11 overs left in the day, getting exciting now...

25 minutes later, Harris falls, 162-8, then 10 minutes later, it's Siddle's turn to walk back. At 164-9, England are seemingly pulling off the impossible... and that makes it the last action for the day as the umpires call time

CLOSE OF PLAY- AUSTRALIA 164-9, still 91 runs behind... Haddin (43)

The question now is, how can England fuck it up from here. They should have a healthy first innings lead, Day 3 promises to be quite warm and good conditions. If our batters can hold themselves together, we may just put ourselves in contention for that most rarest of things... A win!!!!!
Make sure you tune in tonight at 11.30pm to see it unfold....
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

StrumSolo > 27/12/2013, 13:17

Well played KP I guess, though 71 from 161 balls seems almost sarcastic by his standards. Super cautious.

Much better from the bowlers and a nice spread of wickets too. You'd imagine their form should just about see us through but I wouldn't rule out a second innings batting collapse either, so it'll most likely be tight.

Merry Christmas!
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

StrumSolo > 28/12/2013, 12:31

(27/12/2013, 13:17)ScottyRampant Wrote: but I wouldn't rule out a second innings batting collapse either

There it is. 86-1 was looking good, then all of a sudden we're 87-4. Regrouped a bit, 173-5, before the final 5 wickets fell for just 6 runs.

179 all out, two batting collapses in one innings! Cook managed 51 and Pietersen 49 but nothing of note beyond those two. The Aussie bowling attack deserves a mention though. Lyon took 5-50 and Johnson's 3-25 saw him become the first bowler since Shane Warne in 2005 to take 30 wickets in a test series.

Australia put on 30 without loss at the end of the day and need another 201 to take a 4-0 lead in the series. Doing so would represent the biggest run chase at the MCG since 1963. It's by no means nailed on but they have got two full days to get there.

Can England bowl as well as they did in the first innings? Or have we fucked it? Again.
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

RussyRover > 28/12/2013, 14:34

What an unbelievable day, or perhaps it wasn't as we really should have guessed this would happen...

After allowing the Aussies to put on 40 runs in the morning, which England may yet rue, they made a cracking start, it does seem that both sides score much better with the new ball, but when it gets older, the scoring dries up, and wickets for some unexplained reason start to fall...

The worst stat of the day was that 8 England wickets fell for only 7 runs!!!! and worse was that the off spinner takes a 5-for??? on a non turning wicket???

One thing for certain is that this game will definitely have a result, no draw in sight... A day 4 evening session finish is the most likely with the Aussies a 1/5 favourite....

The only thing in England's favour is that Day 4 is supposed to be cooler and therefore better for the bowling side... I guess it depends on Warner, if he starts to heave his bat then it's curtains for sure, if he goes cheaply, a slight chance... but as Scotty has just mentioned, England have fucked it again...
RE: ASHES FOURTH TEST: MELBOURNE

StrumSolo > 29/12/2013, 10:08

The Aussies have sauntered to their target with 8 wickets to spare and take a 4-0 series lead.

The bastards.
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