Enough in it for the bowlers for this to be good start

Kevin Pietersen really is a stupid tw*t at times.



Not a bad day for England, hopefully they can push on for a bit longer, then get some nice early wickets.

Apparently he was caught because it hit his helmet. I think he'd have gone if it didn't hit his helmet. Still, he's our best player. Hopefully he can learn from todays mistake.

Decent score I guess, fingers crossed we have a decent start tomorrow and get afew early wickets. Hopefully Anderson can get it moving in the air.

Yeah it was a stupid shot and he shouldnt have played it but for once at least the rest of the order have stood up around him and contributed for 1nce. And at the ennd of the day Pieterson still got 69 soo we cant really slate him too much lol

Target should probably be around 375; Broad and Swann can both bat, and Anderson is capable of hanging around, even if he won't contribute many.

If we get stuck into them early tomorrow, I'm confident we can reduce them to 300/350. The new ball started swinging this evening which should be promising for Anderson especially, and although the pitch is far from quick, there is a bit of bounce in it for Flintoff. The way the pitch is cutting up, by the end of the day, Swann and Panesar should start enjoying themselves aswell.

To be honest, with us bowling second, I can't see Australia getting 200 in their second innings. The pitch is a mess already and come day four/day five Swann and Panesar should be laughing.

All in all, I'm confident we can pull off the win, even if the first day wasn't perfect.

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Pietersen is an idiot sometimes. He'd decided what shot he was playing before the bowler had even started his run up, and he's too arrogant pull out of the shot.

I'd like to see him being a bit more agressive as well. I understand that he takes a while to get in, and given the circumstances when he came to the crease, we couldn't afford for him to go out for nothing, however, the inexperienced bowling attack fell apart once Flintoff and Prior put their foot down, and I think Pietersen's alot more effective playing his shots rather than fannying about with premeditated sweeps.

Hoping for a few more from England, then a decent total from the aussies, if only to take it to day 5 so those of us in South Wales for Celtic vs Salford at the weekend have some cricket to watch on the Sunday.

Bit random but anyone heard of this band, The Duckworth Lewis method: www.myspace.com/dlmethod Jiggery Pokery is a quality tune.

Bit random but anyone heard of this band, The Duckworth Lewis method: www.myspace.com/dlmethod Jiggery Pokery is a quality tune.

At the end of the day he is South African, we're his vehicle for playing test cricket and we have to accept he plays for the good of himself, and not for the good of England.

As long as what he does produce outweighs the negatives then we have to accommodate him in the team and play around it.

If we push for 400+ I' d be happy with that, but them into bat after lunch/ early evening then see what we can come up with. Alot of soft wickets today, felt for Ravi as he is always positive with his shot selection, just abit jittery and he couldn't get any rhythm going. Hopefully with his first innings out of the way, he will settle down abit now.

Nobody batted really well for England. Everyone (except Cook) made starts but nobody pushed on. Pietersen gave his wicket away cheaper than Lidl give plastic food away. Moments like that will always prevent him from been a great England player. He's done the best part of fook all for ages, yet still gets constantly bummed.

It was disappointing that nobody went on to score a really big score, but I'd rather see a scorecard like this than one in which one players scores 150 amongst a number of single figure scores.

None of the batsmen looked incapable of playing the aussies, as has been the case in the past. We also avoided potential batting collapses when 3 and 5 down. It wasnt that good a batting wicket. Hence there was nothing to suggest that we are going to struggle to score runs during the series.

we bowled good . more to come

I agree with that.

Everything depends on how Australia bat in their first inngs now. If we get around 350 ish that will be a decent total but we have go them quickly which means the aussies should still have a day and a half of a decent surface to bat on and if they appply themsleves better than we did they could take a lead on first inngs. They will have to bat last which will be hard but I fel we have let them off the hook by batsmen giving their wicket away and we have just slightly opened the door for them. Lets say the score 400 ish then get us into trouble in our second innings the pressure will be firmly on us.

IMO that is absolute rubbish!

A lot is going to depend today on whether it swings. If it does, then England have the threat with the new ball to make the most of it.

Hauritz got a couple to turn - albeit slowly - so there's no reason to assume Swann and Panesar won't do the same

I think it could really suit Monty bowling in to the rough outside the LH off stump, no need to try variations. Some will turn a bit off pitch, some will turn big out of the foot holes others will go straight on. Fancy him to get 2 or 3.

near 400 then 20 or so mins before lunch would be good

Which is the best site for following the action live?
Beeb and Sky Sports have been e for me so far

If England bowl the spinners in tandem, it may be worth both bowling over the wicket - Swann looking to pitch middle and leg to the left handers and spin it across them, Panesar outside off and turning back in.

Gives the batter a different line to worry about rather than Swann going around the wicket into the rough.

[url=http://www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/current/match/345970.htmlCricinfo[/url.

I always go on cricinfo. Ball by ball coverage on there.

Damn, that's a blow, 355-8 Broad bowled for 19.

36 runs from 6 overs this morning.

Tail is wagging nicely it would seem.