The Ashes; First Test, Cardiff, July 8-12

[Aidan11]

Bound to be a big stand from within the tail.

[The Waugh Twins]

Another interesting day's play.

Some crazy, lazy batting by Australia though. They will be up against it tomorrow, and England have their noses in front IMHO.

I've got to say though of all the batsmen so far in this test, Root's the only one that strikes me as an old fashioned (meaning 10 years ago) test batsman. Clarke normally is, but he's a little out of form, and you have to put Cook up there.

I think 20/20 cricket has really messed the test batsman up. The gaps between bat and pad are outrageous and the way Voges and Watson played that last 20 minutes was embarrassing.

What happened the the back foot drive?

I personally think the skill level has dropped.

[KipperJohn]

Thought England bowled pretty well in the conditions. Some strange shots towards the end when keeping wickets intact for tomorrow was imperative for the Aussies.

Even though Ali had just taken a wicket I think Cook kept him on a bit too long - should have gone back to Wood earlier to target Watson's front pad. Otherwise quite good captaincy - more interested in taking wickets than defending which makes a nice change.

Some good fielding and clean catching too.

PS Never thought I'd put this but I quite like Ponting as a pundit/commentator.

[The Waugh Twins]

Yep totally agree with you Mark, the test batsman's skill level has definitely diminished and to add to that I don't think the bowlers are nearly as good as a decade ago.

Impossible to know for sure though as the game is so subjective, but I very much doubt anyone but Root in either side could cope with the Windies attack of the 80's.

I also reckon most of these bowlers would have struggled to take wickets against the likes of Richards, Waugh,woe,woe,woe,woe, what is he good for, Tavere, Kim Huges, the list goes on at my personal website.

[yuppie]

Just seen the score, sadly not seen any play though.

Im guessing England would be the happier of the 2 teams at present and would be thinking they could get a good first innings lead.

Watson batting with the tail? Cant see him getting a score. Or Haddin for that matter. Time for the tail to wag.....again. Going to fail sooner or later

[Arthur Crabtree]

Rubbish pitch. Hope there won't be five of these.

[yorker_129-7]

We've heard a lot about how England are aggressive and good to watch. Tomorrow we get a test of how ruthless they are. Can they secure a lead of a hundred or more and then turn the screw?

[Arthur Crabtree]

It's a position they are familiar with, and familiar with wasting. The difference this time is they have decent runs on the board.

[Aidan11]

Good day for Mo so far.

Both Ali and Farah as it turns out.

[backfootpunch]

Rubbish pitch. Hope there won't be five of these.

you better hope we dont win this match then

if we do expect four more very slow pitches with little or no life in them

[backfootpunch]

We've heard a lot about how England are aggressive and good to watch. Tomorrow we get a test of how ruthless they are. Can they secure a lead of a hundred or more and then turn the screw?

id settle for between 50-75 tbh in this situation given how bad we have been at getting the tail out

we would be in a very strong position then if we can get off to a solid start and give the aussies a large total to chase on a tiring and wearing pitch

the scoring rates of both teams will help a result if the rain projected on sunday is only light showers

[GarlicJam]

Worst case scenario... 370-380
Best case scenario... 500
Likely scenario.... 390-410

Well forecast.

Which means England did slightly better than expected - with the bat.


They did pretty well with the ball, from what I saw - Aus were only 1 down when I went to bed. From what I heard on the radio, a few Aus batsmen were responsible for their own dismissals. Even with the position they are in, Aus would be hoping to get very close to England's score. If they do, I reckon the first hour tonight will be fairly tedious batting.

[bigfluffylemon]

A good allround day from Mo. The calls for Rashid will go quiet, at least for now.

Going to be interesting to see which team breaks its habit tomorrow. England have a habit of failing to clean up the tail, stretching back to the Ashes in 2013-14, where they frequently got Australian into this kind of position, only for there to be a Haddin-led recovery. But since that series, Australia's lower order batting has been suspect.

Who is left who will get a score for Australia? Watson - has a habit of getting out when he gets to 50, even when set, he's never scored a hundred batting lower than 3, and he's not the sort of player who will shepherd the tail. Haddin likes batting against England, but his record in England is much worse than at home (his overseas record in general is poor), and since the start of 2014 he's averaged under 20, with just one 50+ score. Johnson can bat, but usually only bats well when he has bowled well, as he's such a confidence player, and as a corollary to that he bats best on fast and bouncy pitches (where he bowls well), with the ball coming on to the bat (as does Haddin, for that matter). Starc isn't too bad and could stick around for a bit, while Lyon and Hazlewood are genuine tailenders and can't be expected to contribute much.

For Australia to catch England, they'll need at least one, if not two solid partnerships, which means two or three of the above are going to have to bat much better than they have done of late.

(As a side note, I still can't see what Watson is doing there. He's not good enough for a batsman, even a number 6 - an average of 35 (under 31 since the start of 2014, with just two 50s), and four centuries in seven years doesn't cut it. It would be fine if he was filling the allrounder role properly. But in England's first innings, he bowled just 8 overs, and took no wickets. That's the sort of workload of a part-timer, not a genuine allrounder. Heck, between Warner, Clarke and Smith they could have easily scraped together eight overs. So why not replace him with a better bowler (Marsh) or a better batsman (um, other Marsh? Turns out they don't actually have an obviously better batsman in the squad. Are Australia's batting resources really so thin?)

[budgetmeansbudget]

I'm thinking even steven still with the way the Aussie tail can bat and the way we relinquish half decent positions. I'd take parity from here, and then it will be down to the crucial third innings which is most often the key to how a match turns out.

[Aidan11]

Not been the best two days of a test match but the one thing I will say about Cardiff's previous two tests - the final day has produced plenty of excitement.