A Year of Thinking Positively.

[braveneutral]

I suppose only time will tell but I doubt if any of these on this performance will go far.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Game starts tomorrow. The whole country is awash with Ashes fever. Even my boss asked me about Kevin Pietersen.

I'm going 2-1 to Australia. Anything other than a defeat at Lord's, the Aussie fortress, will be a big positive.

I'm off work.

Channel Four have been trailing this a bit. Keep hearing Lou Bega's Mambo Number 5. Not as evocative as Booker T & the MGs of course.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Frenzied mood at Lord's today as the England fielders swarmed onto the field, and lay siege to the perennial Australian openers, Hayden and Langer. Hayden looks more inflated than ever, a sort of effeminate caveman. Langer couldn't look more Australian if he came out in a jeep with a cork-hat on. Funny they have such German names.

The pitch was so hard. Gatting rapped firmly upon it in the preamble as if knocking on the locked door at opening time. And it sounded hollow. Harmison got extraordinary bounce. Without exaggeration, that was the most hostile spell by an England bowler I've seen since Bob Willis at Headingley in 1981. And that felt more hostile because he was so psycho. Maybe this was really the most fearsome since Harold? Who knows. He hit Hayden and Langer hard.

Pietersen dropped Ponting off Hoggard. But, if he hadn't, if Kevin had pouched his first catch (a gimme) in Test cricket, Harmison wouldn't have cut Ponting on the cheek, only half way, no- a quarter-, through a pull shot. KP dropped another later on, to no advantage. Harmi got Punter anyway.

From 87-5, Gilly and Warney counterattacked, and 190 all out doesn't really do justice to how brilliantly the pace attack bowled.

The most obvious thing to say about the Aussie attack was how bleached it is. McGrath has turned up with highlights, looking like a recently divorced dad. Warne and Lee have been on the bottle as ever. Will it ever be that the Aussies will turn up au naturale? Jason Gillespie wore Moroccan black. And got carted.

There were three acts. The second involved Glenn McGrath taking some wickets. I'd gloss over this except Glenn took his five hundredth wicket and went off to change into some golden boots... He couldn't have looked more embarrassed if England got to reverse his 5-0 prediction. Credit where it's due... No forget that.

From 21-5, KP (with his own dye job) and Geraint Jones repaired things a bit, and we'll have to hope the third act proves profitable. We're 92-7. 98 behind, with three wickets to go. Pretty chastening considering it was so overwhelmingly a great day for England. As ever, we hope for miracles. England triumphant; Australia on top.

[Arthur Crabtree]

This is slipping away.

There was a happy half hour in the morning, when Kevin deposited McGrath and Warne into the stand, in fact, Glenn into the upper tier of the pavilion. Maybe the counterattack will prove profitable as a series strategy? He got out trying to hit Warne for another six, and was caught a step inside the rope. But that's the way he plays. Then he came straight out and ran out Langer.

But he also dropped Clarke, who went on to score 91, putting on runs with Damien Martyn. KP has dropped three in the game. That could be the difference between winning and losing.

Ponting got caught by a sub fielder, James Hildreth, while one of the bowlers was off having his legs waxed. It's a good idea to rotate the fast bowlers into the dressing room, particularly while Ashley Giles struggles to get into the game. The pace attack is England's ace. Harmi and Freddie brought us into the game late on with superb spells.

England's first innings deficit of 35 feels a lot more than it is, because they have the Shane and Glenn to defend it. Australia are 314 ahead with three wickets left. But the pitch is flattening out. If we hadn't fallen over so abjectly first time around, I might think we had a chance. But, we did.

[Durhamfootman]

If we hadn't fallen over so abjectly first time around, I might think we had a chance. But, we did.

who knows.... we might still be doing this in 10 years time.

what do we think of Ian Bell? I'm not sure about him. I can't see him having much of an international career, so I guess he'll have to make the most of the opportunity to at least play in one ashes series before being consigned to the county dustbin

[Arthur Crabtree]

He's a bit of a golden boy isn't he? He went into the series with a Test average of 297! Everyone expects him to be special. I suppose, after his 162* against BD, he was going to play. He made that hundred after Tres made 150... Thorpey isn't coming back now. Bell needs to deliver. Can't let Shaney get into his head.

