Thetownend.com

well...today at 9.15 i think we got a big morale booster in the fact that glenn mcgrath has been injured and will not be taking part  8) . he has been replaced my kasprowick (i dunno how to spell it!)  :beers:  so come on england!!!

Yowza!  Eat that you bunch of Aussie reprobates!!

Come on England, take advantage.

That's a massive blow for the Aussies.  Confidence should be boosted for our boys now.

Until we lost the toss (AGAIN!!)

I notice that the Aussies always call heads -- double headed coin?? :surrender:

Did we lose the toss?  Ponting said yesterday that if they won it we'd be batting first.  Is that a good thing?

No, in the last ten tests at Edgbaston team batting first - won 2, lost 7 drew 1 - source Sky Sports the other day.  Could be one or two out on my figures.

I reckon we're better off batting first anyway - it wont get our hopes up too much if we skittle them for under 200 again.

Stats never lie KT, they never lie.  Even ones you may have misquoted.

Aren't you going to this test Jan?

But they are also made to be re-written Jan - fingers crossed. :?

Yep, tomorrow, hopefully by saturday I won't be able to recall one single delivery!!  It's gonna be a messy one I think!

McGrath not playing is great news, but whilst Kasprowicz is a mere mortal in comparison he's still fucking class.

50-0 after 68 balls, good show so far.

Staruss bowled by Warne on 48 - shame he didn't make the 50.

112-1.  Vaughan comes in at number three.

A promising start really...

Tres is creaming it.Good morning session,but we had a good morning session in the last test,and we all know what happened then. :(
We really should kick on from this great start and make a big score,but i can feel an old fashioned English batting collapse coming on.

Sorry, it's 132-1 at lunch, miss-read the score on the net. :oops:

Nah, Vaughany's gonna make an assured tonne, while Trecso will reach at least 150. :nod:

Very good morning session from Inghiliterra!!!!

Next hour or so will be very interesting and crucial to the result.

Tresco is absolutely smashing Brett Lee i just hope we can carry this good start on now for a big total.

I hope your right Kinky!I have to say its been ejoyable watching warne getting hit around the park . :)

Yeah, wish I was watching it, but alas I'm keeping up-to-date on the net. :(

warners wickit was good! but Tres is on fire and getting better! 162-1

Tres has just got himself out (for 90) :( He was going so well,why did he chase the wide ball from kasprowicz.
Oh shit here it comes,bell out for 0,same bowler.Come on england for fucks sake.

Disappointing start to the afternoon session.  Vaughan's gone too.

Bad start after lunch, but hopefully and Freddie can be sensible and recover it for us.

Come on super Kev smash those Aussies.

Apparently I was wrong. :cry:

Good run rate at the moment though 234 from 45 overs, not bad for a test match.  Hows it looking those with TV's handy?

It's looking very good especially when Freddie's hitting those sixes, im getting sick of Warnes every ball appealing though.

255-4 and Flintoff and Pietersen seem nicely settled in. Another disappointing innings from Vaughn though.

Just when England needed a captains innings.  Would have been a good time to shove some runs down some critic's throats.  Shame really.

FF & KP are looking good.  ** Jan touches wood**

Freddie's got 50 :) ,100 partnership with k.p.
Fred's had a bit of luck,but its nice to see Lee back at his expensive best.

I've decided I hate all of you who are at home, or wherever actually watching! :evil:

Freddie's smashing the Aussies all over the park Tom!

I'm listening to the commentary on 5live sport extra, Blofeld is ace.

 :mrgreen: i work nights so i can watch the Cricket as soon as i get up. :D

157 runs from 162 deliveries in this session - bonza!

And they used to say Test Cricket was boring!.

That was probably the best session of cricket i have ever seen, Freddie going kamikaze style at Brett Lee and Warnie, 4 sixes i believe :shock:  :beers:

Freddies gone!, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!. :cry:

1st ball?

Still on for 400 anyway.

Yep first ball back after Lunch.

Oh dear!, Jones has gone.

Giles need a solid 30 then to keep KP going along.  400 is still in sight, I'd be happy with that.

I cant see us getting 400 now though.

Yes you can. :twisted:

Jones is rubbish.  That is all.

Freddy's 'Wagon Wheel'

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/images/AlstonElliot/SkySportsDotCom_04-08-05_15-39-23.jpg

More genius commentry from Sky on the net:



 :mrgreen:

How many of those sixes were off Warne?

4 6's from Flintoff off of Warne I think.

