England v Aus ( cricket )

[Sir Les Patterson]

He would be mad to give England a sporting declaration, i reckon if they bat up until tea or just before then that will be plenty and then they have 5 sessions and if they cannot bowl us out over that period then the momentum for the series will be back with us, i however think that South Africa will win this test as they are in such a great position, but like you say its a funny old game and you never know.

Have a great day at The Oval and have a beer for me. thumbs up.jpg

[Andy]

Have a great day at The Oval and have a beer for me. thumbs up.jpg

Thanks mate and will do.

[Sir Les Patterson]

Andy...mate...how was your day at the cricket.....hope you had a good time and "my" beer was refreshing. 150 behind with a day remaining....hope you guys can bat well and hold out for the draw but I think that may be drawing a long bow. Has the wicket become a road or is England playing badly ?? I thought they were better than this.

[Andy]

Andy...mate...how was your day at the cricket.....hope you had a good time and "my" beer was refreshing. 150 behind with a day remaining....hope you guys can bat well and hold out for the draw but I think that may be drawing a long bow. Has the wicket become a road or is England playing badly ?? I thought they were better than this.

Hi mate, I had a great day thanks. I treated my mate who's birthday it was and had real good tickets in the ocs stand with comfy seats and a bar right behind us so your beer went down well. As for the cricket the wicket had nothing to do with it as it was as flat as you will ever see for both teams, south Africa and amla in particular played the conditions brilliantly and could have gone on batting forever as we hardly had a chance, they declared as I thought they would at tea with just over 600 on the board and England then froze and made a complete hash of it again as I thought they would, pietersen played a dreadful innings and as I have said before is not a team player, bopara is already out this morning so I would not expect the match to go on later than about 3 oclock this afternoon. South africa have just been much better and deserve to take the lead, England have a lot of thinking to do before the next match.

[Sir Les Patterson]

Hi mate, I had a great day thanks. I treated my mate who's birthday it was and had real good tickets in the ocs stand with comfy seats and a bar right behind us so your beer went down well. As for the cricket the wicket had nothing to do with it as it was as flat as you will ever see for both teams, south Africa and amla in particular played the conditions brilliantly and could have gone on batting forever as we hardly had a chance, they declared as I thought they would at tea with just over 600 on the board and England then froze and made a complete hash of it again as I thought they would, pietersen played a dreadful innings and as I have said before is not a team player, bopara is already out this morning so I would not expect the match to go on later than about 3 oclock this afternoon. South africa have just been much better and deserve to take the lead, England have a lot of thinking to do before the next match.

Andy......was just talking to a mate who has pay TV and has been watching the Test....has been very critical of Strauss's captaincy.....too negative...like Ricky Ponting...allowing too many singles and two's. Alma and Kallis are Test players.......they are not going to throw their wicket away and will accumulate 2 or 3 an over until they have a big century. Unless the ball is doing something Test wickets are gained by mounting pressure and it seems Strauss has not been doing this. Swann is a good spinner but IMO has been used defensively by Strauss....this is not the way to win a Test match. (IMO)

[Andy]

Well it is the 3rd day of the 2nd test today and it will be interesting to see if we can get near South Africa's score of 419, we are 48-0 at the moment so a solid start but today is massive for the whole series, if our bottle goes like it did in the first test then we will collapse again and South Africa will take the test and the series and become the number 1 side in the world, we have to show why we are currently there and bat through the whole of today and well into tomorrow to give us a sniff of victory although that is a long way off at the moment.

[Sir Les Patterson]

Andy...just looked at the scores on Cricinfo.......I think you guys have made it hard for yourselves now 395/6....23 behind with 4 remaining....you needed Pietersen to make a big one and build a 130-150 lead.............still if Prior can make an 80 or 90 with a bit of help from the tail and the England bowlers do their stuff...well it could be one all after tomorrow.........but as they say....if your auntie had balls she'd be your uncle.

[northshorepom]

Sad to say I think this series is showing who really IS number 1 in test cricket. Massively impressed with the South Africans, they seem impossible to get out

Agree with SLP on Strauss's somewhat negative captaincy. He has always been a bit too conservative but has been able to get away with it because of the support the bowlers in particular have given him. Not knocking him, he's still a good bloke and England are still a good team. I just think RSA are better

Vaughan was our best captain of recent times IMO. The best since Brearley in the 1970s, and probably better - certainly a better player himself and with more of the common touch, like all good leaders he could make his teams into more than the sum of their parts and get the best out of almost all the guys in the team

[Sir Les Patterson]

Andy, looks like rain has come to England's aid....pity I was hoping for a good hard fought last day....SA 49 in front with 10 wickets remaining.

[Perthbum]

Sad to say I think this series is showing who really IS number 1 in test cricket. Massively impressed with the South Africans, they seem impossible to get out

Agree with SLP on Strauss's somewhat negative captaincy. He has always been a bit too conservative but has been able to get away with it because of the support the bowlers in particular have given him. Not knocking him, he's still a good bloke and England are still a good team. I just think RSA are better

Vaughan was our best captain of recent times IMO. The best since Brearley in the 1970s, and probably better - certainly a better player himself and with more of the common touch, like all good leaders he could make his teams into more than the sum of their parts and get the best out of almost all the guys in the team

England are no 1 ...no iff's no but's