The Ashes, 2009

[casimendocina]

Cricket hasn't been so inspiring since the mid-80s.

[ZenGum]

The second test is being played at Lord's, which is regarded as the Home of Cricket. The ground drops more than eight feet from one edge to the other, and about two inches from one side of the pitch to the other. You'd expect England to have a home-ground advantage, but they haven't beaten Australia here since 1934. The pitch is flat and dry, and looks very favourable to the batting side.

England won the toss and began splendidly. Openers Strauss and Cook scored freely, going to lunch at no wicket for 126. Hilfenhaus was tight and occasionally threatening, but Johnson was untidy and very expensive for the Aussies.

After lunch the runs resumed, until Cook was out LBW to Johnson for 95 with 18 boundaries. England were 1 for 196, looking in control. Spin bowler Hauritz suffered a nasty injury attempting to catch a hard-struck drive, having his middle finger bent back and dislocated. Scans found no breaks, so he can still play but the injury is on his bowling hand. Australia fought back by taking the wicket of Bopara (LBW to Hilfenhaus for 18), but England still went to the tea break on 2 for 255.

Australias's bowlers lifted and things slid for England in the final session, as they lost the wickets of Pietersen (32), Collingwood (16), Prior (8), and Flintoff (4), thus demonstrating a grasp of reverse logarithms. Broad is not out on seven, and Strauss, the captain, is not out on 161, from 266 balls with 22 boundaries, having batted all day. Glory is his, for now. At the end of the day England were 6 for 364, a very good score so far, but they let slip the chance to make a huge total with their middle-order fade-away.

[ZenGum]

Australia began splendidly by bowling Strauss with the second ball of the day, and followed up with two more quick wickets to have England at 9 for 378. Then England's two worst batsmen - Anderson and Onions - again defied the Australian attack and put on 47 runs for the last wicket; England ended on 425. Hauritz could not yet bowl after his finger injury yesterday, Siddle seemed to have food poisoning; Johnson became frustrated and untidy, but got the last wicket in the end.

Under cloudy skies, with the ball moving and swinging in the humid conditions, Anderson dismissed Hughes for four and Ponting for two, and Australia were reeling at 2 for 10. Frequent rain interruptions made life difficult for the batsmen, but Katich and Hussey took the score to 103.

The evening session saw an Australian batting collapse.
Katich fell for 48 and Hussey for 52, soon followed by Clarke (1), North (0), Johnson (4), and Haddin (28); and when bad light stopped play the tourists were 8 for 156, still 269 runs behind England and in danger of being required to "follow on" [If a side is 200 runs behind on the first innings, the other side can require them to bat again immediately, creating the opportunity to press for the win]. Australia has tail-enders Siddle and Hauritz at the crease, both on three, with Hilfenhaus to come.

Tight, accurate bowling by the English, and ill-disciplined shot selection by the Australians, produced today's outcome; although Ponting was unlucky to be given out caught. Most Australians were out attempting to slog the ball through the on side and being beaten by movement. The turnaround from the first game is remarkable, and Australia's record at Lords may be under threat.

[DucksNuts]

[ZenGum]

Yeah, sorry, I fell asleep there too so I missed a day.

[ZenGum]

Hauritz and Siddle put on a good fight for the ninth wicket, making 24 and 35 respectively, but Onions took both wickets and Australia were all out for a meager 215; 210 runs behind England.

Strauss chose not to enforce the follow-on; with two and a half days left, the pitch was still good and there was plenty of time to set an impossible target and then bowl Australia out on the wearing pitch.

Strauss and Cook took the score to 61 without loss, before Hauritz dismissed both. Then, strangely, he was taken out of the attack and Australia stumbled. Ponting missed a gettable run-out, then dropped a catch; close decisions went in England's favour, and although wickets fell regularly through the day, the Englishmen were scoring runs and scoring them quickly. Most batsmen made between 25 and 60, and when rain stopped play England were 6 for 311, a massive 521 runs in front.

England is totally on top. The highest successful run chase in history is 418, and the highest at Lords, 329. 521?

[ZenGum]

England declared overnight and Australia started the morning amid bad luck as Katich was given out off a no-ball that the umpire missed. Then Hughes was given out when the umpires failed to refer to the video umpire for a grassed catch, and Australia were 2 for 34, chasing 521.

Ponting chopped a ball off the inside edge of his bat onto the stumps, then Hussey was given out caught when replays showed he missed the ball, and when North was clean bowled Australia looked gone at 5 for 128.

Clarke and Haddin dug in, the runs flowed, the English wilted, the humid conditions and even the new ball did not help the attack, and when play was ended due to poor light, Australia were 5 for 313, still 208 runs short, but with a 180 run partnership just build, and a few more batsmen to come, daring to hope for an improbable victory.

It is unlikely in the extreme, but in the last test series in Australia, the Aussies snatched an unexpected victory chasing on the last day. The English are clearly in front, but are more nervous than you might expect.

[monster]

Uh Ohs!

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Pie

The silver bail, the golden bail, the steel pillar and the perspex pillar....
Key to time, anyone? ...Marvin?

*big grin*


Oh and I love this thread! I don't actually watch the cricket...but it might be nice to have a clue next time it comes up in conversation and thanks to this thread I can join in. Hurrah!


@ Sundae: I love the Shipping forecast. I also like 'Sailing By' Now that really is veddy, veddy English.

A long time ago I had some ideas for a horror film. I wanted a scene with the Sailing By music. I had an image in mind of a woman on a white bed, lots of white sheets, with slit wrists and the red of the blood stark against the white, with Sailing By playing it out.

For anyone not familiar with this piece of music:

[ZenGum]

Oh and I love this thread!

Well if you'd said that earlier I might have kept at it.

For the rest of you, England won game two, game three was a draw, Australia posted a strong win in game four, and in the fifth and final game, England recorded a very solid victory!

The Ashes belong again to England, and Ricky Ponting is now the first Australian captain ever to lose two ashes series in England.

Oh woe is us. It would be ashes and sack-cloth for a month, except that we don't even have the ashes anymore.

AND we lost to New Zealand in a rugby game, 18-17, after a final minute penalty goal.

I'm going to sulk now.