Yep, 4 of the 7 sixes today have come from Warne's bowling. :soapy tit wank:

Giles has gone now, 342-7.  Can still see us getting 400.

Bugger, now KP's gone, 348-8.  400 looks too far off now, maybe though.  :?

I have a nasty feeling tomorrow's gonna be a boring days cricket.  Aussies come in later today, settle in then England fail to break through for a few hours.  Oh well to the bar we go!!

As the pitch gets dryer the bowlers will be able to take advantage of the dents left behind today.  Wickets should fall quicker - in theory.

What's up with Harmison?!?!  A six and and a four off Lee????

He's quite a good all-rounder really, only 25 to go to get that 400.  Come on team!

Oh no, there he goes, just as I finish typing. :(

Mmmmm,wagon wheels :P

I think they'll reach 400 easy.

haha  :-))(


now the aussies got a difficult 20mins or so in bat, before close of play. interesting...

Great t get the Aussies in for just a few oevrs tonight.

Basically the innings was based upon the two 100 partnerships, Trescothick and Strauss, and Freddie and KP.

Then the tail-enders did a lot to help, especially Harmison and Jones. Gilo also helped Pieterson for a while before a terrible attempted sweep.

Shame to see Vaughan get out so cheaply when he looked to be going strong, and despite getting 68 Flintoff never looked too comfortable. He even hit one six by pulling out of a hook shot. Very lucky to not get caught.

Overall a good total and will be interesting to see what our bowlers can do on very much a batting track.

In true pantomine fashion "oh no they havent!"

well for me today was a great setting stone, we have proven that we can bat (even though mcgrath weren't there) but we still tonked lee and warne around the ground  :D

flintoff was quite lucky to make 68 but i don't mind! tresco was in full flow and pietersen played alot of good strokes.

hopefully tomorrow our bowlers can back up our batsman performance. hopefully the over night rain might work in our favour....

bloody exciting cricket bring back chris tavare

awesome day but we're 50-100 short of what we should have got

Tavare held the record for the fastest international 50 at one point.
He was told to go out and do a Boycott and stay there for the whole innings. He invariably did that.

Now, if we had a couple of batsmen that could do that then we wouldn't be in the mess that we continually get ourselves into !

NMH

Take that Hayden! Big fat duck!

88-2

Ponting's gone for a quick 61.  

Anyone seen Jan and his cronies in the crowd?

More from the net:

i saw hoggards wicket in the gym in calne. i had the headphones in and listening, nearly shouted out loud but then remembered.  :)

looks like giles might be able to do some damage by what ive seen so far, but have missed bits due to the gym!

I know what you mean - every time a wicket goes I nearly shout but remember I'm at work. :?

118-3!!!!!!!

Nice one skip!

we rule

Good run out by vaughan,its about time we hit the wicket.There is still a hell of a lot of batting to come though.Bet Jan is having a good day,the lucky so and so.

226-5....i think we could dismiss them for 300 if flintoff can get gilchrist again soon and if giles can continue to get the ball spinning....otherwise i reckon they could still make 350

Im going to Edgbaston tomorrow, so i will give u all a full report Sat evening........................COME ON ENGLAND............fuck of warney

hurrah!

(ive become slightly interested in this perhaps im a glory hunter 8) )

262 for 6
langer lbw to simon jones
what a ripper  :beers:

walking to work this morning through Broad Street and there were fucking hundreds of Aussies everywhere.
The 4 main hotels along the road all had approx 5 coaches outside each of them ready to take them to Edgbaston (1/2 a mile from my work)

bet they wished they had stayed at home now :mrgreen:

Fuck off whinging Ozzie scum!

There, that's my politically correct statement for the day out of the way!

bye bye fat boy
warne bowled giles 273 for 7  :D

Lee's gone for 6, bowled Jones, caught Flintoff 8). Here comes Jesus :D

282 for 8
lee bowled jones caught flintoff
easy! easy! easy!  :beers:

308-9 lbw b Flintoff

308 all out! :beers:

115 ahead its looking good, just hope they can get a big total now which even the Aussies will find hard to get.

25-0 now looking good but i wouldn't bet agaist us getting bowled out for 150 and losing the match.

Strauss just bowled by Warne!, oh and Michael Slater STFU!. :evil:

here we go......

Warne is going to rip us apart tomorrow. :cry:

nah, i think if we just play him off...and then attack the others we should be able to keep the score going alot nicely and not lose too many wickets doing it! we need to establish a 4000 run lead which means we only hit 300 odd which with just two big scores we could manage!!