Has he got a nickname?

A good fielder.

[Arthur Crabtree]

According to cricinfo, it's Belly.

[Durhamfootman]

Thorpey was a big call. I didn't really see that coming, tbh, even with Pietersen's ODI heroics in SA.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Bell was always going to be in. It was between KP and Thorpe, and Thorpe has retired now.

Some rain around tomorrow.

[Arthur Crabtree]

A dismal day at Lord's as the rain fell down on England's dreaming. The game had already been lost, but the catches dropped, really elementary chances, were hard to take. Geraint dropped Gillespie who was putting on a stand with Katich more demoralising than matching changing. But worst of all, as the bowlers tried to prise out Glenn McGrath, Freddie and Geraint shelled sitters.

Highlight of the day for England, and something that sounds like a story in the Sunday Sport, was Ashley Giles swooping to run out Brett Lee with a direct hit. Run out (Wheely bin). Gilo has struggled to play a part in the game otherwise.

Personal low point, was Brett Lee catching Strauss out with a ball that scraped for a yard along the ground, before he cocked his wrist at the end to lift the ball off the turf. This was revealed magnificently on my new Panasonic recorder in slo-mo. Maybe it's time the ICC invested in such hard to find technology, and used it.

Our reply looked like the resistance of an army that knows it is defeated, just hoping for the ordeal to be over. Most exemplified by Bell leaving a straight ball from Warne, and plumb lbw.

Except for Kevin Pietersen. Late in the day he attacked Warne and McGrath with verve for the second time in the Test. He was playing a different attack. Can he take the rest of the batting with him? Should he be coming in ahead of Belly?

The 263 runs England need to win have no meaning. Warne already has three wickets. With five more to get, you'd bet on him ending tomorrow with his first Lord's 5-fer. Only the rain can prevent it.

[hopeforthebest]

This thread should be entitled Once Upon A Time In The West.

[Durhamfootman]

Thorpe has retired now.

did he spit his dummy out?

Pressure will be on Pietersen to prove his worth in test cricket. He clearly has talent, as demonstrated in the SA ODI series, but does he have the application, or the technique? He strikes me as a player who might give his wicket away if he gets tied down a bit.

[Durhamfootman]

It's been a disappointing game, this one. I had fairly high hopes for this England team, but after a bright start, bowling Aus out cheaply, they seem to be reverting to type.

They are going to have find a way to deal with McGrath and Warne, because I'm not convinced by Lee and Gillespie. Lee is quick but looks like a bowler to score runs off, and Dizzy just looks past his best. Find a way to deal with Glenda and SKW and England might prosper, but Warne looks like a bowler on a personal mission, and McGrath, for all he's lost a bit of pace still has the kind of pitch map that you could throw a hoola hoop over......... fabulous bowler........ although I can't stand him, if I'm honest....... arrogant get!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Had a bit of a barney on 606 about the Lee catch, but it's pretty obvious. Strauss walked off with a quizzical look, which doesn't mean anything.

It's McGrath's nasty mouth that winds me up. He's supposed to be a decent bloke, and left a good reputation at the counties he's played at. But he likes to bully you on the field.

Warne and McG are going to retire after this. They don't want to go out with a defeat.

[Durhamfootman]

Warne and McG are going to retire after this. They don't want to go out with a defeat.

unlikely judging by this match.

same old, same old.

pity really, that the improvement in the bowling dept isn't matched by the batsmen. England's attack looks better than Australia's (Gilo -v- Warne being the exception), but if the batsmen can't find a way to stay on the field long enough to score some runs, then the bowlers can do what the hell they like, the Aussie batsmen will always find a way to score the runs that England batsmen can't.

Perhaps MPV will prove to D/L that captains really can make a difference?