:shock:

yep you read it right  :wink: anyhting less and im not going to be happy!

(yeh...400 will be fine)

I think (presuming good weather!) that we need to score 350-400 more runs to have a chance of winning. Anything more than 400 and we are (obviously) leaving the Aussies chasing 500 which will be a tough ask.
if it rains it could ruin it and end in a draw...

I have a feeling tomorrow will be Vaughan's day, he'll smash 100+ leading us to a 500+ lead by the end of tomorrow, with cameo's from Messrs Pie-eater-son, Flintoff and Jones. We then rap up the win by teatime Sunday, after a Harmison hattrick and a 5 wicket Ashley Giles motm performance*



*Disclaimer=STFC Village will not be held to account if the above prediction should England proceed to a collapse. However, he shall reep the accolades should his prediction be correct. He will also change his career to psychic 8)

I'll be making sure you DO become a psycic if we win!

Or as Peter Kay would say, Pyskick!

Or as Brian Conley would say, a psychotic :soapy tit wank:

:D

32-4!!! this is shocking!

Vaughan made that ball that got him out look like it got low, when it hit top of off stump!? something wrong with his footwork...

Trescothick dabbed a ball that didn't need to be touched! and if you do go for it, should have gone crashing for 4.

2 6's off shane warnes over....brilliant  :D what every english person wants to see!

82-6... :evil: need i say more.

Yet again England are choking when it counts!.

All out for 182. Flintoff was superb the last few overs, run rate of 8/9 an over. The Aussies need 282 to win, not looking all that promising. :?

suuuuuuper super fred, super suuuuuuuuper fred, suuuuper super fred, super freddy flintoff!


single-handedly rescued this match, we're still in with a chance!

I hope you're right cos i think were 50 runs short!.

wicket down

47-1. Flintoff got Langer bowled 8). Almost another, come on England!!!

47-2 Ponting caught behind off of Flintoff :D . We're still in it.

Flintoff=GOD!.

3rd wicket, hayden gone.

Another wicket down, Hayden caught in the slips. Brilliant catch from Trescothick. 8)

5 down now, good ol' Gilo!.

137-7, doing ok at the moment.

A great day, especially for Flintoff.
He came in and seemed to dislocate his houlder. Played on through the pain almost batting with one hand, and just stayed in until he felt fit enough to lash out and score a great 73. Was he;ped well by Simon Jones towards the end.

And then the bowlers did reasonably well.

175-8 and a very winnable game now for England. (Aus require 107 runs to win)

:beers: yes. i have missed it all!!!  :cry:  my cricket match was crap too so, not the best day really!

Highlights on sky sports now Johno. Well worth watching. 8)

Basically Warne was great, umpiring was not (Bell and Pieterson both dubious)

Pieterson's especially! Hit about 4 parts of his body!! leg, thigh, knee and elbow! :roll:

4 more parts than on Bell

Yes, that was dodgy as well!

However we survived one absolute plum LBW in our second innings as well. (Can't remember batsmen, think Lee was the bowler)

It was S Jones near the end. Hitting roughly exactly half-way up middle stick!

Harmison's slow ball which bowled Clarke at the end was amazing!.

That was 11/10!

Absolutely class slow-ball yorker hitting the bottom of off stump. TOO GOOD!

:D it was f**king fantastic, it had everything from ----oh no here we go again----- to ----ur shit ,u know u r, ur shit u know ur----   it was the best cricket match ive ever been 2, even my mrs thought it was fantastic, which to be quite frank is amazing :D

I am not a huge cricket fan, but that delivery was top top quality!  8)

3 (4 including the no ball) super fast deliveries to shake up the batsman followed by an inch perfect slow yorker. Great bowling! :cheers:

Bet the atmosphere was awesome?

Oh and to make it all the sweeter we were sat with the Aussie scum, u should have seen there faces, what a treat :D

the last day i went to a match as good as that was the Leicester v town play off final, i just wish i had ticket for sunday.

booooooooooooooowling shane

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

my old man went yesterday and he said atmosphere was mental, by the way you can get btickets this morning at edgbaston they are going back, top chants of the day he told me where

to the tune of yellow submarine - you all live in a convict colony

to shane warne - wheres your missus gone?

they said at one point warne stopped bowling and just looked despairingly at the stand that was singing :D

Come on England!  :old:

Piece of piss really, I woke up 2 minutes before they were all out. I think I bring England luck 'cos I woke up with England 7 wickets down yesterday, then they scored a few runs I got something to eat, we lost two wickets I came back and we scored 50 in 5 minutes.

Beating Australia is one thing but do we have enough talent to beat Bangladesh?

I was biting my nails all morning. That was worst than watching the penalties at brighton.

Fuck me.....been out walking all day decided to remain incommunicado for fear that it would go pear shaped.   Seen this before with Aussies, when the likes of Lillee and Gillespie have done something unexpected......anyone remember the test when with about 6 to get and last man in.....the ball was edged to Tavare, who spiled it and Geofff Miller came in behind and caught it.

  I'm proud of those fellas.......shame Simon Jones got fined for pointing Hayden to the pavilion.

and i slept through the fucking lot of it  :(

that was class

me too, I was still asleep at 4pm :(

half 2. set my alarm nice and early ( 12 :P ) but turned it off and went back to sleep :(

i thought we had threw it away and wasn't too happy, then went nuts when bowden gave kaspers out!  :)  ENGLAND! ENGLAND! ENGLAND!

 Billy Bowden is now my favourite umpire.....dare say the Aussies will winge and try and get him kicked off the list in favour of umpires more inclined to give Warne wickets when out fellas haven't touched it like Rudi Koetzen.

I woke up at 10 but decided to go back to sleep when i woke up i expected us to have wrapped it up, but no the Aussies needed 5 runs to win and we needed 1 wicket to win,  needless to say i was shouting my head off when Jones caught Kaspo.  :beers:

Interestingly Reg, when Bowden first came onto the scene many people thought he was taking the piss, but it was the aussies who stuck up for him and pressed the idea that the guy was a good, popular umpire.

You can beat Bowdens signalling. :D

Did we win by 1 run?

We won by 2 runs.

Ace !

:soapy tit wank: good isn'ty it yeovil?

bowden is a legend!!  :beers:

Billy Bowden is a legend! He does "claw finger" for sixes and decisions, and his reaction when Vaughan threw down the wicket in the first innings (Martyn i think), had me in stiches :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

He also looks like Gene Wilder (aka original Willy Wonka) 8)

I love his 'up,up and away' signal for a Six. :mrgreen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/test_match_special/3135395.stm

An interesting piece on the great man! Apparently, he has arthritis which ended his playing career early, so he went on to become the greatest umpire the world has ever seen 8) His fluid signalling style keeps his joints supple (method to the madness) :soapy tit wank:

Here's some pics of the great man  :D

http://content.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/DB/112004/055879.jpg

http://content.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/DB/092004/054426.jpg

8) My avatar pic was the best one of him i could find, it has a certain charm :D

Watching yesterday turned me into a bag of nerves,it was awful.I gave up and was wandering around the house,my stomach tied up in knots,feeling sick.I couldn't believe we were going to fuck it up.All i could feel when we won was relief and it meant i could stop shaking.What a test match.  :)

Bowden almost cost us the game with that shocking lbw decision when Freddie had Kasper plumb in front

He should have given Jones out in our second innings as well though.I do believe the decisions even out in the end,we get some dodgy ones and so do they.I think bowden is a bit of a plank,all his silly hand gestures,they always seem so over the top.But at least he makes up his mind quickly,not like Rudi [slow death] Kortzen.spelling?

that was arguably the greatest test match of all time! what a game! i think it was great the way we let them get so close and then snatch victory at the end! talk about rubbing salt in to the wound. as for the umpiring well it wasn't great. Bell and Pietersen were unlucky in the 2nd innings but as larwood says it all evens out in the end.

http://www.ntlworld.com/sport/cricket_news.php?page_zone=2445.5.4&storyid=3940871

If Lee misses the match as well, only good news for England.

not necessarily because it will make sure that MacGill plays

MacGill and Warne at Old Trafford spells a certain defeat

Don't know that much about MacGill, didn't realise he was that good....

Christ, he does look pretty handy....

http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6441.html

Stuey has a lower Test strike-rate (average number of balls on average it takes the bowler to take a wicket) than Warne.

listening to the groundsman today though on sky, be alright if they play 2 spinners. there saying the pitch will be fast andf bouncy.

BRETT LEE ALSO WILL PROBABLY MISS THE THIRD TEST!  :beers:

Warne and MacGill could both turn it on a glass wicket though and they'll love the extra bounce

:shock:  :o  :(

Where's the cyber pint you owe me?  I'm cyber thirsty. 8)

Would that be a cyberpint of water, you big poofter?

 :evil:

It had been a heavy night!